He died while campaigning against theSassanid Empire and is believed to have died of unnatural causes. It was reported that he had been struck by lightning.[3] He was succeeded by his sonsCarinus andNumerian, creating a dynasty which, though short-lived, provided further stability to the resurgent empire.[4]
Carus, whose name before the accession may have been Marcus Numerius Carus,[1] was born, according to differing accounts, either inGaul,Illyricum orAfrica.[7] Modern scholarship inclines to the former view, placing his birth atNarbo (modern Narbonne) inGallia Narbonensis,[8][9] though he was educated inRome.[10] Little can be said with certainty of his life and rule. Due to the decline of literature, the arts, and the want of any good historians of that age, what is known is almost invariably involved in contradiction and doubt.[11] He was apparently asenator[12] and filled various posts, both civil and military, before being appointedpraetorian prefect by the emperorProbus in 282.[13]
Two traditions surround his accession to the throne in August or September of 282. According to some mostly Latin sources, he was proclaimed emperor by the soldiers after the murder of Probus by a mutiny atSirmium.[14] Greek sources however claim that he rose against Probus inRaetia in a usurpation and had him killed.[15] Allegedly, he initially refused the offer at first out of loyalty, but soon accepted.[16] The often unreliableHistoria Augusta is aware of both traditions, although it prefers the former.[17] He does not seem to have returned to Rome after his accession, contenting himself with an announcement to the Senate.[18] This was a marked departure from the constitutionalism of his immediate predecessors,Tacitus and Probus, who at least outwardly respected the authority of the senate, and was the precursor to the even more despotic military autocracy ofDiocletian.[19] Despite this, he still sought to deify the emperor Probus.[20]
Carus bestowed the title ofCaesar upon his sonsCarinus andNumerian,[22][23] then, in the beginning of 283, he elevated Carinus to the rank ofAugustus, leaving him in charge of the western portion of the empire to look after some disturbances inGaul[24] and took Numerian with him on an expedition against thePersians, which had been contemplated by Probus.[25] During his first campaign as emperor, he inflicted a severe defeat on theQuadi andSarmatians on theDanube,[26] for which he was given the titleGermanicus Maximus.[27] Reportedly, 16,000 Quadi were killed, with 20,000 being taken prisoner.[20] Carus then proceeded throughThrace andAsia Minor, annexedMesopotamia, pressed on toSeleucia andCtesiphon, and marched his soldiers beyond theTigris.[22][28]
TheSassanid KingBahram II, limited by internal opposition and his troops occupied with a campaign in modern-dayAfghanistan, could not effectively defend his territory.[27] The Sasanians, faced with severe internal problems, could not mount an effective coordinated defense at the time; Carus and his army may have captured the Sasanian capital ofCtesiphon.[3] The victories of Carus avenged all the previous defeats suffered by the Romans against the Sassanids, and he received the title ofPersicus Maximus.[29] Rome's hopes of further conquest, however, were cut short by his death; Carus died in Sasanian territory, probably of unnatural causes, as he was reportedly struck by lightning.[3] Alternate theories suggest that he died of illness, or that a rival for power poisoned him. Another theory hints at the future emperor Diocletian being involved in the killing.[20] However, Leadbetter considered it unlikely for Carus to be assassinated, as his army had just won a victory.[30]
Like the conquests ofTrajan, 160 years before, Carus' gains were immediately relinquished by his successor. His sonNumerian, naturally of an unwarlike disposition, was forced by the army to retreat back over theTigris.[31] The report of the lightning strike was evidently widely accepted in the camp, and the superstitious awe of the troops inclined them to ascribe Carus' death to the wrath of the Gods. Rumors had been spread of dark oracles, affixing the limits of the Empire on the Tigris, and threatening destruction against the Roman who should presume beyond the river in arms.Persia was abandoned to its rightful owners, and not till Diocletian, a decade later, was the Persian contest decided in Rome's favor, by that emperor'svictory.
In the sphere of civil affairs, Carus is remembered principally for the final suppression of the authority of the senate, which had been partially restored underTacitus andProbus. He declined to accept their ratification of his election, informing them of the fact by a haughty and distant dispatch. He was the last emperor to have united a civil with a military education, in that age when the two were increasingly detached;Diocletian (Imp. 284–305), who succeeded Carus after the brief reign of the latter's sons, was to confirm and formalize the separation of professions, and the autocratic foundation of the imperial rule.[32]
Though Carus was known throughout his life for his austere and virtuous manners, the suspicion of his complicity in Probus' death, along with his haughty conduct towards the senate, tarnished his reputation before his death, andJulian conspicuously placed him among the tyrants ofRome, in his catalogue ofThe Caesars.[33]
^The tradition that he was one of the so-called "Illyrian Emperors", based on the unreliablevita Cari embedded in theAugustan History, was accepted uncritically byJoseph Scaliger, who assumed the other sources were wrong. (Tom B. Jones, "A Note on Marcus Aurelius Carus"Classical Philology37.2 (April 1942), pp. 193–194).
Altmayer, Klaus (2014).Die Herrschaft des Carus, Numerianus und Carinus als Vorläufer der Tetrarchie. Historia Einzelschriften. Vol. 230. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner.ISBN978-3-515-10621-4.
Hartmann, Udo (2022). "Der Blitzschlag am Tigris. Überlegungen zum rätselhaften Tod des Carus in Persien" [The Lightning Strike on the Tigris: Reflections on the mysterious death of Carus in Persia]. In Goltz, Andreas; Schlange-Schöningen, Heinrich (eds.).Das Zeitalter Diokletians und Konstantins. Bilanz und Perspektiven der Forschung. Festschrift für Alexander Demandt [The Age of Diocletian and Constantine. Review and Perspectives for Research. Festschrift for Alexander Demandt] (in German). Köln: Böhlau. pp. 21–72. doi:https://doi.org/10.7788/9783412525200.21. ISBN978-3-412-52519-4.
