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Marcus Aurelius Carus (c. 230 - late July/early August, 283) was a Roman Emperor
Roman Emperor

The Roman Emperor was the ruler of the Roman Empire during the imperial period . The Romans had no single term for the office: Latin language titles such as imperator , Augustus , Caesar and princeps were all associated with it....
 (282-283). During his short reign, Carus tried to follow the path of restoration of the empire strength marked by Aurelian
Aurelian

Lucius Domitius Aurelianus , known in English as Aurelian, Roman Emperor , was the second of several highly successful "soldier-emperors" who helped the Roman Empire regain its power during the latter part of the third century and the beginning of the fourth....
 and Probus
Probus

Marcus Aurelius Probus was a Roman Emperor .A native of Sirmium , in Pannonia, at an early age he entered the army, where he distinguished himself under the Emperors Valerian , Aurelian and Marcus Claudius Tacitus....
. His sons Carinus
Carinus

Marcus Aurelius Carinus was Roman Emperor and elder son of the Emperor Carus, on whose accession he was appointed governor of the western portion of the empire....
 and Numerian
Numerian

Marcus Aurelius Numerius Numerianus , known in English as Numerian, was a Roman Emperor , together with his brother Carinus. They were sons of Carus, a Gaul raised to the office of praetorian prefect under Emperor Probus in 282....
 formed, with Carus, a short lived dynasty, which granted further stability to a resurgent empire.

Carus, whose name before the accession may have been Marcus Numerius Carus, was born, probably, at Narbo (modern Narbonne)
Narbonne

Narbonne is a commune in France in southern France in the Languedoc-Roussillon r?gion in France. It lies from Paris in the Aude d?partement in France, of which it is a sous-pr?fecture....
 in Gaul, but was educated at Rome
Rome

Rome is the capital city of Italy and Lazio, and is Italy's largest and most populous city, with 2,724,347 residents in an urban area of some ....
.






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Marcus Aurelius Carus (c. 230 - late July/early August, 283) was a Roman Emperor
Roman Emperor

The Roman Emperor was the ruler of the Roman Empire during the imperial period . The Romans had no single term for the office: Latin language titles such as imperator , Augustus , Caesar and princeps were all associated with it....
 (282-283). During his short reign, Carus tried to follow the path of restoration of the empire strength marked by Aurelian
Aurelian

Lucius Domitius Aurelianus , known in English as Aurelian, Roman Emperor , was the second of several highly successful "soldier-emperors" who helped the Roman Empire regain its power during the latter part of the third century and the beginning of the fourth....
 and Probus
Probus

Marcus Aurelius Probus was a Roman Emperor .A native of Sirmium , in Pannonia, at an early age he entered the army, where he distinguished himself under the Emperors Valerian , Aurelian and Marcus Claudius Tacitus....
. His sons Carinus
Carinus

Marcus Aurelius Carinus was Roman Emperor and elder son of the Emperor Carus, on whose accession he was appointed governor of the western portion of the empire....
 and Numerian
Numerian

Marcus Aurelius Numerius Numerianus , known in English as Numerian, was a Roman Emperor , together with his brother Carinus. They were sons of Carus, a Gaul raised to the office of praetorian prefect under Emperor Probus in 282....
 formed, with Carus, a short lived dynasty, which granted further stability to a resurgent empire.

Carus, whose name before the accession may have been Marcus Numerius Carus, was born, probably, at Narbo (modern Narbonne)
Narbonne

Narbonne is a commune in France in southern France in the Languedoc-Roussillon r?gion in France. It lies from Paris in the Aude d?partement in France, of which it is a sous-pr?fecture....
 in Gaul, but was educated at Rome
Rome

Rome is the capital city of Italy and Lazio, and is Italy's largest and most populous city, with 2,724,347 residents in an urban area of some ....
. He was a senator
Roman Senate

The Senate of the Roman Republic was a political institution in the ancient Roman Republic. According to the Greek historian Polybius, our principal source on the Constitution of the Roman Republic, the Roman Senate was the predominant branch of government....
, and had filled various civil and military posts before he was appointed prefect
Prefect

Prefect is a magisterial title of varying definition.A prefect's office, department, or area of control is called a prefecture, but in various post-Roman cases there is a prefect without a prefecture or vice versa....
 of the Praetorian Guard
Praetorian Guard

The Praetorian Guard was a special force of guards used by Roman empire List of Roman Emperorss. Before being appropriated for the use of the Emperors' personal guards, the title was used for the guards of Roman generals, at least since the rise to prominence of the Scipio family around 275 BC....
 by the emperor Probus in 282. After the murder of Probus at Sirmium
Sirmium

Sirmium was an ancient city in Roman Pannonia. Sirmium originally was an Illyrians town conquered by the Ancient Rome in the 1st century BC. It was a very important town in the later Roman Empire, being the economic capital of Roman Pannonia and one of the four capital cities of the Roman Empire....
, Carus was proclaimed emperor by the soldiers. Although Carus severely avenged the death of Probus, he was himself suspected of having been an accessory to the deed. He does not seem to have returned to Rome after his accession, but contented himself with an announcement of the fact to the Senate.

