Trajan Decius

Trajan Decius (249-251 A.D.) and Usurpers During His Reign

Early Life and Public Career

Any discussion of Decius (and for most third century emperors) must be prefaced by an understanding that the historical tradition is incomplete, fragmentary, and not wholly trustworthy. Any reconstruction of his life and reign will therefore be to some degree speculative.  With that caveat in mind, Gaius Messius Quintus Decius was born, to a provincial yet aristocratic Senatorial family during the transitional Severan age, possibly in 201. His family may have been from Italian stock, although that is by no means certain. Attempts to describe his life previous to the consulship are problematic, although he did serve as governor in Moesia in the mid-230's.  That also means that Decius probably had been a member of the Senate for some time. We know little else about his early life, other than at some point he married Herennia Cupressenia Etruscilla, apparently from the Senatorial ordo as well.  His political fortunes rose in the troubled 240's. As instability grew in the mid-third century, Philip the Arab charged Decius, suffect consul for 249, with restoring order along the Danubian frontier In addition to the border unrest, a low-level army officer, Tiberius Claudius Marinus Pacatianus, had led a rebellion of the armies in Pannonia and Moesia. For a short time, Marinus apparently claimed the imperial purple and along with movements of the Gepidae, represented a clear threat to the stability of Philip's rule.

Philip's decision to send Decius was perhaps more motivated by political expediency than by any great confidence in his military abilities.  Decius had an aristocratic pedigree, and so was likely to have been a popular choice with a Senate that was increasingly doubtful of Philip's abilities.He was also a native of Sirmium in Pannonia Inferior, and so was likely familiar with the intricacies of life and politics in the region Finally, he had, of course, served as governor of the wayward province, and thus undoubtedly had connections there among the civil and military curia--ones that Philip hoped Decius could exploit. Thus, the consul was charged with restoring order along one of the Empire's most problematic borders. Accompanied by his son, Herennius, Decius traveled to Moesia, probably to reclaim the Legio IV Flavia Felix and possibly the Legio XI, both of which were stationed in that province.

Shortly before his arrival, Marinus was killed and local troops quickly named Decius emperor, encouraging him to assert this newfound responsibility in a war against Philip. Philip's inability to deal decisively with the worsening military crises on the borders, the fear of punishment, and the opportunity for enrichment no doubt motivated the soldiers to place the purple on a local leader--a now increasingly common practice. Decius' lineage also probably appealed to traditionalists in Rome, who begrudged Philip his humble origins and his possible involvement in the death of Gordian III. Philip led out an army in June of 249 to meet his newest rival for the purple and at an unknown location (possibly Verona or Beroea) lost the battle. Whether Philip died in the fighting or was assassinated by his own troops--another increasingly common practice--is unknown. Philip's son, Philip Junior, recently made an Augustus, was quickly put to death by the Praetorian Guard in Rome.Decius was the first emperor to come from the Balkans region. How much he wanted to serve is unknown.   While this account undoubtedly contains fictional elements, with several popular literary topoi, the rough outlines of the story are undoubtedly true: we have epigraphic evidence in July for support among the Pannonian Legio X, suggesting that Decius owed his accession in no small part to local troops.

Publicity and Power

The victory of an established Senatorial aristocrat was one that seemed to reassert the authority and place of traditional political power, despite the means of Decius' ascension. The new emperor, no doubt aware of the perils of his position, seems to have embarked upon a highly conservative program of imperial propaganda to endear himself to the Roman aristocracy and to the troops who had thrust the purple upon him. One of his earliest acts was to take the honorific name of Trajan, whose status as the greatest of all emperors after Augustus was now becoming firmly established. The fact that Trajan had commanded legions in Upper Germany and had close links to both Pannonia and Moesia at the time of his accession invited the comparison. The name was cleverly chosen: Trajan had been an active and successful general throughout his reign, but had also established a reputation for a widely popular civil government.

Decius also served as consul in every year of his reign and took for himself traditional republican powers, another way to underscore his authority and conservatism. He even tried to revive the long defunct office of censor in 251, purportedly offering it to the future emperor, Valerian. Decius moreover portrayed himself as an activist general and soldier. In addition to leading military campaigns personally, he often directly bestowed honors upon his troops, high and low alike. He also holds the dubious distinction of being the first emperor to have died fighting a foreign army in battle.  Finally, in 250, he associated his sons Herennius and Hostilianus in his rule by making them Caesars, eventually raising the former (and elder) to Augustus. Undoubtedly, Decius sought to create a dynasty in much the same way the Gordians had in the previous decade.  This traditionalism may to be a large extent, however, a construction rather than a reality. When we abandon the literary tradition and look instead at other forms of evidence, his imperial aims are less clear. The legal record, extremely thin, is only vaguely supportive of a conservative policy: most of his surviving enactments deal with private law issues consistent with earlier Severan jurisprudence.

On the other hand in late 249, when Decius returned to Rome, he embarked upon an active building program in the capital. After a destructive fire, he extensively restored the Colosseum. He later commissioned the opulent Decian Baths along the Aventine. He perhaps also was responsible for the construction of the Decian Portico. Such activities contrasted to a twenty-year period of relative building inactivity. Both the kind of building projects and their stylistic qualities suggest an attempt to recall the glories of the past. The numismatic evidence also suggests some degree of traditionalism. It is there that we see the first references to Trajan Decius, as well as an association with both Pannonia and Dacia. His Liberitas and Uberitas issues, combined with his wife's Pudicitia and his sons' Princeps Iuventi coins, all seem to rearticulate traditional ideology. Legends tend to be conservative, so this is hardly surprising, but there were no great innovations to suggest a new set of ideological principles.  In sum, while the literary reconstructions of Decius' life are problematic, it seems clear that traditionalism was an important factor in his administration, especially in the wake of  reign.

The Persecution of Christians

Another possible aspect of this conservatism was a reported wide-scale attack on the growing Christian minority. The third century saw the slow creation of sizeable communities in the Empire's urban populations. For the first time, if we are to believe Christian sources, an Empire-wide persecution of Christians was begun under Decius. The state required all citizens to sacrifice to the state gods and be in receipt of a libellus, a certificate from a temple confirming the act.   The rationale for the emperor's actions, however, is not entirely clear. Eusebius writes he did so because he hated Philip, who purportedly was a secret Christian. Probably the enmity was real, but it seems unconnected to the introduction of these policies. More likely, if Decius did indeed seek to persecute Christians, he was reacting to the growing visibility of the religion, especially in the city of Rome itself. One of the more prominent martyrs of the age was Fabian, the bishop of the imperial capital.

But the new policy of public religiosity was much more probably a program to reassert traditional public piety, consistent with some of the other conservative initiatives introduced during the emperor's short reign. The libelli themselves were largely generalized in nature and language, and there is no implication that they were directed at any one group per se. Whatever intended effect it may have had on Christianity was thus to a degree unplanned.Christians would have no doubt seen it differently. It is possible then that fourth and fifth century Christian polemicists have misinterpreted (whether purposefully or not) Decius' libelli. In the particular cases of Eusebius and Lactantius, both wrote in the wake of the great persecution of Diocletian and no doubt magnified upon the theme of the tyrant-persecutor. A hostile tradition notwithstanding, the new requirements did impact Christians most acutely, causing considerable division in the growing ranks of the new religion.
Imperial and Military Problems

Like other third century emperors, Decius was not free of threats to his authority, either from within or without. The revolt of Jotapianus, either in Syria or Cappadocia, had actually begun in Philip's reign, but was quickly quelled after Decius' accession. Probably the usurper's own soldiers murdered the would-be emperor, since the accounts state that his body was delivered to Decius while still in Rome in the summer of 249.
A potentially more serious revolt broke out while Decius was out of Rome in 250 fighting the Goths. Julius Valens Licinianus, also a member of the Senatorial aristocracy with some popular support, took the purple at the Empire's capital.It appears to have been relatively short-lived grab for power, ending in a few days with his execution. The governor of Macedon, Titus Julius Priscus, also permitted himself to be proclaimed Augustus at Philippopolis towards the end of 251, probably with Gothic collusion The Senate declared him a public enemy almost as soon as he chose usurpation. He probably survived Decius, but is likely to have perished when Gallus became emperor.

