Who Murdered Emperor Numerian? Aper, Diocletian, Neither?

Who Murdered Emperor Numerian? Aper, Diocletian, Neither?

  • Aper

    Votes: 4 36.4%
  • Diocletian

    Votes: 6 54.5%
  • Neither

    Votes: 1 9.1%

  • Total voters
    11
Who Murdered Emperor Numerian? Aper, Diocletian Neither?

I have been reading into this a bit from a number of different sources and wanted to get your opinions on the matter. I'm first going to provide some background info before giving some possibilities.

Background information: Emperor Numerian is found dead by his men. For days prior the emperor had been out of view and under watch of his Praetorian Prefect Aper. It was said the emperor was suffering from inflammation of the eyes and did not want to be disturbed. Aper had repeatedly told the men everything was fine. The soldiers however noticed a foul smell and over Aper's objections went over to the Emperor only to find Numerian dead. In the aftermath a trail was held in which Diocletian, head of the emperors Domestici or household guards, accused Aper of murder and personally stabbed him to death. Diocletian then assumed the purple.

Pro Aper viewpoint: Aper was Numerian's father in law and had no reason to kill the emperor. Numerian was assassinated by Diocletian who also had access to his person. Aper merely concealed the death to gather support against the party responsible. The men who uncovered the dead emperor were Diocletian's men who already knew he was dead because they had killed him. Aper would of made everything clear had Diocletian not stabbed him to death at his trail.

Pro Diocletian viewpoint: Aper murdered Numerian to gain the throne. He probably also murdered Numerian's predecessor Carus. It was Diocletian's quick thinking that prevented the usurper from assuming power. Diocletian had every right to kill the traitor.

Neither: Numerian died of illness, both Diocletian and Aper were innocent of the murder. Aper concealed the death in order to build up support before assuming the throne. The men uncovered the dead emperor by mere chance and Aper was punished as such.

Its of course impossible to say for sure but what do you think is the most likely scenario?
 
I voted for neither, but I was also inclined to vote for Diocletian. Just look at his attitude toward Carinus: not exactly the man loyal to the imperial family who avenged Numerianus. The reasons for Aper's behaviour: successions usually are not easy to handle, probably he was waiting the right moment maybe after disbanding the army. However I've to admit that the death of Carus is really suspicious. Just suppositions.
 

Toraach

Banned
It is a very interesting topic!
I always find Carus and his sons an extremaly interesting subject.

They were at the end of the crisis of the 3rd century, when Rome was regaining power. Carus even managed to loot Ctesiphon, that was a dislay of the roman might! I think that if he had not died, he might have estabilished a dynasty, which might have brought stability for the Empire, just like Diocletian.

It also seems that Carus wasn't an illyrian officer but from Galia-Narbonensis, and from a good family, also an interesting thing and a background for the emperor during that time.
 
I voted for neither, but I was also inclined to vote for Diocletian. Just look at his attitude toward Carinus: not exactly the man loyal to the imperial family who avenged Numerianus. The reasons for Aper's behaviour: successions usually are not easy to handle, probably he was waiting the right moment maybe after disbanding the army. However I've to admit that the death of Carus is really suspicious. Just suppositions.

Very good points. In regard to Carus I as well have a hard time believing he was struck by lightening. One book I have mentions that Aper encouraged Carus to continue his campaigns eastward after sacking Ctesiphon instead of turning back. Not sure if this would be considered out of the ordinary though?

It is a very interesting topic!
I always find Carus and his sons an extremaly interesting subject.

They were at the end of the crisis of the 3rd century, when Rome was regaining power. Carus even managed to loot Ctesiphon, that was a dislay of the roman might! I think that if he had not died, he might have estabilished a dynasty, which might have brought stability for the Empire, just like Diocletian.

It also seems that Carus wasn't an illyrian officer but from Galia-Narbonensis, and from a good family, also an interesting thing and a background for the emperor during that time.

I agree with you, Carus is a very overlooked emperor. Both he and Probus laid alot of the groundwork for Diocletian. If its the case that he wasn't an Illyrian that is interesting as they were such a dominate force in the empire at this time.
 
Very good points. In regard to Carus I as well have a hard time believing he was struck by lightening. One book I have mentions that Aper encouraged Carus to continue his campaigns eastward after sacking Ctesiphon instead of turning back. Not sure if this would be considered out of the ordinary though?
Either he was extremely confident about Carus' military skill, or kindly suggested him to die in Persia. The second one however is a very risky option, not only for Carus, but for the entire army including Aper himself, unless he already had some kind of secret deal with the Sassanids. However I admit that we are now seeing plots everywhere
 
As a fan of Mike Duncan's History of Rome podcast, I'll throw his idea into the ring. "Aper" is Latin for "boar", and Diocletian (during his early reign or his time as cavalry commander) later had an oracle priest declare that he would become emperor after killing a boar, so Diocletian may have killed Numerian and blamed Aper in order to validate this prophecy retroactively to get some legitimacy during the chaotic 3rd century
 
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