Firms (3rd century usurper)

Firm ( lat. Firmus ) - Roman usurper in 273.

According to the History of Augustus, Firms, a merchant from Seleucia , was a very rich man thanks to his business connections, which extended to India. He was a friend of the Palmyra queen Zenobia . After the second fall of Palmyra, he revolted in the Egyptian capital, Alexandria, in 273, in order to give support to the Palmyrians. Firm also blocked the supply of wheat to Rome. Emperor Aurelianus put down the rebellion and the Firm was killed. In fact, the Firm has never been proclaimed emperor. The remaining coins belonging to him are fake.

"The history of Augustus" is described by the Firm:

“The company was huge, had bulging eyes, curly hair; his forehead was covered with scars, his face was dark in color, the rest of his body was white, but hairy and rough, so many called him a cyclops. He consumed a lot of meat; they say he ate a whole ostrich a day. He drank a little wine, a lot of water. He was very firm in spirit, had very strong muscles <...> He could easily stand an anvil on his chest, which he was hit with a hammer, and he himself would rather hang than lie, leaning back, arching and leaning on his arms in a bent position ^[1] "

From Ammianus Marcellinus and Zosima we know about the unrest in Egypt after the defeat of Palmyra. But no historian mentions the Firm. Bowman offers an interesting hypothesis: Egyptian papyruses of the time mention a proofreader named Claudius Firms. Proofreader could well be appointed to combat riots in the province. In this case, then it was not he who provoked the insurgency, but was sent to suppress it. The author of the biography of the Firm in " History of Augustus ", obviously, artificially created this character, mixing reality and fiction.