Of greater concern than sporadic rebellions, which were relatively minor, were the vitreous northern borders. For the first time, a new and aggressive Germanic people, the Goths, crossed into and raided Roman territory in the 250's. At the time of Decius' forced accession, the Gepidae and the Carpi were both raiding deep into the Moesian provinces. They, along with the Goths, raided Pannonia and Dacia as well. Decius was forced to fight campaigns each year of his reign, doing his best to keep the borders stable.

His final campaign in 251 led to the death of his son, Herennius, and to his own. Decius led a successful attack on the Carpi, pushing them out of Dacia. But Moesia Inferior had been left largely undefended and Cniva, king of the Goths, led a sizeable portion of his army into the province. The emperor, after chasing the Germanic force around the region, engaged Cniva's forces outside of Philippopolis, which had  recently been sacked by the king and held by the rebel, Priscus. It was here that his elder son was slain by an arrow and the emperor, seeking to reassure his troops, famously proclaimed that the death of one soldier was not a great loss to the RepublicCniva then led his troops homeward, laden with the spoils of war.  The loss became Decius' undoing. Trebonianus Gallus, one of the emperor's commanders, may have revolted, although it is not entirely clear. Instead of regrouping his forces and re-securing the borders, Decius unwisely sought to chase down Cniva before he left Roman territory. His decision may have been motivated by his son's death (despite his insistence otherwise) or it may have been an attempt to salvage what had been a failed campaign. In either case, it was ill-advised.

It was at Abrittus, about 100 kilometers northeast of Nicopolis that Decius finally met his death. Hoping to cut off Cniva's escape route (and perhaps minimize any help from Gallus), Decius' army was itself cut off in the marshy terrain. The details are sketchy, but Cniva divided his seventy thousand man army into three groups and surrounded the emperor's force. On July 1^st, the emperor and most of his troops were slain. In the aftermath, the survivors named Trebonianus Gallus emperor, a decision subsequently confirmed by the Senate.  Some contemporaries called the death tragic; others heroic. An Altar of Decius was erected where the emperor fell, still apparently famous two centuries later. Decius and Herennius may have even been deified.Christian polemicists, as might be expected, took pleasure in describing Decius' body being stripped and left on the battlefield to be devoured by animals. Whatever else, his was the first death of an emperor at the hands of an enemy of Rome.  But even the account of his death, along with that of his son, must be looked on suspiciously. Their deaths bring to mind the sacrificial devotiones of the famous Republican Decii father and son, P. Decius Mus senior and junior. The circumstances of Decius' death, therefore, are perhaps as opaque as those of his accession.

Assessment

In spite of gaining some modicum of praise from both ancient and modern observers, Decius' reign was not well-suited to the demands of a rapidly changing empire. Conservatism may have been popular among a certain portion of the Roman elite, but the old aristocracy's power and influence all but disappeared in the third century. Decius clearly had a broader vision of what he wanted to accomplish in his reign than many of his contemporaries, and certainly he was vigorous, but he was also a man who was not sufficiently flexible when the moment called for it. His religious policy caused major disruptions in Rome and; in contrast to some of the other barracks emperors, Decius proved himself less than apt when dealing with Rome's Germanic foes. His death may have been heroic, but it was unnecessary and unsuccessful. This best sums up Decius Trajan's reign.

Ancient Sources

Relatively little remains about Decius' reign. If there were a biography of Decius in the SHA, it no longer survives, although there are scattered references to his rule in the biographies of Claudius II Gothicus and Aurelian. Zosimus, i:21-23, Aurelius Victor, 29-30, Zonaras 12, Eutropius 9, Jordanes Get. 17-8, and Sylvius Polemius 37-40 have brief accounts of his reign. There are fragments in John of Antioch, fr. 148 and Dexippus, fr. 18. Eusebius, vi:39-41, vii:1, 11, 22, and viii:4, discusses his persecution, and there are passing references to his persecution in Socrates and Lactantius. Inscriptions and coinage are relatively abundant; see note 21 below for several epigraphic references.
 

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Place of Birth and Antecedents

The Emperor Decius, whose full name as emperor was Caius Messius Quintus Trajanus Decius, was the first in the long line of Roman emperors who came from the Balkan provinces.
He was born in the Pannonian village of Budalia near Sirmium which was located at the junction of the rivers Save and Drina about 100 miles west of Belgrade.  Our sources do not give the year of his birth, but historians place it around the year 190 A.D.. We are "in the dark" as to Decius' parents, but unlike most of the later emperors from this region, Decius had a respectable background and was himself a senator and consul. Most likely he was the son of an army officer stationed by chance in Budalia.  That his father had an Italian origin can be seen as both names, Decius and Messius, are old Oscan names from Italy. Q. Decius Vindex, the procurator of Dacia, has been suggested as a possible parent or relative.

Offices Held Before Becoming Emperor

Rising in rank under the Severans, Decius had a distinguished career before he was acclaimed emperor. Sometime between 215-225  A.D. he served as Quaestor and was admitted to the Senate. In 234 he served as governor of Moesia and it was probably around this time that he was consul suffectus.  In 238 he was governor of Hispania Tarraconensis. Curiously, during the civil war of 238 A.D.., between Maximinus and the Senate's nominees, the Gordians, and later Balbinus and Pupienus, he remained loyal to Maximinus. This loyalty to the Senate's enemy was apparently not held against him, and sources favorable to the Senate always spoke highly of him. This was also true of the future emperor, Valerian, who had sided with the Senate's nominees in 238; but who, nevertheless, was said to have been a close associate of Decius' after he (Decius) became emperor.  Decius married well. His wife, Herennia Cupressenia Etruscilla, came from an old Etruscan family and as Mater Castris and probably accompanied Decius on some of his campaigns. Decius had two sons, Q. Herennius Etruscus Messius Decius, and C. Valens Hostilianus Messius Quintus, who both served in his government.

Events Leading Up To His Elevation As Emperor

Zonaras and Zosimus, our best literary sources for Decius' reign, give the following circumstances surrounding Decius' elevation to the throne. Sometime in the late winter or early spring of 249, the Emperor Philip I was confronted by the news of simultaneous rebellions. One, in the eastern provinces, led by an army officer named Jotapianus, and the other, in the province of Pannonia, led by another officer, Marinus. (Tiberius Claudius Marinus Pacatianus.) Being perplexed and somewhat at a loss as to what course to take, Philip convened a meeting of the Senate, and upon asking for advice, the sole senator to speak was Decius who spoke words to the effect that these types of rebellions were frequent, that neither of these men possessed a large following, and that more often than not these types of rebellions collapsed of their own accord. And, as it happened, that was exactly how it fell out; both rebels were murdered by their own troops shortly thereafter.

Philip, impressed by Decius' foresight, and still fearing the mood of the legions in Moesia and Pannonia, requested Decius go there in person and place affairs in order, naming him the commander in chief of the legions in both areas. Although Decius told Philip he did not think this was a good idea, Philip, nevertheless, persisted, and Decius went back to his native province, where soon after his arrival the legions forced him to become emperor. In spite of all this, Decius was said to have taken no action but to have sent Philip a conciliatory message indicating he would not accept the position he had been given. Philip, distrusting Decius' sincerity, led an army north and met Decius near Verona. Details of the battle are not given in the sources except to state that, although Philip had a larger army, Decius' had a well thought-out battle plan, superior leadership and troops with better morale. Philip himself perished in the fighting, and his son either died with him or perished in Rome shortly after the battle.

