Probus (emperor)

Probus
White, long head statue
Over-life-sized marble bust in the Capitoline Museums, Rome[1][2]
Roman emperor
Reignc. June 276 – September 282[3]
PredecessorTacitus and Florian
SuccessorCarus
Bornbetween 230 and 235[4]
Sirmium, Pannonia Inferior, modern day Serbia
DiedSeptember 282 (aged 50)[4]
Sirmium
IssueHad descendants[4]
Names
Marcus Aurelius Probus
Regnal name
Imperator Caesar Marcus Aurelius Probus Augustus
FatherDalmatius[5]

Marcus Aurelius Probus (/ˈprbəs/; 230–235 – September 282) was Roman emperor from 276 to 282. Probus was an active and successful general as well as a conscientious administrator, and in his reign of six years he secured prosperity for the inner provinces while withstanding repeated invasions of barbarian tribes on almost every sector of the frontier.[6]

After repelling the foreign enemies of the empire, Probus was forced to handle several internal revolts but demonstrated leniency and moderation to the vanquished wherever possible.[7] Despite the military basis of his power, he presented himself as a constitutional monarch who respected the authority of the Roman Senate.[8]

Upon defeating the Germans, Probus re-erected the ancient fortifications of emperor Hadrian between the Rhine and Danube rivers, protecting the Agri Decumates,[9] and exacted from the vanquished a tribute of manpower to resettle depopulated provinces within the empire and provide for adequate defense of the frontiers.[10] Despite his widespread popularity, Probus was killed in a mutiny of the soldiers while in the middle of preparations for the Persian war, which would be carried out under his successor Carus.[11]

  1. ^ Wood, p. 128 (note 70).
  2. ^ Fittschen & Zanker.
  3. ^ Peachin, p. 47.
  4. ^ a b c Jones, Martindale & Morris, p. 736.
  5. ^ Victor, 37:1
  6. ^ Edward Gibbon (1932), The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, The Modern Library, ch. XII, p. 284
  7. ^ Gibbon, pp. 289, 290
  8. ^ Gibbon, p. 283
  9. ^ Gibbon, p. 287
  10. ^ Gibbon, p. 288
  11. ^ Gibbon, p. 292

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