Meaning of barracks emperor | Babel Free

Definitions

An emperor who seized power by virtue of his command of the army.

Ancient-Rome, historical

Equivalents

Examples

“The next twenty-nine emperors, who ruled Rome for ninety-two years, or until a.d. 284, were known as the Barracks Emperors, because most of them owed their elevation to the purchase of favors from the soldiers. A few of these men were of unblemished character, but most of them encouraged the progress of corruption and aided the downfall of Rome.”

“While Iran and Mesopotamia therefore enjoyed relative security in the third century a.d., the internal cohesion of the Roman state showed signs of serious disrepair. The civil war between 193 and 197 a.d., which brought the first "barracks emperor" to power, was a mere prelude to the distresses of the years 235 to 285 a.d., when recurrent struggles between rival candidates for the imperial throne opened the gates to barbarian invasion accompanied by pestilential disease of unusual severity.”

“Abraham Lincoln had only one thing in common with a Roman barracks-emperor: that he had risen, as had Diocletian and others, from a poverty-stricken rural background.”

“Who was the first "barracks emperor" of Rome? […] The "barracks emperors" were Roman military leaders of this era who seized supreme power in the field or were elevated to the throne by the army against their will. They were often uncultured or semieducated, or natives of backward provinces, like Maximinus Thrax ("the Thracian"), the first common soldier who rose through the ranks to become Roman emperor.”

CEFR level