Firmus
Encyclopedia : F : FI : FIR : Firmus
- For the 4th century Roman usurper under Valentinian I, see Firmus (4th century usurper). For the saint and martyr, see Saint Firmus and Saint Rusticus. For the energy company, see firmus energy
Firmus was a businessman from Seleucia and his business interests ranged from India to Egypt. He was associated with Zenobia of Palmyra. After the defeat of the Palmyrans by Aurelian Firmus staged an uprising in Alexandria in Egypt, interrupting the fundamental corn supply to Rome. Aurelian was obliged to defeat and kill Firmus.
Firmus never proclaimed himself emperor, but fought to support the second Palmyrene uprise against Aurelian. It is possible that Firmus was actually the name of the general sent by Aurelian to suppress the revolt, as Egyptian papiri of the time have the presence of some Claudius Firmus, corrector. Another possibility is that the author of the Historia Augusta — the only source to name Firmus — invented this figure in parallel with another Firmus, an African usurper under Valentinian I.
References
- "Firmus", s.v. ["Aurelian"], De Imperatoribus Romanis site
From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.