There is no direct evidence to corroborate this account. It may be a little too neat. The noted Roman historian, Sir Ronald Syme, has pointed out that Decius is the "palmary specimen of the reluctant usurper," a standard figure throughout the literature of the late Roman Empire. Numismatic evidence, however, does support the idea that Decius did not act precipitously. When Pacatianus began his revolt at the end of 248, the Roman mint at Viminacium ceased to mint coins for Philip and Pacatianus restruck Philip's coins with his own portrait. This revolt must have been suppressed in April of 249, as the mint there resumed striking coins for Philip at that time. Further, it is more than likely that Philip would not have sent Decius to pacify the legions without a substantial amount of money, perhaps even including good arrears of pay. The evidence from coin hoards shows that Decius neither struck his own coinage at this time nor re-struck Philip's coins. This would seem to indicate that, at least when he left Rome, he had not planned a revolt from the start, and for the first weeks after his arrival did not revolt against Philip. Then too, in a similar situation, he had remained loyal to Maximinus during the civil war of 238.

The literary sources we have do not give us any exact dates for these events. However, from inscriptions, papyri and published laws, the general course of events can be established. The first indication of hostile action comes from an inscription dated May 28, 249 where the legion X Gemina calls itself Deciana.  The date of a law in Justinian's code show us that Philip was still in Rome on June 17, 249. In addition, there are coins of Philip after August 29, showing he was still emperor then. A law in Justinian's code under Decius' name shows us he was emperor by October 16, 249. This would place the date of the Battle of Verona sometime between August 29, 249 and October 16 of 249. Given that Decius would have to march to Rome from Verona, it is most likely that the battle took place close to September 1.

 

Arrival in Rome

Whatever may have been the case with the above-mentioned events, it is certain that once Decius became emperor he wasted no time in getting to work on the business of running the Empire. Although literary sources fail to give many details of Decius' reign, the coinage, papyri and inscriptions illuminate Decius' activities as emperor and the general tone he hoped to set for his reign. His arrival in Rome, probably in October of 249 after his victory over Philip, is announced by his ADVENTUS AUGUSTI coins. It was also at this time that he adopted the name of Trajan, indicating which emperor he hoped to model his reign after One of his first acts upon entering Rome, was to give a monetary distribution to the citizens there known as a "congiarium" which was announced by his LIBERTAS coinage.  In that same month he honorably discharged a group of veterans from the fleet after their 28-year term of service was up He issued some new laws regarding inheritances and began to build new baths in the city.  It is not known whether it was on the Senate's or Decius' initiative, but it was also at this time that the Senate voted Philip'sdamnatio memoriae.  Nevertheless, in the first four months of Decius' reign at least, the Empire received a brief respite from the storms which it had undergone and was shortly to undergo again. The Emperor Decius was twice named consul, in 250 and later in 251. On the second occasion, he was joined by his son, Q. Herennius Etruscus Messius Decius. 

Gothic Wars

During the winter of 250, possibly taking advantage of a frozen Danube and the fact that troops had been drawn away for the battle at Verona, the Carpi and also the Goths, under their chief,. Kniva, crossed into Moesia. They then divided themselves into two armies and one besieged Novae, while the other moved south and besieged L. Priscus the governor of Moesia, in Philippopolis (located about 100 miles due north of the Aegean Sea.)
Decius, on being informed of the invasion, sent his son, Herennius, now elevated to the rank of Caesar, ahead to the area with the army Decius had brought with him. The departure was announced by the coins bearing the legends, 
Meanwhile, Kniva was beaten back by Gallus, the governor of Upper and Lower Pannonia. The Goths then turned south towards the city of Nicopolis

As the crisis escalated, in June or July of 250, Decius hastened to leave Rome to join the army. Before leaving Rome, he appointed the future Emperor, Valerian, to an unspecified post involving the finances and internal affairs of the Empire Initially, after his arrival in the area, Decius had success against the invaders and in bringing a measure of stability to the area. Nicopolis was relieved and inscriptions bearing the legends Dacius Maximus and restitutor daciarum announced the expulsion of the Carpi from the province.
While these events were taking place, Decius also restored a measure of military discipline and founded military colonies in the regions of Pannonia and Moesia. In addition, communications along the military roads south of the Danube, as well as the roads leading to it were repaired.  In the west a rebellion was suppressed and there was a victory over the barbarians.  Besides these measures in the Balkans, Decius inaugurated and completed an Empire-wide project of restoration of roads, bridges and frontier defenses. Numerous milestones from the provinces of Britain, Africa, Galatia, Palestine, and Syria, as well as Pannonia, attest to this work.
During this period he was hailed imperator twice but it is not possible to connect these acclamations with any specific events

At the end of the year 250, following these successes, Decius decided to attack Kniva and his Gothic forces. We do not have any details of what happened next.   Perhaps Decius, became overconfident, or something else went wrong. Regardless, when Decius did engage Kniva the Romans suffered a severe defeat. Decius retreated with what troops he had left and joined Gallus.  While these events were unfolding, Priscus, at Philippopolis, possibly in collusion with the Goths, proclaimed himself emperor. It is not known whether Priscus was trying to use the Goths for his schemes, or the Goths were using Priscus for theirs; but in any case, Philipoppolis was stormed and destroyed with an ensuing massacre of its inhabitants and Priscus disappears from the historical record.While these events were taking place in the field, another revolt broke out in the city of Rome where a senator, Julius Valens Licinianus, having secured some support, attempted a coup. The rebellion was, however, quickly suppressed, probably by Valerian.

In the Spring of 251 Decius and Gallus again determined to renew operations against Kniva, who was retreating back towards the Danube River. Once again, in the beginning, the campaign went well for the Romans. At some point in the fighting, however, Herennius, who, in the crisis had been elevated to the rank of Augustus, was killed. We are told that, when his soldiers tried to console him for the loss of his son, Decius, replied with words to the effect that: The loss of one soldier is but a small thing. Zosimus tells us that while these events were taking place Gallus had begun treasonable communications with the enemy. Accordingly, during the next engagement, after the Romans, had defeated two Gothic detachments and the Romans were in a swampy area near Abrittus (which is between the Black Sea and the Danube River), Gallus, acting according to a pre-arranged plan, gave a signal to the Goths who surrounded and annihilated the Roman force. Decius perished in the battle and his body was never recovered. He is the first, but not the last, Roman emperor to die fighting the barbarians. Gallus himself made a quick and disgraceful peace with the Goths and hurried back to Rome, where for a brief time he shared power with Hostilian, Decius' surviving son.  Hostilian subsequently either died of the plague or was murdered, perhaps by Gallus.

