Trajan Decius, 34th Roman Emperor (engraving, 1583)

Italy: Trajan Decius (201-251), 34th Roman emperor, from the book "Romanorvm imperatorvm effigies: elogijs ex diuersis scriptoribus per Thomam Treteru S. Mariae Transtyberim canonicum collectis", 1583 Trajan Decius (201-251) was a distinguished senator and governor in the Roman Empire. When revolts and uprisings began occurring throughout the Empire in the last years of Philip the Arab's reign, Decius was sent to quell a revolt in the Balkan provinces of Moesia and Pannonia. After defeating the revolt, Decius was proclaimed Emperor by his troops, and he fought against and killed Philip in 249, entering Rome and being recognised as Emperor by the Roman Senate. As Emperor, Decius focused on defeating external threats to the Empire, as well as restoring public piety and strengthening the State religion, which involved the persecution of Christians as well as an Imperial edict declaring all citizens make a sacrifice for the Emperor and Empire every year on a certain day. A renewed incursion by the Goths forced Decius to march and confront them in battle, alongside his son and co-emperor, Herennius Etruscus. During the decisive Battle of Abritus, Etruscus was killed early on by an arrow, and Decius was himself later killed on the field of battle, when his entire army was entangled and annihilated in a swamp. Decius and his son were the first two Roman Emperors to be officially recorded dying in battle against a foreign enemy, with Gordian III's manner of death still debated.