Carus

Marcus Aurelius Carus became Roman emperor in 282, already around sixty years old. He spent his short reign beating back Germanic tribes and Sarmatians along the Danube with enough success to stabilize a frontier that had bled Rome for decades. Then he turned east to face the Sassanid Persians. Somewhere in Mesopotamia, in the summer of 283, he died. The official story was lightning. Few accepted it — the whispers pointed to murder, poison, something human. His sons Carinus and Numerian inherited the purple together, and their brief dynasty, however fragile, gave the empire a stretch of order…