Decius and Gallus

Decius may have had the unusual posthumous fate of first having been deified, then having his memory condemned, and then being restored to his former status. The role which Gallus played in this does cast him in a more sinister light. After the disaster at Abrittus it appears both Decius and Herennius were deified. This must have been in the latter half of June of 251. When Gallus returns to Rome he is Augustus and Hostilian, Decius' surviving son, is made Caesar. Shortly afterwards there was a new arrangement in which Gallus and Hostilian are Augusti and Volusian, Gallus' son, is Caesar. Subsequent to this, Hostilian was said to have died of the plague in August There is, however, convincing evidence that Gallus had ordered the damnatio memoriae of Decius and his family before August, in fact as early as July; thus reversing his position during the aftermath of Abrittus. There are a number of inscriptions where Decius' name as well as his sons' names were erased; the standard procedure following the Senate's decree. For some time, it was believed that this was the action of either usurpers, such as Valens, or even of Christians.  However, the discovery of an army document, where Decius' and Herennius' name have been suppressed, leaving only the iterations of III et I cos., with no names, indicates that the condemnation was an official policy. Further, some of the documents with erasures or suppression of names can be dated as early as July 15 of 251.This would indicate that either Hostilian was dead at this time, or that Gallus took the action while he was still alive.  It is quite possible that, rightly or wrongly, as rumors of Gallus' treachery began to circulate in the aftermath of the battle, Gallus decided he needed to take action against Decius to protect himself. One of those actions may have included the murder of Hostilian. As the number of erased inscriptions was not large compared to Philip's, and as some were even repaired, it seems the damnatio was carried out with little enthusiasm, thus indicating dissatisfaction with Gallus' decree.

 

Decius and Christianity

 

While engaged in the re-establishment of military order and the revitalization of the Empire's infrastructure, Decius also initiated a program that he hoped would effect a spiritual revitalization of the Empire as well. It was, however, this plan which set him on a collision course with the growing Christian population in the Roman Empire.
In the fall of 249, shortly after becoming emperor, Decius conceived of a novel method to invoke the aid of the gods on behalf of the Roman Empire; all the subjects of the Empire would be required to offer a sacrifice to the gods and all who did so would receive a certificate of compliance. Those who refused would face imprisonment, and possible capital punishment. The original decree of Decius has been lost, but we do have the testimony of Eusebius and Lactantius who were alive during that time and, more importantly, papyrologists have uncovered a number of "libelli" or what were essentially certificates of compliance with the decree. The "libelli" tell us a good deal about the nature of the decree and enable historians to develop a good idea of Decius' aims.

 The Nature of Decius' Decree

 Method of Administration

Prior to the discovery of the "libelli" it was assumed that Decius' decree applied only to Christians or perhaps people suspected of being Christians. From studying the individuals who obtained "libelli" and wording of the "libelli" the consensus among scholars today is that all the subjects of the empire were required to sacrifice. In support of this view one of the primary documents cited is a libellus belonging to a woman named Aurelia Ammonous of Egypt, who styles herself " ...a priestess of the god Petesouchos... and priestess of the gods in the Moeris Quarter..." and therefore hardly likely to be under suspicion of being a Christian. Another important point that emerges from the libelli is the fact that the word "Christian" does not appear on any of the libelli found thus far. Nor does the Emperor's name appear on any of the extant libelli, indicating that sacrifices and prayers offered were not to be seen as directly for his benefit. Further, there are no specific gods named in the libelli. Thus, Decius was most likely asking for something akin to the Roman supplicatio where prayers and sacrifices were offered on behalf of all the gods possessing temples in the city of Rome. "The objects of the sacrifices which Decius ordered his subjects to perform were the traditional gods of the Roman state including the divi" (i.e. the deified Roman Emperors).

The wording of the libelli appears to be based on a stereotyped formula. They are essentially a petition which is then validated by a signature and date. If the person obtaining one was illiterate, it would be executed by a scribe or perhaps a member of the commission. Thus, a stereotyped beginning is followed by name, parentage, place of birth and residence of the petitioner, followed by a complimentary close. A typical example reads, "To the commission chosen to superintend the sacrifices. From Aurelius Asesis, son of Serenus, of the village of Theadelphia [in Egypt]. I have always and without interruption sacrificed to the gods, and now in your presence in according with the edict's decree have poured a libation and sacrificed and partaken of the sacred victims. I request you to certify this for me below. Farewell. I Aesis, am 32 years of age and injured…[Dated June 12, 250. We are not certain of the exact method for carrying out such a vast enterprise; the Roman Empire being a heterogeneous place, local conditions may have varied considerably. More than likely, after completing the sacrifice, people would obtain a certificate recording that they had complied with the Emperor's order. It is quite possible that the procedure followed the method of paying taxes. A time within which the sacrifice had to be made was announced, and on any specific day individuals would submit their names to the officials overseeing the sacrifice beforehand to avoid long lines. Most likely, the commissions varied in size with respect to the size of the town or village.

Motives for the Decree

One interesting point of the decree is there does not appear to be any one event which caused Decius to issue it. The third century was a time of great stress and troubles for the Roman Empire. While many of the disasters which befell the Empire lay in the near future, by 250 barbarian invasion, instability at the top and economic problems were all making their presence felt. In addition, Rome had just passed its 1,000-year anniversary and such a general thanksgiving would reaffirm the traditional pax deorum for the new millennium. In addition, it is important to recognize that the Roman state ultimately rested upon religious foundations and the tranquility and prosperity of the Empire depended upon a balance of human and divine forces.  Therefore, as Decius sought to strengthen the Empire's physical ability to withstand invasion, he would not neglect the other equally important half of the equation, the spiritual side.

Seen in this light, the Decree itself was not a measure specifically directed against the Christians (or any other group for that matter.) This idea is further corroborated by the literary sources which do not mention any attempt by Decius to follow up his decree to sacrifice with any specific decree or actions against the Christians; no attempt was made to force Christians to apostasize (as under Trajan or later under Diocletian), there is no record of any confiscation of Church property, and, most convincingly of all, Christians were allowed to practice their rights while they were being held in jail awaiting trial.  Nor were all the Christians who refused to sacrifice executed; many were released from jail having not complied with the order. Thus, "Beyond the requirement to sacrifice, which applied to all…Decius seems to have taken no other measures against the Christians. According to H.A. Pohlsander, what Decius hoped to accomplish was to "lead the masses back to the traditional cults...to secure the favor of the gods by collective piety.

Effects of Decree on the Church

Whatever may have been Decius' motives, effects of the Decree were both dramatic in the short run, and the source of many difficulties for the long term. For whatever reason, according to Eusebius in many cities of the Empire there had been an ongoing and spontaneous pogrom against the Christians during the last months of Philip's reign and into the first months of Decius'reign. It is not known if this situation had anything to do with Decius' decision since there appears to be no specific context for it. Although not all persons who refused to sacrifice were executed, many were, while many others faced imprisonment and torture. Among the victims was Pope Fabianus, who died at Rome early in 250. There is also the distinct possibility that Decius himself witnessed the trial of one of the Christians.

In addition to the trials and tribulations suffered by those in prison, many persons fled their homes only to fall victim to bandits, starvation and barbarians.Besides people suffering in prison, another problem for the Church concerned the great numbers of people who either complied with the order or obtained a libellus through bribery, but who later repented, and wanted re-admission into the Church. The situation caused a schism in the Church as a faction led by a church leader named Novatius argued that "idolatry was an unpardonable sin, and that the Church had no right to restore to communion any who had fallen into it, their forgiveness must be left to God; it could not be pronounced in this world."The situation would be further complicated when Novatius' followers would extend this idea to all mortal sins and Novatius proclaimed himself Pope against St. Cornelius, Fabian's successor. Novatian was pronounced a heretic and his claims were set aside; but his heresy would last down to the seventh century.  We do not know how the action against the Christians ended. Generally, by the spring of 250 ecclesiastical authors speak of it as in the past tense. It may simply be that Decius, faced with serious problems in the Balkan area of the Empire, realized his priorities and let the matter drop.

