Marcus Aurelius Carus

Link to image: https://pixabay.com/photos/marcus-aurelius-roman-emperor-2721712/

Marcus Aureilus Carus was the Emperor of Rome who reigned from 282 to 283.
Usually, people call him with his last name “Carus”. Similar to other emperors who led
Roman, Carus also generated big contributions to his empire. In his time, he defeated
the Sarmatian and Germanic tribe on the Danube border. Sadly, his one-year rule
implies that there is only little historical information about him. Despite that, his
presence in the empire did a great job in the Rome’s exponential growth in general

Biography
Some historians were still left with ambiguity on how Carus was born. They may say
that he was born in Gaul, some would say from Ilyricum or Africa. Yet, certain evidences
coming from modern scholars implies that he was really born in Narbo even though he
studied in Rome before. Generally, there is little historical information gathered about
him. One of the reason is that, during his reign, there is a declination of interest in
literature, arts, and the history itself.

Still, many background information was obtained about before he became an Emperor.
According to those, he was working before in both military and civil sectors. Eventually,
after some time he became a senator. In 282, Probus, a former emperor of Rome,
appointed him as praetorian perfect. Additionally, his emperorship started when the
troops collaborate and appointed him immediately as the new emperor. Following that,
he was also given the title “Germanicus Maximus” and “Persicus Maximus” after
garnering many victories

Adulthood
Carus was fully immersed in military as he grew up. He was cunning and skillful in
combat and other stuffs related to military. Because of this, Probus had gained interest
on him, even his faith on him on military and administrative tasks grew. Thus, in 282, he
became a Praetorian Prefect.

After some time, Carus loses his trust towards Probus due to many allegations and
muntinies in his time. Probus’ reign was described as chaotic and full of turmoil due to
uncountable uprisings. In fact, there was a time where the soldiers and ordinary people
collaborate to murder Probus which emerged at Sirmium and it became successful.
After the death of the former emperor, the soldiers and other people immediately
appointed Carus as the Emperor in 283.
Aside from those changes happened, Carus almost certainly took over as consul for the
rest of the year. He even made his son Carinus as a Caesar. Also, his brother and son
got for regular consulship.

Early Events of his Reign

On his early days as a emperor, Carus immediately maintained military reforms with
Aurelian and Claudius II. Just like his successors, he appointed some of his family
members in higher positions in the empire, which will help him to collaborate easier.
One of which is during the disturbance happened in Gaul where he let Carinus take in
charge on the western borders of the empire, while Carus on the east. Because he
wanted to gain more power, he was forcing both Numerian, his son and Flavius Aper,
the daughter of his Praetorian Prefect, to get married.

Additionally, he gave both of his sons, Numeran and Carinus, the title of Caesar. Both of
his sons were tasked to take in charge on those areas prone to disturbances. Carinus
deal the problems in Gaul while Numerian was tasked to fight the Persians. Also,
Carinus planned to invade Mesopotamia, and it took him a very long time to mobilize his
army through Trace and Asia Minor. After that, they moved Seleucia, Ctesiphon, then
move his army over the Tigris after defeating the Quadi and Sarmatians on the Danube.
Because of his success during those events, he received the title "Germanicus
Maximus."

Late Events of his Reign

In 283, Carus won his fight against the Persians. The reason for Persians defeat is that
many distractions during the reign of the Persian Great King Vahram II happened, which
poses threat to his defence; hence, he could not build a strong fortress against the
invading army. After winnging against the Persians, he came across Armenia and then,
passed Tigris River for a while.

Carus won his fight against the Persians all through the year 283. He came into the
country through Armenia. After that, he walked along the Tigris River for a while. Due to
distraction brought by threats to his power inside the country, the Persian Great King
Vahram II could not build a strong defense against the invading army.

Evenutally, his army pushed to Ctesiphon, the capital of the Persian empire. The
Sassanid King Bahram II could not fully protect his kingdom because of his divided
attention. That time, they were regulating the uprising happened in Afghanistan.
Because of that, Carus and his army successfully took over the Sassanian capital of
Ctesiphon.
This victory made by Carus led him to earn the title “Persicus Maximus” because he
fought back against the Sasanids after being defeated on their previous encounter.
Also, he had to die to put the Roman goal of conquering more land to rest.

Death
On August 283, Carus died. The cause of his death is still left ambiguous as of now.
Some may say he died because of a disease. Other text claims that he was struck by a
bolt of lightning. In the entire phase of his emperorship, he and his army always won a
big battle, which claims that he was not killed or murdered in the camp. Yet, the clearest
reason, according to historians, was due to natural causes. This explains why there is
no negative manifestation arose when his son Numerian took the throne of Augustus,
clearly without chaos.

Even though Carus was famous for his austere and virtuous behavior throughout his
life, doubts about his involvement in the death of Probus, as well as his disrespectful
actions toward the senate, tarnished his reputation before he died. However, his
presence was still treasured, and he was placed in the collection of the Caesars.

References:
Bird, Harold W. "Diocletian and the deaths of Carus, Numerian and
Carinus." Latomus 35, no. Fasc. 1 (1976): 123-132.

Davis, Raymond. "Carus (Marcus Aurelius Carus Augustus)." The Encyclopedia of

Ancient History (2013).

Gibbon, Edward. The history of the decline and fall of the Roman Empire. Vol. 7.
Postlethwaite, Taylor & Knowles, Limited, 1909.

Looijenga, Tineke. "Bracteate Fyn C-1, A Surprising Encounter with Emperor Marcus
Aurelius Carus?." a Nordwestgermanisch, ERGA 13 (1995): 95-102.