AE Sestertius, A.D. 238, Rome, 31mm, 18.53g, 0°, RIC IVii 15, C 30; rare.
Obv: IMP CAES M CLOD PVPIENVS AVG. Laureate, draped and cuirassed bust right.
Rev: PM TR P COS II PP. Emperor standing left, holding branch and parazonium; S C in field.
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Marcus Clodius Pupienus Maximus Augustus was Roman Emperor with Balbinus for three months in 238. Pupienus was the son of Marcus Pupienus Maximus, a Senator, and wife Clodia Pulchra. What is known of his career is impressive. He served a number of important posts during the Severan dynasty. This included assignment as Proconsul of the provinces of Bithynia et Pontus, Achaea, and Gallia Narbonensis, and a governorship in one of the German provinces. During his time as governor, he was quite popular and scored military victories over the German tribes. In 234 AD, during the last years of Severus Alexander’s reign, he was installed as Consul for the second time. In that same year he was also appointed Urban Prefect of Rome and gained a reputation for severity, to the extent that he became unpopular with the Roman mob.

When Gordian I and his son were proclaimed Emperors in Africa, the Senate appointed a committee of twenty men, including the elderly Senator Pupienus, to co-ordinate operations against Maximinus until the arrival of the Gordians. With the news of the Gordians death, the Senate met in closed session and voted for Pupienus and Balbinus to be installed as co-emperors. Leaving his senior colleague Balbinus in charge of the civil administration at Rome, Pupienus marched to Ravenna to oversee the campaign against Maximinus. When Maximinus was assassinated he returned to Rome. Balbinus, in the meantime, had failed to keep public order in the capital. Factions within the Senate who had hoped to profit from the accession of the Gordians manipulated the people and the Praetorian Guard to agitate for the elevation of Gordian III as emperor. The Praetorians already resented serving under a Senate appointed emperor and now plotted to kill them. Pupienus, becoming aware of the threat, begged Balbinus to call for the German bodyguard. Balbinus, who already distrusted Pupienus and believing that this was part of a plot to have him assassinated, refused, and the two began to argue just as the Praetorians burst into the room. Both emperors were seized and dragged back to the Praetorian barracks where they were tortured and brutally hacked to death.