Effects of the Decree on  the Roman Empire

Besides the long-term effects Decius' action had for the church in terms of how it would deal with its members who had sacrificed, another major, and largely inadvertent, effect of Decius' decree was to initiate a trend towards centralization of religion in the Empire. One of the hallmarks of religion in the ancient world was its lack of centralization. This was true of the Roman ruler cult as well. Instead each city arranged its own sacrifices, honors and ceremonies as they saw fit. What constituted "paganism" in the Roman Empire was a myriad of cults, celebrations, rites and deities. The primary emphasis was on worshipping in the same manner that your ancestors had done.  The effect of Decius' decree was to replace this by a centralized Empire-wide religion that had certain expectations of its inhabitants. Further, prior to Decius' decree there was no indication that participation in any religious action was mandatory. From this point forward a structure was created "in which religious deviants could be defined and punished;  this would be a standard feature of Christianity

Numismatics

Although he ruled for barely two years, and the weight of precious metals in the coinage continued to decline during his reign; nevertheless, the coins from Decius' reign are most interesting. Decius was the first of the emperors to use the legends "Dacia Felix"; "Pannoniae"; "Genius Exercitu Illyriciani"; and "Genius Illyrici"; to advertise the legions which were to play such a pivitol role in the history of the Later Empire.
Most interesting of Decius' coinage was his unique series of 'Divi' antoniniani, or coinage which on its obverse (front) commemorate many of the deified emperors of the past. All these coins have the reverse legend of CONSECRATIO and an altar or eagle.  Included were Augustus, Vespasian, Titus, Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, Antoninus Pius, Marcus Aurelius, Commodus, Septimius Severus, and Severus Alexander. Left out were Julius Caesar, Claudius, Lucius Verus, Pertinax, and Caracalla. The inclusion of Commodus and the exclusion of Caesar, Claudius and Pertinax is curious. There are also a large number of coins showing his wife, Etruscilla, as well as both of his sons: Herennius first as Caesar, later as Augustus, and Hostilian as Caesar and Augustus.

Conclusion

Although the ancient non-Christian writers always spoke highly of Decius, his brief reign failed to give the Roman Empire the measure of stability it needed. It is of course impossible to say whether or not the disasters which befell the Empire could have been avoided or mitigated had Decius not been killed. Nor is it possible, given the present state of our sources to know what went wrong during his campaign against the Goths. Probably no one man could have met all the challenges of invasion, usurpation, plague, and fiscal collapse which confronted the Roman Empire during the coming decades. Certainly he attempted to rule well and establish the Empire's defenses on a firm basis. His legacy has, however, been largely determined by his attempt to establish a measure of religious conformity in the Empire and by the resulting persecution of the Christians.

Decius 249 AD

Decius was a Roman Emperor born in 201 A.D. and who died in 251 A.D. where he is listed on the Bible Timeline with World History. While he ruled he focused on strengthening the Roman Empire. During his reign, many European and Asian barbarian tribes were pushing themselves deeper into Roman territory. He not only fought the various Germanic tribes that were old enemies of Rome, he also had to hold back the encroaching Goths who were beginning to threaten the stability of the empire.

Highly Respected Soldier Decius was a very capable leader and soldier. He was so effective on the battlefield that his men wanted him to become emperor. Decius served under a Roman ruler named Philip the Arab. This particular Roman Emperor ruled Rome for five years between 244 A.D. and 249 A.D. While he was in power he received word from a confidant who informed him about what was taking place along the Danube. After he figured out what was happening he gathered his forces to put an end to this mutiny. Decius tried to work out some type of negotiation, but it failed. In 249 A.D. Emperor Philip the Arab and General Decius fought a great battle in Northern Italy. The emperor was slain and Decius became the new ruler.

Persecution of the Christian Believers Shortly after Decius came to power he passed a law that demanded all people within the Roman Empire to make a sacrifice to the emperor. The Christian citizens naturally disagreed with this law and, as a result, many were imprisoned or killed. Historical evidence indicates that many prominent Christian members within Roman society were slain for not obeying this order. A plague had also broken out within the empire and it supposedly had corresponded with the outbreak of the persecutions that had taken place. Many people of the day blamed the Christians for the plague. This motivated Decius and the immediate emperors who followed his rule, to further persecute Christians if they did not worship the emperor. Decius reign was far different from many of his predecessors who made an effort to help Christians.

Decius wasn’t emperor for very long and most of his time was spent fighting wars and battles. He did his best to try and improve the moral climate within Rome and the empire. He was moderately successful with this effort. He also initiated some building projects and he regulated religious worship. 

The Warrior Emperor

Emperor Decius eventually had to spend a great deal of time confronting enemies on the battlefield. In 250 he had given power to a senator named Valerianus so that he could personally drive out the invading Goths under the leadership of a king named Kniva. He also proclaimed that his son Herrinius Etrucus Caesar to be the next ruler in case he died while in battle. He fought the Goths in 250 and lost. He fought once again in 251 but won during that campaign. 

While Decius was away, a usurper to his power had arisen and his name was Valens. Julius Licinius Valerianus had put down the rebellion. Emperor Decius had met his demise in 251 A.D. when he confronted the Goth King Kniva. He and his son both died while fighting him on the battlefield.

Trajan Decius

249 – 251 AD

First emperor from the Balkins

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C. Messius Quintus Traianus Decius was born about 201 AD in the Bulkans at Budalia of Lower Pannonia. Decius not merely came from a military background but had also attained senatorial rank early in his career serving as consul in 232 AD. Decius was also governor of Lower Moesia. He then served as governor of Hispania between 235 and 238 AD followed by urban prefect in Rome under Philip I.

Philip I hardly provided inspiration during his reign. Numerous uprising along the northern frontier had taken place internally, not to mention the constant threat of the Goths. The failed rebellion of Pacatian in Upper Moesia, prompted Philip to dispatch Trajan Decius to restore order to the region. Philip’s great mistake was to appoint Trajan Decius governor of both Moesia and Pannonia making him one of the most powerful men in the empire in terms of the number of legions at his command. The dissatisfaction of the troops in the Balkans still remained despite the murder of the usurper. Decius set about to stem the tide of the invading Goths and after his success, the troops convinced Decius to accept their decision to promote him to the office of Emperor.

Trajan Decius and his legions marched on Rome and confronted Philip around September 249 AD in Macedonia. Philip was soundly defeated and died in battle. When the news of Decius’ victory reached Rome, the praetorians immediately murdered Philip’s young son – Philip II.

Decius then advanced to Rome where he took the reigns of power. It was at this time that he took the surname “Trajanus” in memory of Trajan (98 – 117 AD) and his great Dacian victories. Decius then began a series of economic and monetary reforms as well as public works including the construction of baths and the restoration of the Colosseum. However, Decius is remembered for his severe persecution of the Christians, during which Pope Fabian was killed.

In 250 AD, the Goths crossed the Danube once again terrorizing Thrace. Decius raised his son Herennius Etruscus, named after his mother Herennus Etruscilla, to the rank of Caesar. There was also another usurper, one Titus Julius Priscus, who was killed shortly thereafter. However, the following year brought another usurper Julius Valens Licinianus in Rome itself with the support of the Senate. However, by the end of March 251 AD, Valens was murdered.

Trajan Decius raised his son, Etruscus, to the rank of co-emperor in 251 AD and his youngest son, Hostilian to the rank of Caesar. Shortly thereafter, Trajan Decius and his eldest son Etruscus were both killed in battle against the Goths. Decius was the first Roman Emperor to die in battle by an external enemy. Hostilian died later that year due to the plague.

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Monetary System

Gold Aureus

Mints: Rome, Milan, Antioch

Obverse legend:

IMP C M Q TRAIANVS DECIVS AVG

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The normal obverse type for antoniniani, double sesterii and dupondii is radiate bust right draped and/or cuirassed. All other denominations portray a laureate bust right draped and/or cuirassed.

