16 Facts About Maximinus II

Galerius Valerius Maximinus Daza, known as Daza, was Roman emperor from 310 to 313 CE.

Maximinus II became embroiled in the Civil wars of the Tetrarchy between rival claimants for control of the empire, in which he was defeated by Licinius.

Emperor Maximinus was originally called Daza, a common name in Illyria, where he was born.

Maximinus II acquired the name Maximinus at the request of his maternal uncle, Galerius, and his full name as emperor was Galerius Valerius Maximinus Daza.

Maximinus II was born in the Roman Illyria region to the sister of emperor Galerius near their family lands around Felix Romuliana, in Dacia Ripensis, a rural area then in the former Danubian region of Moesia, now modern Eastern Serbia.

Related searches

When Licinius and Constantine I began to make common cause, Maximinus II entered into a secret alliance with the usurper Maxentius, who controlled Italy.

Maximinus II has a bad name in Christian annals for renewing their persecution after the publication of the Edict of Toleration by Galerius, acting in response to the demands of various urban authorities asking to expel Christians.

In one rescript replying to a petition made by the inhabitants of Tyre, transcribed by Eusebius of Caesarea, Maximinus II expounds a pagan orthodoxy, explaining that it is through "the kindly care of the gods" that one could hope for good crops, health, and the peaceful sea, and that not being the case, one should blame "the destructive error of the empty vanity of those impious men [that] weighed down the whole world with shame".

Maximinus II' death was variously ascribed "to despair, to poison, and to the divine justice".

Maximinus II was the last Roman emperor, and thus the last individual, to hold the title of pharaoh, making his death the end of a 3,400-year-old office.

Maximinus II probably married a relative of his uncle Galerius, possibly a daughter or granddaughter.

Maximinus II went to such an excess of folly and drunkenness that his mind was deranged and crazed in his carousals; and he gave commands when intoxicated of which he repented afterward when sober.

Maximinus II suffered no one to surpass him in debauchery and profligacy, but made himself an instructor in wickedness to those about him, both rulers and subjects.

Maximinus II urged on the army to live wantonly in every kind of revelry and intemperance, and encouraged the governors and generals to abuse their subjects with rapacity and covetousness, almost as if they were rulers with him.

Maximinus II refers to one high-born Christian woman who rejected his advances.

Maximinus II exiled her and seized all of her wealth and assets.