Probus, << PROH buhs, >> (A.D. 232-282) was emperor of Rome from A.D. 276 to 282. He spent much of his reign outside Italy, fighting off invaders at the frontiers of the vast Roman Empire.
Marcus Aurelius Probus was born on Aug. 19, 232, in the Roman city of Sirmium (present-day Sremska Mitrovica, Serbia). Probus made army service his career and rose to be commander of Roman forces in the East. In 276, he successfully eliminated a rival for the position of emperor and became the ruler of Rome. As emperor, Probus claimed to be continuing initiatives begun by his predecessor, Aurelian. Among Roman soldiers, Probus was considered a strict commander who drove his men hard. He required them to do agricultural and engineering work as well as fight.
During his reign, Probus worked hard to reestablish the Roman Empire’s frontiers, which invaders had overrun in several regions. First, Probus expelled Germanic peoples known as the Franks and the Alemanni from Gaul (now mainly France) and restored the Rhine River as the empire’s northern frontier there. He constructed forts along the English Channel in Britain and Gaul as defenses against sea raids by the Saxons and other peoples. Probus then reestablished Roman control of the middle Danube region.
Next, Probus returned to the East. He hoped to avenge the capture of the emperor Valerian by the Persians in 260 and to halt Persian attacks on the Roman Empire. However, he became occupied with the more urgent priority of ending disturbances in Cilicia and Egypt. Cilicia was in Asia Minor (now Turkey). Even worse, Probus received news in 281 of serious mutinies by Roman troops on the Rhine frontier and in Britain. He felt that he must hurry westward and stop this disorder. Probus successfully ended the mutinies. However, his own men murdered him in 282 near Sirmium. They had lost confidence in him and placed their favor with another claimant for the post of emperor—Marcus Aurelius Carus.