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Monetary Reform

Trajan Decius enacted a major monetary reform concerning both the bronze and the gold coinage. This reform is a reflection of the growing hyper-inflationary pressures that were developing during the 3rd century with great momentum. Decius reintroduced a Double Aureus, which had previously made a brief appearance during the reign of Caracalla (198 – 217 AD). We also find the introduction of a Double Sestertius. This spectacular large bronze denomination was in fact close in weight and size to the sestertius of the Julio-Claudian era. The introduction of this denomination suggests that the older sesterii may have been valued on the street at a much higher premium to that of the current issues. The hoarding of older sesterii was most likely the result, much as was the case in modern times, when silver was withdrawn from the coinage during the mid-1960’s. The Double Sestertius appears to have been introduced at about 39 grams but quickly declined to 29 grams. The Double Aureus weight appears to vary between 6.2 and 5.6 grams compared to an average weight of 4.5 grams for the aureus itself. Therefore, the monetary value of both these new denominations was in fact an extension of the current inflation by allowing higher denominations to be coined at only a 50% increase in the cost of production.

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DENOMINATIONS

AU Aureus (6.54 grams)
AU Quinarius (3.61 grams)
AR Antoninianus
AR Denarius
AR Quinarius
AE DOUBLE Sestertius
AE Sestertius
AE Dupondius
AE As

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Commemorative Coinage

Trajan Decius struck a series of antoniniani commemorating many of the deified Emperors of Rome from Augustus to Severus Alexander. The series is known to have two reverse styles and altar or an eagle. The last such great commemorative series had been struck by the Emperor Trajan (98 – 117 AD).

Battle Of Abrittus: Roman Emperor Decius And His Troops Ambushed And Defeated By Invading Goths

 

At the beginning of the 4th century AD, during the reign of Roman Emperor Constantine I the Great (r. 306-337 AD), the Romans built a large fortress in Abrittus. The city of Abritus had a fortified area of about 37 acres), four gates, and 35 fortress towers. Images: Abritus Archaeological Preserve

The Goths’ ten-year-long raiding finally culminated in the Battle of Abrittus in 251 AD when they met the forces of Emperor Trajan Decius and his son (co-emperor) Herennius Etruscus. The Roman army was defeated; Emperor and his son were killed.

Decius wasn't very popular and despite his several building projects in Rome, he was chiefly remained as persecutor of Christians. The latter regarded Decius' death as divine judgement.

It has been suggested that the resting place of Decius must be located somewhere in the vicinity of ancient Abrittus battlefield. The Roman considered flat terrains as an advantage for their legions, therefore, Decius, his son and their troops established there their camp.

At first, Decius’ troops surprised the Goths in the frontline, but Gothic chieftain Cniva was a clever strategist and let them take the initiative. Then, he divided his forces into smaller and more mobile units, trying to draw the Romans to the marshlands.

The Romans made the disastrous mistake of pursuing the fleeing Goths directly into the marshes. Thus,  Cniva successfully managed to lure the Romans to the nearby wetland. They were ambushed and routed. Decius, his son and most of his troops had no way out.

"He [Decius] and his son and a large number of Romans fell into the marshland; all of them perished there, none of their bodies to be found, as they were covered by the mud…" wrote Joannes (or John Zonaras), a Byzantine chronicler and theologian who lived in Constantinople.

Emperor Decius died with almost the entire army. This was the first time that not only one but two Roman two emperors perished during a battle with a foreign invader.

The ruins of Abrittus are located near the city of Razgrad in Northeast Bulgaria. Abrittus first emerged as an ancient Thracian settlement established no later than the 5th century BC. It flourished as a Roman and later Byzantine city in the Late Antiquity.

At the beginning of the 4th century AD, during the reign of Roman Emperor Constantine I the Great (r. 306-337 AD), the Romans built a large fortress in Abrittus. The city of Abritus had a fortified area of about 37 acres), four gates, and 35 fortress towers.

Roman and Goth weaponry discovered during archaeological research on the site of the 251 AD Battle of Abritus. Image credit: BNT

Regardless of city’s strong defenses, however, the Late Antiquity Roman city of Abrittus was conquered and plundered many times by barbarian tribes, including the Goths in 251 AD, and in 376-378 AD, the Huns of Attila in 447 AD, and the Avars and Slavs in 586 AD.

At the end of the 6^th century AD, the city of Abrittus declined, and was abandoned, and so did many other Roman cities and strongholds along the Lower Danube frontier of the Empire, the region, which today belongs to Bulgaria.

Today, much of the area of Abrittus remains unexplored but a large number of archaeological artifacts and coins have been unearthed among the ruins.

Apart from the coins, the artifacts found at the site, include a large number of Roman Era arms such as parts of swords, shields, spears, armors, graves, and even poles from military tents.

However, one of the most valuable archaeological finds from Abritus is the gold treasure dated to the Late Antiquity that contains 835 coins from the 5th century AD weighing a total of 4 kilograms, and dating to the reigns of a total of ten Eastern Roman Emperors and one Western Roman Emperor.

Julius Caesar’s Forgotten Assassin

On March 15, 44 B.C. a group of Roman senators murdered Julius Caesar as he sat on the podium at a senate meeting. The dictator fell bleeding to his death from 23 stab wounds before the horrified eyes of the rest of the house. It was a little after noon on the Ides of March, as the Romans called the mid-day of the month. The spectators didn’t know it yet but they were witnessing the last hours of the Roman Republic. But who was to blame?

As readers of William Shakespeare know, a dying Caesar turned to one of the assassins and condemned him with his last breath. It was Caesar’s friend, Marcus Junius Brutus.

“Et tu, Brute?” – “You too, Brutus?” is what Shakespeare has Caesar say in the Tragedy of Julius Caesar. Except, Caesar never said these words. And Brutus was neither his closest friend nor his biggest betrayer, not by a long shot.

The worst traitor was another man: Decimus Junius Brutus Albinus. Decimus was a distant cousin of Marcus Brutus. Because Shakespeare all but leaves him out of the story, Decimus is the forgotten assassin. In fact, he was essential.

Shakespeare puts two men in charge of the plot to kill Caesar, Brutus and Gaius Cassius Longinus (he of the famous “lean and hungry look”). Shakespeare mentions Decimus but misspells his name as Decius and downplays his role. But often-overlooked ancient sources make clear that Decimus was a leader of the conspiracy.

Decimus was closer to Caesar than either Brutus or Cassius was. In fact, they opposed Caesar during his bloody rise to power in a civil war. Only when he started winning the war did they defect to his cause. Caesar pardoned Brutus and Cassius and rewarded them with political office but he didn’t trust them. Decimus was different. He always fought for Caesar, never against him, and so he held a place in Caesar’s inner circle.

Decimus belonged to the Roman nobility, the narrow elite that ruled both Rome and an empire of tens of millions of people. His grandfather extended Rome’s rule to the Atlantic, in Spain. But Decimus’s father had a mediocre career and his mother dabbled in revolution. Then Caesar came along and offered Decimus the chance to restore his house’s name.

Decimus was a soldier at heart, educated but rough and ambitious, as his surviving correspondence shows. “My soldiers have experienced my generosity and my courage,” Decimus wrote. “I waged war against the most warlike peoples, captured many strongholds and destroyed many places.” He did all that, he wrote, to impress his men, to serve the public, and to advance his reputation.

Decimus warmed to Caesar, a great commander and a war hero to boot. In his mid-twenties Decimus joined Caesar’s forces that were fighting to add Gaul (roughly, France and Belgium) to Rome’s empire. Decimus won an important naval battle off Brittany and served with Caesar in the siege at Alesia (in today’s Burgundy) that sealed Rome’s victory in Gaul.

