Numerian
Numerian | |||||||||
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Emesa | |||||||||
Spouse | Daughter of Arrius Aper | ||||||||
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Father | Carus |
Numerian (
Early life and Carus' reign
Numerian was the younger son of
In 283, Carus left Carinus in charge of the West and moved with Numerian and his praetorian prefect
According to Zonaras, Eutropius, and Festus, Carus won a major victory against the Persians, taking Seleucia and the Sassanid capital of Ctesiphon (near modern Al-Mada'in, Iraq), cities on opposite banks of the Tigris.[13] In celebration, Numerian, Carus, and Carinus all took the title Persici maximi.[14] Carus died in July or early August of 283,[3] allegedly due to a strike of lightning.[15]
Numerian and Carinus as Augusti
The death of Carus left Numerian and Carinus as the new Augusti. Carinus quickly made his way to Rome from Gaul, arriving in January 284, while Numerian lingered in the East.[16] The Roman retreat from Persia was orderly and unopposed, for the Persian King, Bahram II, was still struggling to establish his authority.[17]
By March 284, Numerian had only reached Emesa (
After Emesa, Numerian's staff, including the prefect Aper, reported that Numerian suffered from an inflammation of the eyes and had to travel in a closed coach.[21] When the army reached Bithynia,[16] or Thrace,[22] some of Numerian's soldiers smelled an odor reminiscent of a decaying corpse emanating from the coach.[17] They opened its curtains and found Numerian dead.[23] Gibbon, however, dismisses with derision the report of the stench of Numerian's decay: "Could no aromatics be found in the Imperial household?"[24]
After Numerian's death
Aper officially broke the news of Numerian's death in
Character
According to the
Family tree
previous Prisca | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Carinus Roman Emperor 282-284 ∞ Magnia Urbica | Numerian co-emperor 282-284 | Galeria Valeria | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Citations
- ^ ISBN 978-0-521-84026-2.
- ^ Jones, Martindale & Morris, p. 634.
- ^ a b c Leadbetter, "Carus."
- ^ "Portraiture of Emperor Numerian". rome101.com. Retrieved 26 March 2023.
- ^ Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, p. 4; Leadbetter, "Carus"; Odahl, Constantine and the Christian Empire, p. 39; Southern, Severus to Constantine, p. 132; Williams, Diocletian, p. 32.
- ^ Edward Gibbon, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, (The Modern Library, 1932), ch. XII., pp. 291, 292
- ^ Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, p. 4; Odahl, Constantine and the Christian Empire, p. 39; Southern, Severus to Constantine, p. 132.
- ^ Gibbon, p. 292
- ^ Odahl, Constantine and the Christian Empire, p. 39; Southern, Severus to Constantine, p. 132; Williams, Diocletian, p. 32.
- ^ Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, p. 4; Odahl, Constantine and the Christian Empire, p. 39; Williams, Diocletian, p. 32.
- ^ Leadbetter, "Carus"; Odahl, Constantine and the Christian Empire, p. 39.
- ^ Gibbon, pp. 294, 295
- ^ Zonaras, 12.30; Eutropius, 9.14.1; Festus, 24; Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 4; Leadbetter, "Carus"; Odahl, Constantine and the Christian Empire, p. 39; Potter, The Roman Empire at Bay, p. 279; Williams, Diocletian, p. 33.
- ^ Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, p. 4; Leadbetter, "Carus."
- ^ Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, p. 4; Leadbetter, "Carus"; Odahl, Constantine and the Christian Empire, p. 39; Southern, Severus to Constantine, p. 133; Williams, Diocletian, pp. 33–34.
- ^ a b Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, p. 4.
- ^ a b Southern, Severus to Constantine, p. 133.
- ^ Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, p. 4; Leadbetter, "Numerianus."
- Codex Justinianeus5.52.2; Leadbetter, "Numerianus"; Potter, The Roman Empire at Bay, p. 279.
- ^ Roman Imperial Coinage 5.2 Numerian no. 462; Potter, The Roman Empire at Bay, pp. 279–80).
- ^ Leadbetter, "Numerianus."
- ^ a b Gibbon, p. 301
- ^ Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, p. 4; Leadbetter, "Numerianus"; Odahl, Constantine and the Christian Empire, p. 39; Williams, Diocletian, p. 35.
- ^ Gibbon, Ibid. note
- ^ a b Potter, The Roman Empire at Bay, p. 280.
- ^ Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, p. 4; Barnes, New Empire, p. 31; Bowman, "Diocletian", p. 68; Mathisen, "Diocletian"; Williams, Diocletian, p. 33, 35-36.
- ^ Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, pp. 4–5; Leadbetter, "Numerian"; Odahl, Constantine and the Christian Empire, pp. 39–40; Williams, Diocletian, p. 37.
- ^ Gibbon, Ibid.
- ^ Gibbon, p. 300
References
Primary sources
Secondary sources
- ISBN 978-0-674-16531-1
- Barnes, Timothy D. The New Empire of Diocletian and Constantine. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1982. ISBN 0-7837-2221-4
- Bowman, Alan K. "Diocletian and the First Tetrarchy." In The Cambridge Ancient History, Volume XII: The Crisis of Empire, edited by Alan Bowman, Averil Cameron, and Peter Garnsey, 67–89. Cambridge University Press, 2005. ISBN 0-521-30199-8
- ISBN 0-521-07233-6.
- Leadbetter, William. "Carus (282–283 A.D.)." De Imperatoribus Romanis (2001a). Accessed 16 February 2008.
- Leadbetter, William. "Numerianus (283–284 A.D.)." De Imperatoribus Romanis (2001b). Accessed 16 February 2008.
- Leadbetter, William. "Carinus (283–285 A.D.)." De Imperatoribus Romanis (2001c). Accessed 16 February 2008.
- Mathisen, Ralph W. "Diocletian (284–305 A.D.)." De Imperatoribus Romanis (1997). Accessed 16 February 2008.
- Potter, David S. The Roman Empire at Bay: AD 180–395. New York: Routledge, 2005. Hardcover ISBN 0-415-10058-5
- Southern, Pat. The Roman Empire from Severus to Constantine. New York: Routledge, 2001. ISBN 0-415-23944-3
- Williams, Stephen. Diocletian and the Roman Recovery. New York: Routledge, 1997. ISBN 0-415-91827-8
External links
- Leadbetter, William. "Numerianus (283–284 A.D.)", DIR (2001).