He claimed the imperial throne in response to the murder of Pertinax and the elevation of Didius Julianus, but was defeated by a rival claimant, Septimius Severus, and killed while attempting to flee from Antioch.

[1] He may have had a brother named Publius Pescennius Niger who is recorded in an inscription to have been a member of the Arval Brethren in AD 183, during the reign of Commodus.

[6] As Niger began bolstering his support in the eastern provinces, Severus marched on Rome which he entered in early June 193 after Julianus had been murdered.

While Severus had the sixteen Danubian legions at his disposal, Niger possessed only six: three in Syria, the two stationed in Arabia Petraea, and one located at Melitene.

[13] Niger therefore decided to act aggressively, and sent a force into Thrace where it defeated a part of Severus’ army under Lucius Fabius Cilo at Perinthus.

[17] Niger, having made Byzantium his headquarters, gave Asellius Aemilianus the task of defending the southern shore of the Sea of Marmara.

Nevertheless, Niger was able to withdraw the bulk of his army intact to the Taurus Mountains, where he held the passes for a few months while he returned to Antioch.

After Niger's death his wife and children served no use as hostages, and were allowed to live in retirement, where it was supposed, they would play no further part in public affairs.

[26] Cassius Dio's "Roman History" reports that, when a priest of Jupiter saw in a dream a "black/dark man" (ἄνθρωποι τὸν μέλανα) breaking into the emperor's camp, this was interpreted as referring to Pescennius Niger.

At the end of the film, Niger and Didius Julianus, played by Eric Porter, another crony of Commodus, compete against each other in the auction for the throne of Rome.