Later, his enemies in the Roman senate tried to strip Caesar of power but he fought back. It was civil war and Decimus chose Caesar. Once again, Decimus won a victory at sea, this time on Gaul’s Mediterranean coast. A grateful Caesar named Decimus acting governor of Gaul while Caesar went off to challenge his enemies elsewhere. After more than four years of hard fighting, Caesar returned to Rome triumphant in 45 B.C., with Decimus at his side. Why, then, did Decimus raise a dagger against Caesar only nine months later?

Many Romans feared the power that Caesar amassed. In theory Rome was a constitutional republic. In practice, Rome teetered for decades on the brink of military dictatorship. Now, Caesar was Rome’s first dictator for life—a king in all but name. He even took a queen as his mistress, Cleopatra of Egypt. In March 44 B.C. she lived in Caesar’s villa on the outskirts of Rome. Her young son was, she claimed, Caesar’s illegitimate child. All of this was too much for Roman traditionalists.

But ambition rather than political principle turned Decimus against Caesar. Decimus’s letters suggest a man who cared more about honor than about liberty. He wanted the distinction of a triumph or formal victory parade in Rome, but Caesar denied it, although he granted the privilege to lesser generals. No doubt the dictator liked to dole out his favors slowly to keep his men on their toes. He rewarded Decimus in other ways, but the slight still smarted.

Then there was the rise of Caesar’s young grandnephew, Gaius Octavius, only a teenager and no soldier but a gifted and cunning politician. Decimus could not have liked watching Octavius replace him in Caesar’s esteem. Another possible influence on Decimus was his wife, who came from a family that was opposed to Caesar.

In winter 44 B.C. Cassius originated the conspiracy to kill Caesar. Like Decimus and Brutus, Cassius belonged to the nobility. He was a professional soldier, like Decimus, but also an intellectual like Brutus. A man of action, Cassius inspired Brutus to move. Brutus was no soldier but he was a philosopher and orator and much admired in Rome.  Decimus joined the plot as well, as did more than 60 prominent Romans.

As a past master at ambush, Cassius might have come up with the plan to surprise Caesar in the Senate. Decimus, however, made the wheels turn. Of all the conspirators only he had Caesar’s trust. Caesar even had Decimus at his side at a dinner party the night before his assassination. On the morning of the Ides Caesar suddenly decided not to go to the senate meeting, probably because of rumors of conspiracy.

It’s not quite true that a soothsayer warned Caesar to “Beware the Ides of March!” as Shakespeare says. In fact, the soothsayer warned Caesar a month earlier to beware a 30-day period ending in the Ides of March, that is, the times from February 15 to March 15. But the Ides had finally come.

When they heard about Caesar’s staying home, the plotters sent Decimus to Caesar’s house to talk him into attending the senate meeting after all. Decimus did his job. He changed the dictator’s mind and Caesar went to the meeting— where he was then murdered.

VIDEO: Julius Caesar: The Roman leader Julius Caesar was stabbed 23 times by a mob of mutinous senators in 44 B.C. Could he possibly have survived long enough to utter his famous last words?

Afterwards Decimus provided security to the killers. He owned a troupe of gladiators who doubled as a private police force. They escorted the assassins to safety on the Capitoline Hill and guarded the perimeter during the tense days that followed.

At first the Roman people supported the assassins as defenders of constitutional liberty but they changed their minds when they saw the strength of Caesar’s supporters. Decimus came in for particular criticism because his closeness to Caesar made his treachery seem all the worse.

Decimus soon left Rome to lead an army in northern Italy and defend what he saw as the cause of the republic. Although he started out strong he was outfoxed by Octavius. Named as Caesar’s heir and adopted son in Caesar’s will, Octavius first allied with Decimus and then turned on him. A year and a half after the Ides of March, Decimus was abandoned by his soldiers, captured by his enemies and executed. A year later, Brutus and Cassius lost a battle and committed suicide. Octavius, by contrast, continued on his bloody rise to power, and eventually ended up as Rome’s first emperor. Eventually he went by the name of Augustus.

If Decimus was so important to Caesar’s assassination why isn’t he better known?  In part because Brutus monopolized favorable publicity. His friends and family polished his image in publications after his death. Later Romans looked back on Brutus with admiration and laid the groundwork for Shakespeare’s eulogy of Brutus as “the noblest Roman of them all.”

Not so Decimus. Unlike Brutus, Decimus was no wordsmith, nor did he have admirers with a literary flair to tell his story. Yet his role does appear in certain lesser-known ancient accounts. Although Shakespeare made little use of them they survive today. And so the record allows us to recover the tale of Caesar’s forgotten assassin.

History of Villa Decius

Jost Ludwig Dietz came to Kraków from Hungary in 1508. Who could have expected then that that young lad would soon become one of the most influential persons in the city? That he would leave a remembrance that would shape the image of Kraków to the same extent as the Royal Wawel Castle. Justus Ludovicus Decius- as this is how the Alsatian started to be called in Poland – was a protégé of his compatriot, Jan Jacob Boner, a royal banker, the founder and manager of the largest commercial empire in contemporary Europe – the Wieliczka and Bochnia salt mines. Through his positions as secretary, bookkeeper and trusted deputy, Decius quickly became a consummate diplomat, practised financier and a highly positioned royal dignitary. A secretary of King Sigismund the Old since 1520, and soon his advisor and the principal of crown mints, due to many talents, literary and historical dissertations, many journeys and scientific predilections, he enjoyed the respect and friendship of the most outstanding European humanists.

He knew Martin Luther and Desiderius Erasmus. He also maintained close contacts with the Habsburg court. Already by 1519 he had obtained noble status from the King, and somewhat later he was received to the House of Tęczyński. In 1528 Justus Decius purchased parts of Przegorzały and Wola Chełmska villages near Kraków in order to build a suburban villa following the example of a fashionable paradis terrestiare in the environs of Florence and Rome – estates that were meeting places and places of rest and philosophical debate. He employed three Italian architects for the designing and construction of building: Giovanni Cini of Siena, Zenobius Gianotti of Rome and Filippo of Fiesole. Located on the picturesque eastern slope of Sowiniec, surrounded by an extensive renaissance garden, the palace was completed in 1535. Soon it became the venue for meetings of representatives of different cultures and nationalities, the exchange of opinion and for creative confrontation between various convictions.

After the death of the patron of the house, in 1545, the estate was inherited by his son, Justus junior, known as the leading dissenter in the capital of the Republic of Poland. The Arcadian estate in the Wola district, already known as Wola Justowska, was again full of guests. Those followers of religious innovation, the disciples of Luther and Calvin, found an atmosphere of tolerance and freedom at Villa Decius, and who knows, perhaps even an idyllic foretaste of eternity .

In 1590 Sebastian Lubomirski, the founder of the fortune of his House, bought the estate. He rebuilt the palace to meet the needs of his family. In 1630 a new storey, with a large impressive hall heightened the Villa. Two alcove towers were added and linked by a three-story arcade loggia. Most probably the renaissance treatise of Sebastiano Serlio inspired the change. Matteo Trapoli – the personal architect of the Lubomirskis, supervised the reconstruction works. The first outbuilding of the Villa, known today as the Łaski House , also comes from that period. The Lubomirskis were gradually becoming one of the first aristocratic Houses of the Republic of Poland and the small palace finally turned out to be too little. Therefore they moved to new much grander residences at Wiśnicz and Łańcut.

The eighteenth century was less favourable to Villa Decius. The estate often changed owner, and these did not always husband it appropriately. Under the Sanguszkos who presumably renovated the building and introduced changes into the interior, the whole second floor collapsed. Despite the size of the catastrophe, Andrzej Morzkowski – provincial royal official in Barcice – purchased the estate. Later, this time fortunately, the Villa passed into the hands of the Wielowiejskis.

