Tribute to Maximus Decimus Meridius

He was born in the hills between Trujillo and Merida in the municipality of Caceres in Hispania in AD 152. He was the son of Meridius, the governor of the province, and of Lucretia, the daughter of the Roman Senator Bodaus. He was sent to school at the age of eight to Hispalis, and studied under the tutelage of Fulvus, the stoic philospher. He joined the army at 17 as a Standard fought in campaigns against the Celts in Britannia and against the Parthians in Cappadocia. Honored for his bravery under the fire of battle, he moved up through the ranks as optio, centurion, and then as primus pilus of the First Cohort under General Lucius Veras. Marcus Aurelius, a friend of Maximus’s father and father-in-law, appointed him Legate of the Emperor’s Legion in AD 176. He was the youngest general so appointed in Roman history. Possible head of Maximus. found in the Tiber River in the 18th Century He led the army against the Veture in Gaul and the Marcomanni in Germania. He w