wealthy Roman senator who became emperor (March 28–June 1, 193) by being the highest bidder in an auction for the support of the Praetorian Guard.

A member of one of the most prominent families of Mediolanum (now Milan), Didius Severus Julianus had a long and distinguished public career. After commanding the legion at Mogontiacum (now Mainz), about 167, he governed northeastern Gaul, Dalmatia, the lower Rhine, Bithynia, and Africa. He was consul in 175.

During the political disturbances of Commodus' reign he was banished to Mediolanum. Commodus was murdered on the eve of Jan. 1, 193, however, and his successor, Pertinax, was assassinated by the imperial guard late in March. Backed by a group of senators who had Milanese connections, Julianus competed with the late emperor's father-in-law, Titus Flavius Sulpicianus, in offering the guards a substantial donative (accession bounty). Julianus won the bidding and was escorted by the guards to the Senate, where he encountered angry demonstrators denouncing the auction and calling for the intervention of the army. Shortly thereafter the Danube legions invaded Italy, killed Julianus, and proclaimed their principal commander, Lucius Septimius Severus, emperor.