17. Claimants in Conflict

The rule of Publius Helvius Pertinax was quickly terminated by the praetorian guard, angry and impatient with the exacting disciplinarian.

Didius Julianus is chiefly remembered for being the first emperor to have won the purple in a bidding war for the affections of the praetorian guard.

Manlia Scantilla, wife of Didius Julianus, and (bottom) their daughter Didia Clara. They survived his fall and death thanks to the unusual clemency of his nemesis, Septimius Severus.

The bid of Pescennius Niger (left) for the purple, in
the eastern provinces, was quickly crushed by the armies of Septimius Severus.

Below: Coin of Vologeses V, king of Parthia. He promised
  to support Niger and earned
  himself the enmity of
  Septimius Severus.

Arguably the most promising of the losing claimants to the throne, the governor of Britannia, Clodius Albinus, while possessing the qualities required of a good emperor, was ultimately no match for Septimius Severus’s cunning, daring, and cold viciousness.