A name may be missing from the annals of imperial Rome

Time and chance may erase all trace of even those who have been great in their day. And there were many opportunities for greatness, albeit fleeting, in the Roman empire of the third century AD. Between the reigns of Septimius Severus, who died in 211, and Diocletian, who came to power in 284, 33 men are known to have had their claim to rule—and with that, the title “Imperator”—recognised by the Senate of Rome. On top of those, a further 18 individuals (one was a woman) awarded themselves this title, set themselves up as local rulers, and coined money to prove the point, without engaging in the dangerous business of marching on the capital itself.