Aper (Praetorian Prefect Numerians)
(Lucius Flavius?) Aper († 284 ) was a Roman Praetorian prefect in the 280s and alleged murderer of Emperor Numerian .
career
A man by the name of Lucius Flavius Aper served a career in the Roman provincial administration in the 260s and 270s. He was 260-268 Praepositus the Legio V Macedonica and Legio XIII Gemina , later he received the rank title vir perfectissimus and was - probably in the year 270 - Praeses of Pannonia inferior . As such, he presumably also supported Emperor Aurelian in repelling the raids of the Vandals in the province he administered. Mostly it is assumed that this person is identical to the Praetorian prefect of the 280s, who is only known under the name "Aper", although there is no reliable evidence for this equation.
The year this Praetorian Prefect took office is also unknown. It is possible that he was Praetorian Prefect under Emperor Carus (ruled 282–283). Aper is only clearly documented under his son Numerian , who ruled the empire together with his brother Carinus after his father's death . He became Numerian's father-in-law and a close adviser, but is judged very negatively in the sources afterwards.
Numerian murder
According to several ancient reports, Aper is said to have murdered Numerian at Perinth in 284 when the two returned with the army from the Persian War in order to be able to take power themselves. However, it was also taken into account that these are only rumors and that the ruler actually died a natural death, especially since he is said to have suffered from an eye disease some time before.
According to the sources, the emperor's death only became public after he had not been seen for several days and the soldiers began to ask about his well-being. Aper is said to have referred to the state of health of Numerians, which made it impossible for him to leave the darkened litter. This secrecy of death put him in a particularly bad light when the decaying stench of the corpse finally began to betray the Numerian's death. It was now natural to explain the behavior of the Praetorian prefect by saying that he did not want to alarm the soldiers in order to first consolidate or expand his own position of power. The soldiers are said to have dragged Aper in front of the general tent and called a meeting.
Eventually Diocletian was appointed the new emperor. The Historia Augusta according to which he was asked how Numerian was killed, that was perhaps even suspected of murder or at least the connivance. He then accused Aper of being solely responsible for the attack, pointed at him with his sword and then pierced it with it. Aurelius Victor reports that the new ruler pointed his sword towards the sun and swore to the sun god that he neither knew about the murder nor sought power himself, whereupon he killed Aper.
swell
- Historia Augusta , Numerian 12 f. ( Latin original , English translation ).
- Aurelius Victor , Liber de Caesaribus 38 f. ( Latin ).
- Eutropius , Breviarum Ab Urbe Condita 9.18 ff. ( Online ).
literature
- Otto Seeck : Aperitif 4 . In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume I, 2, Stuttgart 1894, Col. 2697.
- Arnold Hugh Martin Jones , John Robert Martindale, John Morris : Aper 2. In: The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire (PLRE). Volume 1, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1971, ISBN 0-521-07233-6 , p. 81.
- Wolfgang Kuhoff : Diocletian and the epoch of the tetrarchy. The Roman Empire between crisis management and rebuilding (284–313 AD). Peter Lang, Frankfurt am Main et al. 2001, ISBN 3-631-36792-9 , especially p. 17 f. and p. 22 f.
- Klaus Altmayer: The rule of Carus, Carinus and Numerianus as a forerunner of the tetrarchy (= Historia individual writings. Volume 230). Franz Steiner, Stuttgart 2014, ISBN 978-3-515-10621-4 , pp. 132-142, especially pp. 134 f. (Note 389 on p. 134 with further literature).
Individual evidence
- ↑ AE 1936, 53 ; AE 1936, 54 ; AE 1936, 57
- ↑ Árpád Dobó: The administration of the Roman province of Pannonia from Augustus to Diocletianus. Hakkert, Amsterdam 1968, p. 101 f.
- ↑ CIL III, 15156
- ^ Peter Jacob: Aurelian's reforms in politics and legal development. V&R unipress, Göttingen 2004, ISBN 3-89971-148-3 , p. 85 ( online ).
- ↑ Historia Augusta, Numerian 13.
- ^ Aurelius Victor, Liber de Caesaribus 39:13.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Aperitif |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Aper, Lucius Flavius |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Praetorian prefect and allegedly murderer of the Roman emperor Numerian |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 3rd century |
| DATE OF DEATH | 284 |