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Close to the end of the 3rd Century, a military officer called Carus seized the Imperial throne and launched a victorious military campaign against the Persian Empire. His sons Carinus and Numerian reigned with him. Certain sources claim that this Imperial dynasty had North African origins, but modern historians doubt this. In this article, we will discover the reasons behind this confusion.
Context
During the 3rd Century, the Roman Empire was shaken by the longest crisis in its history. While Emperor Aurelian (270-275) managed to restore the unity of the Empire and achieved some stability during his reign, the wars between military rivals continued after he died.
Reign of Carus
Marcus Aurelius Carus was the Praetorian Prefect of Emperor Probus (276-282). When Probus was assassinated, the army chose Carus to succeed him. Sources disagree on his role in Probus’ death: some claim he was behind his murder, while others say he was loyal to his predecessor and agreed to succeed him in order to avenge him.
Carus chose his sons Carinus and Numerian as Caesars (auxiliary Emperors). In early 283, he named Carinus, the eldest, co-Emperor, and charged him with governing the Empire while he was away. He then went East, for a military campaign against Rome’s worst enemies: the Persians. His second son Numerian went with him.
Carus’ campaign was successful: the Persian Emperor Bahram II, weakened by the rebellion of his brother Hormizd, was unable to efficiently defend his territory. Carus conquered Ctesiphon, the capital of the Persian Empire, and advanced beyond the Tigris. This was the first victorious Roman campaign against the Persians since Septimius Severus. Carus was thus able to avenge his predecessors’ defeats. For his victories, he received the honorific title of Persicus Maximus.
The Roman conquests were interrupted by Carus’ sudden death in July 283. According to official sources, his tent was struck by a lightning during a thunderstorm. Some of his soldiers saw his death as a divine punishment for overstepping the legitimate borders of his Empire. Others believed the Emperor had been poisoned – maybe by his bodyguard, future Emperor Diocletian. It would however be surprising for a victorious Emperor to be murdered in the middle of a military campaign.
Carus’ son Numerian, who lacked his father’s military skills, immediately drew the Roman troops out of Persia. All the conquered territory was lost.
On the return trip, Numerian was ill and travelling in a closed coach. His Praetorian Prefect Arrius Aper commanded his troops for him. One day, some soldiers noticed a strong smell coming from the Emperor’s coach. They opened the coach and found the body of Numerian, obviously dead for several days. Arrius Aper was accused of killing him and hiding his death. Diocletian, the Imperial bodyguard, killed Arrius Aper and was proclaimed Emperor by the troops. It is possible that Diocletian himself killed Numerian.
Carinus, who had stayed in Rome to reign in his father’s absence, now marched towards Diocletian, to fight him. Before the battle, his troops abandoned him and joined Diocletian’s side. Carinus was killed and Diocletian became sole Emperor.
An African dynasty?
The oldest sources all agree that Carus was born in Narbo (Narbonne), Southern Gaul, and grew up in Rome.
Historia Augusta, a late collection of biographies of Roman Emperors, written during the 4th Century, instead claims that he was lllyrian (from the Balkans). The text also quotes an unknown author called Fabius Ceryllianus, who wrote that “his parents were not Pannonians [Pannonia was a region of Illyria], but Carthaginians”. (Source)
The 16th-Century historian Joseph Scaliger accepted the Historia Augusta as a valid source, believing the other sources to be mistaken, and that “Narbo” was in fact the city of Narona, in Dalmatia (modern-day Croatia). Scaliger does not mention the claim that Carus’ parents were originally Carthaginian. Other historians after him, including British historian Edward Gibbon’s classical work The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, adopted Scalinger’s version. (Source)
More recently, however, modern historiography has shown the Historia Augusta to be an unreliable source. Illyrians were famed as great soldiers, which explains why a romanticized biography would invent Illyrian origins for Carus. Also, the immediate predecessors of Carus were Illyrian, just like Diocletian and his successors. By making Carus Illyrian, the Historia Augusta manages to obtain a long, uninterrupted list of Illyrian Emperors.
Consequently, the most recent historians admit that Carus was born in Narbo, in Gaul, and didn’t have Illyrian or African origins.
