The Giant Emperor
Gaius Julius Verus Maximinus, better known as Maximinus Thrax, was a Roman emperor who reigned from 235 to 238 CE. Native of Thrace, he was the first barbarian soldier to be named emperor by his troops, after dethroning Alexander Severus.
His story would have nothing unusual, except for the fact that after him there were six emperors in less than a year. What is striking about Massimino Trace is his height: at his death his skeleton measured eight and a half feet, equal to 2.59 meters. He was a true colossus, who was more than a meter taller than contemporary soldiers and described by historians as physically very strong and as robust as a bull, capable of pulling a chariot alone, knocking down a horse with his fist and breaking rocks with his bare hands.
For some scholars he was a descendant of humans who lived in the Pleistocene eras characterized by Megafauna, in whose genes the DNA of the Giants present in all mythologies had therefore reappeared. For others, his stature is due to his Alan ancestry: the Alans were a tall and strong people, of Sarmatian lineage, who lived in the Caspian Sea area. Their kinship with the Scythians and Tocharians made physical dimensions with these values possible.