The first of the three great ladies to reside at Villa Decius in the nineteenth century came from the Wielowiejski family. Already in the 1820s Joanna Ledóchowska née Wielowiejska transformed the destroyed and walled up Villa into a summer residence in accordance with her likes and Zeitgeist. The garden underwent the most significant change, it was converted into an English landscape park following the contemporary fashion. Such surroundings gave the Villa a romantic and somewhat enigmatic touch.

 

In the 1840s Henrietta Kuczkowska née Ankwicz took an interest in the estate. She came back to Poland after many years spent in Rome, where her parents kept open house, inviting the distinguished notables of the Polish emigré community. It is no secret that Miss Henrietta Ankwicz was the muse and the youthful beloved of Adam Mickiewicz, who portrayed her as Ewa in the third part of Dziady . After she had come back to Poland at the side of her second husband, Kazimierz Kuczkowski, Henrietta tried to maintain intimate contacts with the aristocracy paying no heed to their difficult financial situation. However, due to that carefree attitude the Villa underwent yet another costly reconstruction. An impressive front staircase appeared, the towers received balconies, an attic was added over the loggia. Once again the Villa was embellished, yet eventually the married couple went into debt. They tried to save the situation by selling off the palace furniture and Gobelin tapestry, and by selling licenses for tree felling in the Wolski grove. In the end, a Viennese banker, J. G. Schuller, purchased the declining estate for more than a million zlotys.

In the 1870s Villa Decius once again recovered its former splendour due to Marcelina Czartoryska, the Villa’s last aristocratic owner. The daughter of Michał Radziwiłł and Emilia née Worcelli, she was raised in Vienna, where she began her musical studies under Carl Czerny. She took lessons from Frederic Chopin in Paris, becoming with time one of the best performers of his works. In Paris she befriended many personalities from among the eminent Polish émigré community, as well as French literary and artistic circles. Her guests included such figures as Charles Gounod, Paul Delaroche, and Eugene Delacroix. In 1867 the Duchess returned to Poland for good and took up residence in Kraków at Villa Decius. Her house soon became the leading salon in the city, the mainstay of patriotism and Polish character. A fire at the residence in 1882 forced Czartoryska into a temporary removal to the city centre. Soon, after the reconstruction of the Villa supervised by Tadeusz Stryjeński, the Duchess returned to the palace in the Wola district. That restoration gave Villa Decius its neo-renaissance form and its current layout of rooms. Moreover, she added the impressive wooden stairway leading from the hall on the ground floor to higher storeys which still exists today. With the death of Duchess Czartoryska in 1894, the halcyon days of Villa Decius came to an end.

During the First World War it was used as army quarters. Later the Villa was changed into a tenement building. The Second World War deepened the devastation of the building – the Villa housed the Nazi police headquarters. After the war the building housed successively a school for auditors of co-operatives, a boarding school and a tuberculosis ward of the Dr. Anka Hospital. In the 1970s the building fell into complete ruin and it was hard to imagine that it would ever come back to life. Nevertheless, in 1996 Villa Decius once again opened wide its doors. Restored due to the efforts of the City of Kraków, the Villa regained its former splendour.

Grotto of the Seven Sleepers in Ephesus

Description: 

If you find yourself in the vicinity of Ephesus, you should find the ruins of the Grotto of the Seven Sleepers (tr. Yedi Uyuyanlar), located nearby. It is a Byzantine necropolis where dozens of rock-cut tombs can be seen. The grotto is one of the several places related to the legend of a group of youths who hid inside a cave and years after woke up to find the world changed. This legend has two versions, Christian, and Islamic.

The legend

Christian version

The legend tells the story of seven young men who were accused of belonging to the Christian community at the time of the persecutions by the Roman Emperor Trajan Decius. He reigned from 249 to 251 AD. At this time, a group of young Christian men were given some time to renounce their faith. Rather than do that, they distributed his wealth among the poor and hid in a mountain cave, where they began to pray. During the prayer, they became overcome by great sleepiness. When they were found sleeping in the cave, at the behest of the emperor the entrance to the cave was sealed. An alternative version of this story claims that Decius ordered the incarceration of young men in a cave as punishment for their beliefs.

Many years passed, and Christianity from a persecuted religion became the state religion. After over 250 years, during the reign of Theodosius II (i.e. between 408 and 450), a landowner decided to demolish walled up the entrance to the cave, because it planned to use it as a cowshed. He was genuinely surprised to find seven men sleeping inside. They woke up with the conviction that they slept for just one day. As they were tormented by hunger, they sent one volunteer to the city to buy some food. He was to be extremally careful not to get caught by the pagans.

When the man entered Ephesus, he noticed with great astonishment that there were crosses on many buildings in the city. The biggest sensation was caused by his attempt to pay for the food with old coins from the time of Decius. City residents called the local bishop, who heard the story of seven young men.

Since the earliest version of the story comes from the vicinity of Ephesus, the legendary cave was identified with the grotto on the slope of Pion Mountain (tr. Panayır Dağı). The cave was declared a sacred place and began to attract pilgrims. For hundreds of years, the faithful wanted to be buried as close as possible next to the holy youths. With time, numerous graves appeared, and the catacombs were built in the vicinity.

Islamic version

The Islamic version of the legend of the Young Sleepers is very well known in the Muslim world as it is quoted in the Koran in Sura 18, verses 9 to 26. In this version, the exact number of sleepers is not given because it is known only to Allah. According to this version of the legend young men slept for 300 or 309 solar years. The addition to the Islamic version is a faithful dog that accompanied young men on their way to the cave and slept at its entry. People passing nearby saw the sleeping dog and were afraid to look inside because they thought it guards the secrets of the cave. In this version young men are called 'the people of the cave.'

The Koran does not specify the location of the cave, so its location is the source of much speculation. Apart from the cave near Ephesus, there are other probable locations, in Turkey as well as in other countries, such as Jordan, Tunisia, and even China.

Sightseeing

The place known as the Grotto of the Seven Sleepers is now a ruined church carved into the rock. The cave was once lined with bricks that created the impression of a building. In the side walls of the church, there are niches with arched vaults, and in the depths of the cave there is an apse. The inscriptions dedicated to the Seven Sleepers were found on the walls.

The hollow floor openings are now empty, but they were once the burial place. In total, in the cave, and its surroundings several hundred graves from the 5th and the 6th centuries AD have been discovered.

The most valuable find for archaeologists was the treasure, which consisted of a collection of terracotta lamps, dated to the 4th and the 5th century AD. Most of them were decorated with the sign of the cross, and some show the scenes from the Old Testament, including Adam and Eve, Abraham and Isaac, and Daniel in the lion's den. They are also lamps with scenes from everyday life, fishing, and theatre performances. Interestingly, on some of the lamps, there are scenes from pagan times, depicting Hercules, Zeus and Aphrodite and the facades of ancient temples.

The interpretation of this finding is not straightforward. Did Christian residents of Ephesus preserve the pagan traditions or did the pagans join the Christians during the ceremonies held in a cave? The answer is not known, but the lamps certainly reflect existing pagan traditions in the 5th century AD at Ephesus.

Visitor tips: 

The Grotto of the Seven Sleepers is fenced off, and the gate - padlocked most of the time. If you are lucky, there will be a guardian nearby to open the gate. Otherwise, you might try getting inside through a hole in the fence or by crawling under the gate.

Nearby the cave there is a restaurant specialising in homemade gözleme and fresh ayran that can be enjoyed while lying on benches lined with carpets.

Getting there: 

First, you need to get to Selçuk, then head towards the ruins of the ancient city of Ephesus. There are signposts to the grotto from Ephesus. The cave is located on the mountainside of Panayır Mountain, about 1.5 km from Ephesus and 200 meters from the car park.