Decius Trajan Decius ( ; ca . 201 – June 251 ) , was Roman Emperor from 249 to 251 . In the last year of his reign , he co - ruled with his son Herennius Etruscus until they were both killed in the Battle of Abrittus . Early life and rise to power . Decius , who was born at Budalia , now Martinci , Serbia near Sirmium ( Sremska Mitrovica ) , in Lower Pannonia was one of the first among a long succession of future Roman Emperors to originate from the province of Illyricum in the Danube . Unlike some of his immediate imperial predecessors such as Philip the Arab or Maximinus who did not have extensive administrative experience before assuming the throne , Decius was a distinguished senator who had served as consul in 232 , had been governor of Moesia and Germania Inferior soon afterwards , served as governor of Hispania Tarraconensis between 235 – 238 , and was urban prefect of Rome during the early reign of Emperor Philip the Arab ( Marcus Iulius Phillipus ) . Around 245 , Emperor Philip entrusted Decius with an important command on the Danube . By the end of 248 or 249 , Decius was sent to quell the revolt of Pacatianus and his troops in Moesia and Pannonia ; the soldiers were enraged because of the peace treaty signed between Philip and the Sassanids . Once arrived , the troops forced Decius to assume the imperial dignity himself instead . Decius still protested his loyalty to Philip , but the latter advanced against him and was killed near Verona , Italy . The Senate then recognized Decius as Emperor , giving him the attribute " Traianus " as a reference to the good emperor Trajan . As the Byzantine historian Zosimus later noted : Political and monumental initiatives . Decius ' political program was focused on the restoration of the strength of the State , both military opposing the external threats , and restoring the public piety with a program of renovation of the State religion . Either as a concession to the Senate , or perhaps with the idea of improving public morality , Decius endeavoured to revive the separate office and authority of the censor . The choice was left to the Senate , who unanimously selected Valerian ( the future emperor ) . But Valerian , well aware of the dangers and difficulties attaching to the office at such a time , declined the responsibility . The invasion of the Goths and Decius ' death put an end to the abortive attempt . During his reign , he proceeded with several building projects in Rome , " including the Thermae Decianae or Baths of Decius on the Aventine " , which was completed in 252 and survived through to the 16th century ; Decius also acted to repair the Colosseum , which had been damaged by lightning strikes . Persecution of Christians . In January 250 , Decius is said to have issued one of the most remarkable Roman imperial edicts . From the numerous surviving texts from Egypt , recording the act of sacrifice , it appears that the edict itself was fairly clear : According to D . S . Potter , Decius did not try to impose the superiority of the Roman pantheon over any other gods . It is very probable that the edict was an attempt to legitimize his position and to respond to a general unease provoked by the passing of the Roman millennium . While Decius himself may have intended the edict as a way to reaffirm his conservative vision of the Pax Romana and to reassure Rome ' s citizens that the empire was still secure , it nevertheless sparked a " terrible crisis of authority as various Christian bishops and their flocks reacted to it in different ways . " Measures were first taken demanding that the bishops and officers of the church make a sacrifice for the Emperor . The sacrifice was " on behalf of " ( Latin " pro " ) the Emperor , not " to " the Emperor , since a living Emperor was not considered divine . Certificates were issued to those who satisfied the commissioners during the persecution of Christians under Decius . Forty - six such certificates have been published , all dating from 250 , four of them from Oxyrhynchus . Anyone , including Christian followers , who refused to offer a sacrifice for the Emperor and the Empire ' s well - being by a specified date risked torture and execution . A number of prominent Christians did , in fact , refuse to make a sacrifice and were killed in the process , including Pope Fabian himself in 250 , and " anti - Christian feeling [ s ] led to pogroms at Carthage and Alexandria . " In reality , however , towards the end of the second year of Decius ' reign , " the ferocity of the [ anti - Christian ] persecution had eased off , and the earlier tradition of tolerance had begun to reassert itself . " The Christian church , despite no indication in the surviving texts that the edict targeted any specific group , never forgot the reign of Decius whom they labelled as that " fierce tyrant " . At this time , there was a second outbreak of the Antonine Plague , which at its height from 251 to 266 , took the lives of 5 , 000 daily in Rome . This outbreak is referred to as the " Plague of Cyprian " ( the bishop of Carthage ) , where both the plague and the persecution of Christians were especially severe . Cyprian ' s biographer Pontius gave a vivid picture of the demoralizing effects of the plague and Cyprian moralized the event in his essay " De mortalitate " . In Carthage , the " Decian persecution " , unleashed at the onset of the plague , sought out Christian scapegoats . Decius ' edicts were renewed under Valerian in 253 and repealed under his son , Gallienus , in 260 - 1 . Military actions and death . The barbarian incursions into the Empire were becoming more and more daring and frequent whereas the Empire was facing a serious economic crisis in Decius ' time . During his brief reign , Decius engaged in important operations against the Goths , who crossed the Danube to raid districts of Moesia and Thrace . This is the first considerable occasion the Goths — who would later come to play such an important role — appear in the historical record . The Goths under King Cniva were surprised by the emperor while besieging Nicopolis on the Danube ; the Goths fled through the difficult terrain of the Balkans , but then doubled back and surprised the Romans near Beroë ( modern Stara Zagora ) , sacking their camp and dispersing the Roman troops . It was the first time a Roman emperor fled in the face of Barbarians . The Goths then moved to attack " Philippopolis " ( modern Plovdiv ) , which fell into their hands . The governor of Thrace , Titus Julius Priscus , declared himself Emperor under Gothic protection in opposition to Decius but Priscus ' s challenge was rendered moot when he was killed soon afterwards . Then the invaders began returning to their homeland , laden with booty and captives , among them many of senatorial rank . In the meantime , Decius had returned with his re - organized army , accompanied by his son Herennius Etruscus and the general Trebonianus Gallus , intending to defeat the invaders and recover the booty . The final engagement , the battle of Abrittus , in which the Goths fought with the courage of despair , under the command of Cniva , took place during the second week of June 251 on swampy ground in the Ludogorie ( region in northeastern Bulgaria which merges with Dobruja plateau and the Danube Plain to the north ) near the small settlement of Abrittus or " Forum Terebronii " ( modern Razgrad ) . Jordanes records that Decius ' son Herennius Etruscus was killed by an arrow early in the battle , and to cheer his men Decius exclaimed , " Let no one mourn ; the death of one soldier is not a great loss to the republic . " Nevertheless , Decius ' army was entangled in the swamp and annihilated in this battle , while he himself was killed on the field of battle . As the historian Aurelius Victor relates : One literary tradition claims that Decius was betrayed by his successor Trebonianus Gallus , who was involved in a secret alliance with the Goths but this cannot be substantiated and was most likely a later invention since Gallus felt compelled to adopt Decius ' younger son , Gaius Valens Hostilianus , as joint emperor even though the latter was too young to rule in his own right . It is also unlikely that the shattered Roman legions would proclaim as emperor a traitor who was responsible for the loss of so many soldiers from their ranks . Decius was the first Roman Emperor to die in battle against a foreign enemy . < / div >