en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Probus_(emperor)
1 correction found
an unnamed rebel king in Britain
The rebel in Britain is described in the source tradition as a Roman governor/usurper, not a British "king."
Full reasoning
The surviving account behind this episode identifies the rebel as a Roman official in Britain, not as a native British king.
A recent scholarly survey of third-century Britain quotes Zonaras' account of the coup under Probus: "another man, in the Britains, whom the Emperor had appointed governor, carried out a rebellion" and notes that Victorinus then eliminated him. That directly contradicts calling the rebel a "king."
The Loeb/Chicago annotation to the Historia Augusta passage makes the same point even more explicitly: "The revolt in Britain ... was the act of the governor stationed there. It was quelled by Victorinus, who treacherously killed the revolting governor."
So the problem is not that the rebel is unnamed — that part is true — but that he is mislabeled as a king rather than a governor/usurper.
2 sources
- Britain during the Third Century Crisis (in Impact of Empire)
There was an attempted coup in Britain under Probus... "And another man, in the Britains, whom the Emperor had appointed governor, carried out a rebellion..."
- Historia Augusta • Life of Probus
79 The revolt in Britain had no connection with the rising either of Proculus or of Bonosus, but was the act of the governor stationed there. It was quelled by Victorinus, who treacherously killed the revolting governor; see Zonaras, XII.29.