Carausius seized control of Britain and northern Gaul in 286 after being ordered executed by Maximian — ostensibly for embezzling pirate plunder, though the charges were likely a pretext. Rather than submit, he declared himself Augustus and ran an independent Roman state for seven years, striking coins of notably better silver content than those produced by the legitimate emperors on the continent. The ADVENTVS type, announcing the emperor's arrival, was a deliberate piece of political theater: Carausius used every standard imperial formula to project dynastic legitimacy he had no legal claim to.
He was murdered by his finance minister Allectus in 293, the same year Constantius Chlorus began the campaign that would eventually recover the breakaway province.
Carausius seized control of Britain and northern Gaul in 286 after being ordered executed by Maximian — ostensibly for embezzling pirate plunder, though the charges were likely a pretext. Rather than submit, he declared himself Augustus and ran an independent Roman state for seven years, striking coins of notably better silver content than those produced by the legitimate emperors on the continent. The ADVENTVS type, announcing the emperor's arrival, was a deliberate piece of political theater: Carausius used every standard imperial formula to project dynastic legitimacy he had no legal claim to.
He was murdered by his finance minister Allectus in 293, the same year Constantius Chlorus began the campaign that would eventually recover the breakaway province.