PETRONIUS MAXIMUS (*Petronius Maximus*), Emperor of the West. — Emperor for a few months, born in 396 from a noble family; he quickly rose to high ranks in the civil hierarchy: Prefect of Rome in 420 and consul in 433, by 439 he was Praetorian Prefect in Italy. At the death of Valentinian III (March 455), to which he was not unconnected, P. was acclaimed emperor by the soldiers.
To give a semblance of legality to his rule, he forced Eudoxia, the wife of Valentinian, still in mourning for her husband’s death, to marry him, and gave his own son Palladius her daughter Eudocia in marriage. Meanwhile, Gaiseric, who had made agreements with Valentinian, and to whose son Huneric Eudocia had already been promised, considered himself released from the pact, and taking advantage of the precarious conditions of the Empire, landed with a fleet at Portus on May 3. Rome was thrown into panic; P., terrified, sought escape in flight, but was massacred by the people and his body was thrown into the Tiber (May 455).