Probus (consul 502)

Flavius Probus (

.

Biography

Probus was the nephew of Eastern Roman Emperor

(ca 500 - after 517), consul in 517.

He was a

, around 508.

In 502 he was appointed consul by the East court. In 519, during the investigation around Peter of Apamea, he was cheered along with Hypatius.

In 526 (when he had been probably appointed to the high office of

; the emperor gave him money to hire Hunnic mercenaries to defend the Iberian region from the Persians, but Probus gave the money, with the consent of Justin, to the missionaries who worked among the Huns.

In 528 he was accused of slandering Emperor Justinian I; brought to trial before the consistory, the Emperor tore up the documentation and forgave Probus.

In January 532, Justinian faced a dangerous uprising, known to history as the

. The rebels needed a candidate to the throne in opposition to Justinian, and Probus believed that, as a nephew of Anastasius, the people might choose him or one of his cousins, and for this reason he secretly withdrew from Constantinople. The rebels went to his house, near the port of Julian, and having not found him there, burned it; they then acclaimed Hypatius emperor. After quashing the revolt, Justinian executed Hypatius and banished Probus, confiscating their properties, but the following year he changed his mind and recalled Probus, restoring what was taken away.

Probus was still alive in 542, when he leased one of his houses to John of Ephesus.

Bibliography

• Martindale, John R., e John Morris, "Fl. Probus 8",
  The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire
  , Volume 2, Cambridge University Press, 1980, pp. 912–913.

Political offices
Preceded by Avienus, Pompeius	Consul of the Roman Empire 502 with Rufius Magnus Faustus Avienus Junior	Succeeded by Volusianus, Dexicrates