Maximinus Thrax

Maximinus Thrax (c. 173–238 CE) was Roman emperor from 235 to 238 and the first of the soldier-emperors whose rise opened the Crisis of the Third Century; of Thracian frontier origin, he came up through the army ranks rather than from the senatorial or equestrian elite. According to the Christian historian Eusebius, on taking power he reversed his predecessor's tolerance and ordered action against the leaders of the churches; this episode is traditionally linked to the exile of Pope Pontian and the Roman presbyter Hippolytus to the mines of Sardinia in 235, though modern scholars debate whether it was an empire-wide directive or scattered local persecutions. He spent his reign campaigning on the northern frontiers and was killed by his own troops at Aquileia in 238.