NIGER, PESCENNIUS

died 194 original name Gaius Pescennius Niger Justus rival Roman emperor from 193 to 194. An equestrian army officer from Italy, Niger was promoted to senatorial rank about 180. Most of his earlier service had been in the eastern provinces, but in 185186 he commanded an expeditionary force against deserters who had seized control of a number of cities in southern Gaul. After serving a term as consul (c. 189), he was appointed legate of Syria. By the end of the emperor Commodus' reign in 192, Niger had won great popularity, both in the East and among the urban populace of Rome. When Commodus' successor, Pertinax, was murdered in the spring of 193, Niger was proclaimed emperor by his legions and was accepted as ruler in all the Asiatic provinces. Septimius Severus, who was proclaimed emperor by the troops of Pannonia Superior, marched east and decisively defeated Niger in the Battle of Issus (in southeast Anatolia) in the autumn of 194. Niger fled but was overtaken and killed.