Hostilian Quintus

230 – 251 · Generation XIV · Roman emperor (AD 251)

Hostilian (AD 230 – AD 251). Roman emperor (AD 251). Survived the battle that killed his father and brother, only to die of plague within months. The younger of Decius’s sons, he was made caesar around 250 but stayed in Rome while his father and brother marched against the Goths. After Abritus, Trebonianus Gallus — needing to soften so abrupt a change of rulers — raised him to Augustus and made his own son Volusianus caesar beside him. The arrangement lasted weeks: contemporary evidence puts his death in or before August, probably July. Even the ancients disagreed on the cause — Aurelius Victor and the Epitome de Caesaribus blame the plague, while Zosimus claims Trebonianus Gallus had him killed. His coins all show a beardless boy, and it may be that both of Decius’s sons were still children or teenagers when they died.

Parents

Decius Traianus (201 – 251)
Herennia Etruscilla (209 – 253)

Siblings

Herennius Etruscus (227 – 251)