Bonosus (usurper)
Bonosus († 281 ) was a Roman usurper. The tradition about him is largely based on his vita in the Late Antique Historia Augusta, which was notoriously unreliable for this period . Therefore, many messages are hardly verifiable.
According to the Historia Augusta , Bonosus was born in Hispania; his father was British , his mother a Gauls . He lost his father at a young age. Nevertheless, his mother managed to get him a suitable education. He had had an excellent military and civil service career when the Teutons managed to burn the Roman fleet under his command while stationed on the Rhine.
For fear of the consequences, he allegedly proclaimed himself 280 (or 281) in Cologne - perhaps together with Proculus - as Roman emperor . However, the emperor Probus managed to defeat him, whereupon Bonosus hanged himself. According to the Historia Augusta , he left a wife and two sons who were treated with honor by Probus.
Other late antique sources only report the elevation of the Bonosus in Cologne and the suppression of the uprising by Probus. Bonosus may be a fictional character.
literature
- Gerald Kreucher: The emperor Marcus Aurelius Probus and his time (= Historia individual writings. Vol. 174). Steiner, Stuttgart 2003, ISBN 3-515-08382-0 , pp. 166-172 ( limited preview in Google book search).
- Dieter Salzmann : The coinage of the Bonosus - a modern fiction? In: Thomas Fischer , Peter Ilisch (ed.): Lagom. Festschrift for Peter Berghaus on his 60th birthday on November 20, 1979. Numismatischer Verlag der Münzenhandlung Dombrowski, Münster 1981, ISBN 3-921507-03-0 , pp. 49–58.
Web links
- Robin Mc Mahon: Short biography (English) at De Imperatoribus Romanis (with references).
- Biography from the Historia Augusta (English) at LacusCurtius
Remarks
- ↑ See Kreucher, Probus , p. 166.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Bonosus |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Roman usurper (counter-emperor) |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 3rd century |
| DATE OF DEATH | 281 |