Tigidius Perennis
Praetorian prefect
140 CE to 185 CE
Sextus Tigidius Perennis (died 185) is a prefect of the Roman imperial bodyguard, known as the Praetorian Guard, during the reigns of the emperors Marcus Aurelius and Commodus.
Under the latter, Perennis is the man who exercises the chief responsibilities of government in the Roman Empire.
In 185 however, Perennis is implicated in a plot to overthrow the emperor by his political rival Marcus Aurelius Cleander, and executed under orders of Commodus.
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Tigidius Perennis had been appointed Praetorian Prefect after the execution of the incumbent Prefect Paternus, who had displeased Commodus by ordering without consent the death of the Emperor's lover and friend Saoterus for his questionable involvement in an assassination plot headed by Lucilla and Marcus Ummidius Quadratus Annianus.
Perennis himself had been influential in the instigation of his predecessor Paternus's punishment.
Herodian describes how Perennis capitalized on Commodus's distrust of the Roman Senate (following the aforementioned assassination attempt to which the Senate was linked) by destroying many powerful Senators and claiming their wealth as his own.
So too was Perennis thought to have held ambitions of military power: soldiers were given lavish gifts in an attempt to seduce them to his cause, and his sons were appointed to commanding army roles.
The unreliable Augustan History suggests Perennis also persuaded Commodus to allow him political control, freeing the Emperor for his more hedonistic personal pursuits.
Commodus has been warned both by his friends and his soldiers of the rising influence of Perennis.
Ulpius Marcellus, the Roman governor in Britain, had re-advanced the Roman frontier northward to the Antonine Wall in 184, but the legionaries had revolted against his harsh discipline and acclaimed another legate, Priscus, as emperor.
Priscus had refused to accept their acclamations, but Perennis has all the legionary legates in Britain cashiered.
At the Capitoline Games on October 15, 184, a Cynic philosopher publicly denounces Perennis before Commodus, who is watching; but is immediately put to death.
Perennis, though ruthless and ambitious according to Dio Cassius, is not personally corrupt and generally administers the state well.
A detachment of soldiers from Britain (they had been drafted to Italy to suppress brigands) also denounces Perennis to the emperor in 185 as plotting to make his own son emperor (they had been enabled to do so by Cleander, who is seeking to dispose of his rival), and Commodus gives them permission to execute him as well as his wife and sons.
The fall of Perennis brings a new spate of executions: Aufidius Victorinus commits suicide.
Ulpius Marcellus is replaced as governor of Britain by Pertinax; brought to Rome and tried for treason, Marcellus narrowly escapes death.
In this year, Commodus takes the title of Felix (Fortunate).