Calocaerus

According to historian Aurelius Victor, before the revolt, Calocaerus had served in the role of Magister pecoris camelorum ("Master of the Flock and Camels") in Cyprus.^[1][2][3] Whether his unusual title implies some military command ("captain of the camel corps")^[4] or merely a servile position ("leading shepherd slave")^[5] is uncertain, though in any event there were no camels in Cyprus in that era.^[6] He had been assigned to this position by Emperor Constantine I in 330.^[7] During the time period of the revolt, imperial power and legitimacy was based almost entirely upon military power. To become and remain emperor, a usurper needed a large and loyal army. Due to this, there were a large number of ephemeral revolts, which were either rapidly put down by the incumbent emperor, or else had their usurper killed by his own troops.^[2]

Calocaerus revolted in Cyprus in 334, proclaiming himself emperor. He was swiftly defeated by Flavius Dalmatius, the half-brother of Emperor Constantine I. After being defeated, he was taken to Tarsus in Cilicia, and burned alive, along with his commanders.^[8][2][9] It is likely that Calocaerus' low status (that of a magister pecoris camelorum), had an influence in the low amount of support he received, leading to his quick demise.^[3] Dalmatius gathered evidence that a bastard son of Licinius, who had been emperor before Constantine I, was involved. This son had been legitimized by edict, and survived the downfall of his father, and still held a high, although unrecorded, rank in the Roman Empire. Dalmatius used this evidence to either execute or enslave the bastard son.^[10][11]

• Amidon, Philip R. (2007). Philostorgius: Church History. Atlanta, GA: Society of Biblical Literature. ISBN 9781589832152.
• Grant, Michael (1994). Constantine the Great: the Man and His Times. New York: Scribner's. ISBN 9780684195209.
• Hornblower, Simon; Spawforth, Antony, eds. (1998). The Oxford companion to classical civilization. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780198601654.
• Hunt, David; Coldstream, J.N. (1990). Footprints in Cyprus: an Illustrated History. London: Trigraph. ISBN 9780950802671.
• Lenski, Noel (2006). The Cambridge Companion to the Age of Constantine. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521521574.
• Vagi, David L. (2000). Coinage and History of the Roman Empire, c. 82 B.C.- A.D. 480. Fitzroy Dearborn. ISBN 9781579583163.

• Arnold Hugh Martin Jones, J. (EDT) Morris, J. R. (John Robert) Martindale, The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire, Cambridge University Press, 1971, ISBN 0-521-07233-6.
• DiMaio, Michael, "Calocaerus (333/334 A.D.)", De Imperatoribus Romanis