Firmus (Egypt)

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Firmus († 273?) Was, according to the Historia Augusta, a rich Roman merchant with connections as far as India . He was a friend of the rebel Zenobia of Palmyra and, by a revolt he instigated in Alexandria, interrupted the grain deliveries to Rome . Emperor Aurelian put down the revolt and had Firmus killed. In fact, Firmus was never more than an active supporter of Zenobia; the coins with his portrait turned out to be forgeries.

There are many ambiguities in the person of the Firmus, which can be traced back to the obvious blending of truth and fiction in the Historia Augusta. In the case of the firm, these doubts are all the more appropriate as the recognized historians Ammianus Marcellinus and Zosimos report unrest in Egypt , but never mention a firm . Instead, historians developed two possible theories: An Egyptian papyrus of the time mentions a corrector named Claudius Firmus . This designation could refer to an order to put down unrest in a Roman province ; in this case Firmus would not have been a troublemaker but a troublemaker.

The second theory is that the person of Firmus described simply did not exist and that the (anonymous) author of Historia Augusta from an African rebels called Firmus under I. Valentinian inspire allowed.

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personal data
SURNAME Firmus
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Roman merchant, depicted in the Historia Augusta as a counter-emperor
DATE OF BIRTH 3rd century
DATE OF DEATH 3rd century