Probus

	Email		Print
	Bookmark		Link

Probus

Marcus Aurelius Probus (c. August 19, 232

232

Events...
–September/October, 282) 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....
(276–282).

A native of 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....
(now Sremska Mitrovica

Sremska Mitrovica

Sremska Mitrovica is a city and municipality located in the Vojvodina province of Serbia at 44.98? North, 19.61? East, on the left bank of the Sava river....
, Serbia

Serbia

Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a country in Central Europe and Balkans Europe, covering the southern part of the Pannonian Plain and the central part of the Balkans....
), in Pannonia

Pannonia

Pannonia is an ancient province of the Roman Empire bounded north and east by the Danube, coterminous westward with Noricum and upper Italy, and southward with Dalmatia and upper Moesia....
, at an early age he entered the army, where he distinguished himself under the Emperors Valerian

Valerian (emperor)

Publius Licinius Valerianus , commonly known in English language as Valerian or Valerian I, was the Roman Emperor from 253 to 260....
, 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 Tacitus

Marcus Claudius Tacitus

Marcus Claudius Tacitus was a Roman Emperors from September 25, 275, to June 276....
. He was appointed governor of the East by Tacitus, at whose death he was immediately proclaimed his successor by the soldiers (276).

Florianus

Florianus

Marcus Annius Florianus , commonly known as Florian in English, was a Roman Emperor who ruled in 276.Florian was reportedly a maternal half-brother to Marcus Claudius Tacitus....
, who had claimed to succeed his half-brother Tacitus, was put to death by his own troops after an indecisive campaign.

Discussion

Ask a question about 'Probus'

Start a new discussion about 'Probus'

Answer questions from other users

Full Discussion Forum

Encyclopedia

Marcus Aurelius Probus (c. August 19, 232

232

Events...
–September/October, 282) was a Roman Emperor

Roman Emperor

Sirmium

Sremska Mitrovica

Sremska Mitrovica is a city and municipality located in the Vojvodina province of Serbia at 44.98? North, 19.61? East, on the left bank of the Sava river....
, Serbia

Serbia

Pannonia

Valerian (emperor)

Publius Licinius Valerianus , commonly known in English language as Valerian or Valerian I, was the Roman Emperor from 253 to 260....
, Aurelian

Aurelian

Marcus Claudius Tacitus

Florianus

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....
.

The reign of Probus was mainly spent in successful wars by which he re-established the security of all the frontiers. The most important of these operations were directed to clearing Gaul

Gaul

Gaul is the name used for the region of Western Europe comprising part of present day northern Italy, France, Belgium, western Switzerland and the parts of the Netherlands and Germany on the west bank of the River Rhine....
of German invaders (Franks

Franks

The Franks or Frankish people were a West Germanic ethnic group first identified in the 3rd century as living north and east of the Lower Rhine River....
, Longiones

Lugii

The Lugii, Lugi, Lygii, Ligii, Lugiones, Lygians, Ligians, Lugians, or Lougoi were a tribe of Indo-European people origin....
, Alamanni

Alamanni

The Alamanni, Allemanni, or Alemanni were originally an alliance of Germanic languagess located around the upper Main river . One of the earliest references to them is the cognomen Alamannicus assumed by Caracalla, who ruled the Roman Empire from 211?17 and claimed thereby to be their defeater....
and Burgundians

Burgundians

File:Roman Empire 125.svgThe Burgundians were an East Germanic language Germanic tribes which may have emigrated from mainland Scandinavia to the island of Bornholm, whose old form in Old Norse still was Burgundarholmr , and from there to mainland Europe....
), allowing Probus to adopt the titles of Gothicus Maximus and Germanicus Maximus. One of his principles was never to allow the soldiers to be idle, and to employ them in time of peace on useful works, such as the planting of vineyards in Gaul, Pannonia and other districts, in order to restart the economy in these devastated lands.

In 279-280, Probus was, according to Zosimus

Zosimus

Zosimus was a Byzantine Empire historian, who lived in Constantinople during the reign of the Byzantine Emperor Anastasius I . According to Photios I of Constantinople, he was a comes, and held the office of "advocate" of the imperial treasury....
, in Raetia

Raetia

File:REmpire Rhetia.pngRaetia was a Roman province of the Roman Empire, bounded on the west by the country of the Helvetii, on the east by Noricum, on the north by Vindelicia, and on the south by Cisalpine Gaul....
, Illyricum

Illyricum (Roman province)

The Roman province of Illyricum replaced the formerly independent kingdom of Illyria. It stretched from the Drin River river in modern Albania to Istria in the west and to the Sava river in the north....
and Lycia

Lycia

Lycia was a region in Anatolia in what are now the Provinces of Turkey of Antalya Province and Mugla Province on the southern coast of Turkey. It was a federation of ancient cities in the region and later a Roman province of the Roman Empire....
, where he fought the Vandals

Vandals

The Vandals were an East Germanic tribe that entered the late Roman Empire during the 5th century. The Goths Theodoric the Great, king of the Ostrogoths and regent of the Visigoths, was allied by marriage with the Vandals as well as with the Burgundians and the Franks under Clovis I....
. In the same years, Probus' generals defeated the Blemmyes

Blemmyes

The Blemmyes were a nomadic Nubian tribe described in Ancient Rome histories of the later empire. From the late third century on, along with another tribe, the Nobatia, they repeatedly fought the Romans....
in Aegyptus Province; Probus ordered the reconstruction of bridges and canals along the Nile, where the production of grain for the Empire was centered.

In 280-281, Probus had also put down three usurpers, Julius Saturninus

Julius Saturninus

Sextus Julius Saturninus was a Roman usurper against Emperor Probus.Julius Saturninus was a Gaul by birth and was a friend of Emperor Probus....
, Proculus

Proculus

Proculus was a Roman usurper, one of the "minor pretenders" according to Historia Augusta; he took the purple against Roman Emperor Probus in 280....
and Bonosus

Bonosus (emperor)

Bonosus was a Roman usurper. Born in Hispania, his father was from Roman Britain and his mother from Roman Gaul. He lost his father early in life but his mother gave him a decent education....
. The extent of these revolts is not clear, but there are clues that they were not just local problems. In 281, the emperor was in Rome, where he celebrated his triumph

Roman triumph

A Roman triumph was a civil religion and religious rite of ancient Rome, held to publically celebrate the achievements of an army commander who had won great military successes, originally and traditionally, who had successfully completed a war....
.

Probus was eager to start his eastern campaign, delayed by the revolts in the west. He left Rome in 282, moving first towards Sirmium, his birth city, when the news that Marcus Aurelius Carus

Carus

Marcus Aurelius Carus was a Roman Emperor . During his short reign, Carus tried to follow the path of restoration of the empire strength marked by Aurelian and Probus....
, commander 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....
, had been proclaimed emperor reached him. Probus sent some troops against the new usurper, but when those troops changed sides and supported Carus, Probus's soldiers then assassinated him (September/October 282).

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
Zosimus
Zosimus

Zosimus was a Byzantine Empire historian, who lived in Constantinople during the reign of the Byzantine Emperor Anastasius I . According to Photios I of Constantinople, he was a comes, and held the office of "advocate" of the imperial treasury....
,

Secondary Sources

External links

, article at NumisWiki