Bestowing the title of Caesar
Caesar (title)

Caesar , Latin: Caesar , is a title of emperor character. It derives from the Roman naming convention#Cognomen of Julius Caesar, the Roman dictator....
 upon his sons Carinus and Numerian, he left Carinus in charge of the western portion of the empire, and took Numerian with him on the expedition against the Persians
Persian Empire

The 'Persian Empire' was a series of successive Iranian or Persianization empires that ruled over the Iranian plateau, the original Persian homeland, and beyond in Southwest Asia, South Asia, Central Asia and the Caucasus....
 which had been contemplated by Probus. Having defeated the Quadi
Quadi

The Quadi were a smaller Germanic tribe, about which little definitive information is known. The history of non-literate peoples is written by their opponents, and we can only know the Germanic tribe the Romans called the 'Quadi' through Roman eyes....
 and Sarmatians
Sarmatians

The Sarmatians, Sarmat? or Sauromat? were a people of Ancient Iranian peoples origin. Mentioned by Classics authors, they migrated from Central Asia to the Ural Mountains around fifth century B.C....
 on the Danube
Danube

The Danube is the longest river in the European Union and Europe's second longest river after the Volga.The river originates in the Black Forest in Germany as the much smaller Brigach and Breg River rivers which join at the eponymously named German town Donaueschingen, after which it is known as the Danube and flows eastwards for a distance...
, Carus proceeded through Thrace
Thrace

Thrace is a historical and geographic area in southeast Europe. Today the name Thrace designates a region spread over southern Bulgaria , northeastern Greece , and European Turkey ....
 and Asia Minor, annexed Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia

Mesopotamia is the area of the Tigris-Euphrates river system, along the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, largely corresponding to modern Iraq, as well as some parts of northeastern Syria, some parts of southeastern Turkey, and some parts of the Khuzestan Province of southwestern Iran....
, pressed on to Seleucia
Seleucia on the Tigris

Seleucia was one of the great cities of the world during Hellenistic and Roman Empire times. It stood in Mesopotamia, on the west bank of the Tigris River, opposite the smaller town of Opis ....
 and Ctesiphon
Ctesiphon

Ctesiphon was one of the great cities of the Persian Empire, located on the east bank of the Tigris.Ctesiphon was an imperial capital of the Arsacids and of their successors, the Sassanids....
, and carried his arms beyond the Tigris
Tigris

The Tigris is the eastern member of the two great rivers that define Mesopotamia, along with the Euphrates, which flows from the mountains of southeastern Turkey through Iraq....
. The Sassanid Emperor
Sassanid Empire

The Sassanid Empire or Sassanian Dynasty is the name of the last pre-Islamic Iranian empire. It was one of the two main powers in Western Asia for a period of more than 400 years....
 Bahram II
Bahram II

Bahram II was the fifth Sassanid dynasty King of Persia in 276–293.He was the son of Bahram I .Bahram II is said to have ruled at first tyrannically, and to have greatly disgusted all his principal nobles, who went so far as to form a conspiracy against him, and intended to put him to death....
 limited by internal opposition, could not effectively defend his territory. For his victories, which avenged all the previous defeats suffered by the Romans against the Sassanids, Carus received the title of Persicus Maximus.

Carus hopes of further conquest were cut short by his death. One day, after a violent storm, it was announced that he was dead. His death was variously attributed to disease, the effects of lightning
Lightning

File:Blesk.jpgLightning is an Earth's atmosphere discharge of electricity usually accompanied by thunder, which typically occurs during thunderstorms, and sometimes during volcano or dust storms....
, or a wound received in a campaign against the Persians. The facts that he was leading a victorious campaign, and that his son Numerian succeeded him without opposition, suggest that his death may have been due to natural causes.

Primary Sources

  • Aurelius Victor
    Aurelius Victor

    Sextus Aurelius Victor was an historian and politician of the Roman Empire.Aurelius Victor was the author of a History of Rome from Augustus to Julian the Apostate , published ca....
    ,
  • Eutropius
    Eutropius

    IntroductionNot much is known about the early life of Eutropius because there are no written texts that document his life. Eutropius should not be confused with Eutropius of Valencia or Saint Eutropius....
    ,
  • Historia Augusta,
  • Joannes Zonaras
    Joannes Zonaras

    Ioannes Zonaras was a Byzantine Empire chronicler and theology, who lived at Constantinople.Under Emperor Alexios I Komnenos he held the offices of Drungarios of the Vigla and private secretary to the emperor, but after Alexios' death, he retired to the monastery of St Glykeria, where he spent the rest of his life in writing books....
    , Compendium of History


Secondary Sources

  • , DIR


See also

  • Crisis of the Third Century
    Crisis of the Third Century

    Crisis of the Third Century was the crumbling and near collapse of the Roman Empire between 235 and 284 caused by invasion, civil war, Plague of Cyprian, and economic collapse....
  • Roman Empire
    Roman Empire

    The Roman Empire was the Roman Republic phase of the Ancient Rome, characterised by an autocracy form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....