FLORIANUS (Marcus Annius Florianus)

"Florianus, who had succeeded Tacitus, was in power for two months and twenty days and did nothing worth remembering." - Eutropius Breviarium IX. 16

• In July 276 Tacitus was murdered at Tyana in Cappadocia and power passed to the praetorian commander Marcus Annius Florianus, recognised by the senate and by most of the provinces.
• Little is known of about Florianus, but he may have been the half-brother of Tacitus.
• He immediately set out to bring the Heruli to heel, which he quickly did.
• In the East, Marcus Aurelius Probus, commander on the eastern frontier was declared a rival emperor, and Florianus moved to Tarsus to meet him.
• Heat and disease sapped the morale of Florianus's European troops and they began to desert.
• Florianus was killed in September 276, after a reign of just 88 days.