Numerian

Antoninian of the Numerian

Numerian (* 253 ; † 284 ), with full name Marcus Aurelius Numerius Numerianus , was a Roman emperor. He ruled the Roman Empire from 283 to 284 together with his older brother Carinus , where he was responsible for the administration of the eastern provinces.

Life

Numerian was born as the youngest son of the future emperor Carus in 253 in an unknown place. After his father had ascended the throne, he first raised Carinus, and soon afterwards Numerian, to the rank of Caesar . While Carus and Numerian set out to the east in 283 to undertake a campaign against the New Persian Sassanid Empire , Carinus was elevated to Augustus and was given the task of ruling the west of the empire in the absence of his father. The information on Numerian's character in the Late Antique Historia Augusta should only be used with the greatest caution, as the anonymous author interwoven fictional elements in the Vita des Carus (in which Carinus and Numerian are also dealt with).

Carus died suddenly at the end of July 283 during a campaign against the Persians. Apparently he was killed by a lightning strike; it is more likely that he succumbed to injury, illness, or was possibly murdered. The succession passed smoothly to his two sons, and Numerian, now also Augustus , was given the task of continuing the campaign, but details are not known. At the beginning of 284 the Roman army withdrew to the west; possibly a treaty was also concluded with the Sassanid king Bahram II . Numerian then moved to Antioch , where he stayed for a long time, and then went on through Asia Minor. During this time Numerian fell ill with an eye infection and had to be transported in a closed litter. In this the Kaiser was finally found dead (a few days before November 20, 284).

Numerian's adviser and father-in-law, the Praetorian Prefect Aper , is believed to have murdered the emperor, according to several reports, but it is also possible that Numerian died of natural causes. Carinus himself was soon afterwards murdered during the fighting with Diocletian, who had been proclaimed emperor by troops in the east .

literature

• Klaus Altmayer: The rule of Carus, Numerianus and Carinus as a forerunner of the tetrarchy. Steiner, Stuttgart 2014.
• Gerald Kreucher: Probus and Carus . In: Klaus-Peter Johne (Ed.): The time of the soldiers' emperors . Vol. 1. Akademie Verlag, Berlin 2008, pp. 395-423, especially pp. 419f.

Web links

Commons : Numerian  - collection of images, videos, and audio files

• William Leadbetter: Short biography (English) at De Imperatoribus Romanis (with references).
• Biography from the Historia Augusta (English)

predecessor	Office	successor
Carus	Roman emperor 283–284	Diocletian