Maximin le Thrace

The first emperor risen from the ranks, Maximinus was a Thracian giant who climbed from common soldier to high command. Proclaimed in 235 by the legions that had just killed Severus Alexander, he spent his entire reign campaigning on the Danube and the Rhine, never once entering Rome. The Senate loathed him, Africa revolted, and his own troops murdered him before Aquileia in 238.