Decius Caelius Calvinus
Balbinus and Marcus Clodius
Pupienus Maximus were elected co-emperors by the
Roman Senate in
238 after the deaths of the two Gordians. After news of
Maximinus's murder reached
Rome, tensions increased between the Senate and the
Praetorian Guard. While the rest of the city was preoccupied with the
Capitoline Games[?], members of the Guard entered the imperial palace and dragged the two
Emperors into the street, where Pupienus and Balbinus were killed. These two men had ruled three months.