Uranius is the name of two possible Roman usurpers of the third century. The first Uranius is mentioned only by Zosimus, and was briefly active during the latter part of the reign of Alexander Severus. He was chosen by dissatisfied soldiers along the Danube and from a lowly background. There is little confirmatory evidence of his existence. A second, and better attested usurper was Lucius Julius Aurelius Sulpicius Severus Uranius Antoninus, who appears to have been active in Syria in the early 250s. Coins minted in Emesa have been found bearing his name, and invoking the local deity

Sol Invictus Sol Invictus (, "Unconquered Sun"), sometimes simply known as Helios, was long considered to be the official Solar deity, sun god of the later Roman Empire. In recent years, however, the scholarly community has become divided on Sol between tradi ...

. Some scholars have connected him to an Emesan priest active in this period, known as Sampsiceramus. It is not clear whether the coins that were struck in Syria belong to the same man (or men) spoken about in the texts. If the later date is correct Uranius might have helped defend 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 Medite ...

against

Shapur I Shapur I (also spelled Shabuhr I; pal, 𐭱𐭧𐭯𐭥𐭧𐭥𐭩, Šābuhr ) was the second Sasanian King of Kings of Iran. The dating of his reign is disputed, but it is generally agreed that he ruled from 240 to 270, with his father Ar ...

, the

Sassanid The Sasanian () or Sassanid Empire, officially known as the Empire of Iranians (, ) and also referred to by historians as the Neo-Persian Empire, was the last Iranian empire before the early Muslim conquests of the 7th-8th centuries AD. Name ...

king of

Persia Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkme ...

. What happened to him after his claim on the throne is not known.

References

External links

http://www.roman-emperors.org/uranius.htm
ŠĀPUR I: ROCK RELIEFS – Encyclopaedia Iranica
3rd-century deaths 3rd-century Roman usurpers 3rd-century Arabs Emesene dynasty Uranius Aurelii Year of birth unknown People of the Roman–Sasanian Wars {{AncientRome-bio-stub