Calocaerus

Before the revolt, Calocaerus had served in the role of Magister pecoris camelorum ("Master of the Flock and Camels") in Cyprus according to the historian Aurelius Victor.[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 AD.[7] During the time period of the revolt, imperial power and legitimacy was based almost entirely upon military power. In order to become and remain emperor, a usurper needed a large and loyal army. Due to this of 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 AD, 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]

• 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