The Battle of the Margus or Battle of Margum was fought in July 285 for control of the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post- Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings around the Mediter ...

between the armies of Diocletian and Carinus in the valley of the Margus River (today

Great Morava The Great Morava ( sr, Велика Морава, Velika Morava, ) is the final section of the Morava ( sr-Cyrl, Морава), a major river system in Serbia. Etymology According to Predrag Komatina from the Institute for Byzantine Studies ...

) in Moesia (present day

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin and the Balkans. It shares land borders with Hungar ...

), probably near the settlement of Margum. The battle proved to be the tipping point that led to the eventual resolution of the

Crisis of the Third Century The Crisis of the Third Century, also known as the Military Anarchy or the Imperial Crisis (AD 235–284), was a period in which the Roman Empire nearly collapsed. The crisis ended due to the military victories of Aurelian and with the ascensio ...

and the return of stability to the Empire. Carinus led the larger force, but the loyalty of his army was definitely questionable. Carinus had allegedly alienated men whose support his success depended upon, including mistreating the Senate and its womenfolk and seducing the wives of his officers. The exact circumstances of the battle are in doubt, but it is known for certain that Carinus was killed in the course of the battle, most probably by one of his own officers. Diocletian was then left in sole control of the Roman Empire. The tide of the battle may have tilted to Carinus at first, only to shift in Diocletian's favor after the defection of Carinus' Praetorian Prefect,

Aristobulus Aristobulus or Aristoboulos may refer to: *Aristobulus I (died 103 BC), king of the Hebrew Hasmonean Dynasty, 104–103 BC *Aristobulus II (died 49 BC), king of Judea from the Hasmonean Dynasty, 67–63 BC *Aristobulus III of Judea (53 BC–36 BC), ...

. Some scholars suspect that Aristobulus was the officer responsible for the murder of Carinus, an argument that gains credibility in the fact that Diocletian afterward rewarded Aristobulus by confirming him in office as Praetorian Prefect and Consul for the remainder of 285.Southern, P "Roman Empire from Severus to Constantine" (2001), p.135 After his victory, Diocletian administered the oath of loyalty to Carinus' former troops, then turned his attention to the Danube frontier where the

Marcomanni The Marcomanni were a Germanic people * * * that established a powerful kingdom north of the Danube, somewhere near modern Bohemia, during the peak of power of the nearby Roman Empire. According to Tacitus and Strabo, they were Suebian. Or ...

and Quadi were conducting raids across the border.

References

Margus 285 Serbia in the Roman era the Margus 285 280s in the Roman Empire Diocletian Crisis of the Third Century {{AncientRome-battle-stub