In the ''

Historia Augusta The ''Historia Augusta'' (English: ''Augustan History'') is a late Roman collection of biographies, written in Latin, of the Roman emperors, their junior colleagues, designated heirs and usurpers from 117 to 284. Supposedly modeled on the sim ...

'', Postumus the Younger () figures as one of the so-called

Thirty Tyrants The Thirty Tyrants ( grc, οἱ τριάκοντα τύραννοι, ''hoi triákonta týrannoi'') were a pro-Spartan oligarchy installed in Athens after its defeat in the Peloponnesian War in 404 BC. Upon Lysander's request, the Thirty were elec ...

who usurped power against the Roman Emperor

Gallienus Publius Licinius Egnatius Gallienus (; c. 218 – September 268) was Roman emperor with his father Valerian from 253 to 260 and alone from 260 to 268. He ruled during the Crisis of the Third Century that nearly caused the collapse of the empi ...

. According to the pseudo-historical list of 'Thirty Tyrants', the Emperor of the

Gallic Empire The Gallic Empire or the Gallic Roman Empire are names used in modern historiography for a breakaway part of the Roman Empire that functioned ''de facto'' as a separate state from 260 to 274. It originated during the Crisis of the Third Century, w ...

Postumus Marcus Cassianius Latinius Postumus was a Roman commander of Batavian origin, who ruled as Emperor of the splinter state of the Roman Empire known to modern historians as the Gallic Empire. The Roman army in Gaul threw off its allegiance to G ...

had a son, also called Postumus, whom he nominated to be first ''

caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (; ; 12 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC), was a Roman people, Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in Caes ...

'', and later even ''

augustus Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian, was the first Roman emperor; he reigned from 27 BC until his death in AD 14. He is known for being the founder of the Roman Pri ...

'' and co-ruler. Postumus the Younger would have been killed together with his father in 268, during the rebellion of

Laelianus Laelian (; la, Ulpius Cornelius Laelianus),Martindale, pg. 492 also incorrectly referred to as ''Lollianus'' and ''Aelianus'',Polfer, ''Laelianus'' was a usurper against Postumus, the emperor of the Gallic Empire. His revolt lasted from approxi ...

(called Lollianus in the ''Historia'').''

'' (authorship disputed)
''Tyranni Triginta'' 4
/ref> The historian J. F. Drinkwater dismisses the ''Historia Augustas reference to Postumus the Younger as a "fiction".J. F. Drinkwater (1987). ''The Gallic Empire: Separatism and continuity in the north-western provinces of the Roman Empire, A.D. 260–274'', Franz Steiner Verlag Wiesbaden GMBH, Stuttgart, , p. 65. There are no references to any son of Postumus on coins or inscriptions from the period. The author(s) of the ''Historia'' asserts that Postumus the Younger was a skilled rhetor, and that his ''Controversiae'' were included among

Quintilian Marcus Fabius Quintilianus (; 35 – 100 AD) was a Roman educator and rhetorician from Hispania, widely referred to in medieval schools of rhetoric and in Renaissance writing. In English translation, he is usually referred to as Quintilia ...

's ''Declamationes''.

References

268 deaths Gallienus usurpers Thirty Tyrants (Roman) Gallic emperors Year of birth unknown

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