This is an old one, in the year 253 b.c a man named Aemilianus, a.k.a Aemilian, became Roman Emperor for a whole three months then was murdered. He was a well respected commander of the Moesian (a region of Roman territory) troops. In 253, the Goths, a Germanic tribe, felt unduly treated by the Romans and began attacking towns and villages on the Roman side of the Border. Aemilian was in charge of that particular area’s army, and, taking them by surprise, killed most of the Goths, then invaded and ransacked their territory. He was labled an enemy of the state even though he stopped the Goths, and this led to the war which brought him to power. Winning the battle, he was proclaimed Emperor by the Roman Senate and promised to fight for Rome in Thrace and against Persia. Unfortunately for the new Emperor, another man with a bigger army was soon on his way to make a claim for power. Hearing that Valerian was coming with a much larger force, Aemilian’s men decided to just kill him as opposed to fighting in another war. They killed him in Spoleto, an ancient Italian village, or at a place called the Sanguinarium bridge, (which is quite the metal name). Aemilian’s Army pledged themselves to Valerian and a ‘damnatio memorae’ (meaning condemnation of memory, basically a law stating the person must not be remembered) was placed upon the short-lived Emperor. Pictured above: a coin from the era with a likeness of Aemilian, a good map of the Roman Empire in 250 bc, a sculpture of the Romans fighting the Goths, and the beautiful Spoleto, Italy, where Aemilian met his end.