| DivusNigrinianus | |
|---|---|
| Marcus Aurelius Nigrinianus | |
 | |
| Born | October 284 AD (possibly) |
| Died | 284-285 AD |
| Era | Crisis of the Third Century |
| Known for | grandson of Carus |
| Parent(s) | Paulina (mother, possibly) |
| Relatives | Carus (grandfather) |
| Family | Caran dynasty |
| Honours | Consecratio |
Marcus Aurelius Nigrinianus, known in English as Nigrinian (d. 284/285) was a grandson of Roman emperor Carus who died young and was deified by Carus' eldest son Carinus. He was the last family member of an emperor to be deified posthumously.
Biography
Nigrinian is generally assumed to be a child of Carus' eldest son Carinus, who issued the coins commemorating him, but he could have been the child of Carus' younger son Numerian or their sister Paulina. A now lost inscription from the Forum Romanum, set up for him by Carinus's perfectissimus rationalis Gemimius Festus, merely calls him Divo Nigriniano nepoti Cari (divine Nigrinianus grandson of Carus) without mentioning his parents. This leads historian John Kent to doubt that he was the son of either Carinus or Numerian.
It has been speculated that he was born around mid-October 284. He is presumed to have died in childhood in late 284 or early 285. After his death he was given divine status.
Research
Before the discovery of the dedicatory epigraph for a statue set up for him by Festus, it was sometimes conjectured that Nigrinianus was the son of the usurper Lucius Domitius Alexander, who revolted in 311 AD.
References
- Bulletin de la Société française de numismatique (in French). Cabinet des médailles. 1996. p. 2.
- Manfred Clauss, Anne Kolb, Wolfgang A. Slaby, Barbara Woitas. "CIL 06, 31380". db.edcs.eu. Epigraphik-Datenbank. Archived from the original on 2022-08-03. Retrieved 2022-08-03.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - Carson, Robert Andrew Glendinning (1978). Principal Coins of the Romans: The Dominate, A.D. 294-498. Vol. 1–3. Trustees of the British Museum. p. 141. ISBN 9780714108391.
- Société française de numismatique (1996). Bulletin de la Société française de numismatique. Cabinet des médailles.
- Kent, John (1978). Roman Coins (illustrated, reworked ed.). H.N. Abrams. p. 321. ISBN 9780810915848.
- Gricourt, Daniel. "Sur l'éphémère existence de Nigrinien, fils de Carin et de Magnia Urbica." Bulletin de Societé Française de Numismatique, nr 2 (2000), s. 34-39
- David L. Vagi, Coinage and history of the Roman Empire, c. 82 B.C.--A.D. 480, Volume 1 (Taylor & Francis, 2000), 381.
- Smith, William, "Nigrinianus", Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, 1870, v. 2, p. 1202
Sources
- Prosopographia Imperii Romani p. 360.