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Silvanus (praetorian Prefect)
Silvanus was a Roman soldier and probably praetorian prefect during the third century who came briefly to the notice of history in the reign of Valerian and his co-Emperor Gallienus. He is generally assumed to have been the commander of the praetorians under Gallienus. However, the sources only tell us that he was made the guardian of the Caesar Saloninus by Saloninus's father, the Emperor Gallienus. This seems likely to mean that he exercised a guiding influence over his young protégé as he represented the Imperial Dynasty in the government of the Gallic provinces. In this respect Silvanus may be compared with Ingenuus who seems to have exercised a similar function, ''in loco parentis'', in the command of the Danubian provinces by Saloninus's elder brother, the Caesar Valeriannus, earlier in the 250s. He would not have been given this office had he not been a seasoned soldier and administrator, but this does not mean that he was Gallienus's Praetorian Prefect. It was Parker wh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Praetorian Prefect
The praetorian prefect (; ) was a high office in the Roman Empire. Originating as the commander of the Praetorian Guard, the office gradually acquired extensive legal and administrative functions, with its holders becoming the Emperor's chief aides. Under Constantine I, the office was much reduced in power and transformed into a purely civilian administrative post, while under his successors, territorially-defined praetorian prefectures emerged as the highest-level administrative division of the Empire. The prefects again functioned as the chief ministers of the state, with many laws addressed to them by name. In this role, praetorian prefects continued to be appointed by the Eastern Roman Empire (and the Ostrogothic Kingdom) until the reign of Heraclius in the 7th century AD, when wide-ranging reforms reduced their power and converted them to mere overseers of provincial administration. The last traces of the prefecture disappeared in the Byzantine Empire by the 840s. The term ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Valerian (emperor)
Valerian ( ; ; – 260 or 264) was Roman emperor from 253 to spring 260 AD. Valerian is known as the first Roman emperor to have been taken captive in battle, captured by the Sassanid Empire, Persian emperor Shapur I after the Battle of Edessa, causing shock and instability throughout the Roman Empire. The unprecedented event and his unknown fate generated a variety of different reactions and "new narratives about the Roman Empire in diverse contexts". Biography Origins and rise to power Unlike many of the would-be emperors and rebels who vied for imperial power during the Crisis of the Third Century, Valerian was of a noble and traditional Roman Senate, senatorial family. Details of his early life are sparse, except for his marriage to Egnatia Mariniana, with whom he had two sons: Publius Licinius Egnatius Gallienus (his co-emperor and later successor) and Licinius Valerianus (brother of Gallienus), Licinius Valerianus. Valerian was Roman consul, consul for the first time eit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gallienus
Publius Licinius Egnatius Gallienus (; – 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 empire. He won numerous military victories against usurpers and Germanic tribes, but was unable to prevent the secession of important provinces. His 15-year reign was the longest in half a century. Born into a wealthy and traditional senatorial family, Gallienus was the son of Valerian and Mariniana. Valerian became Emperor in September 253 and had the Roman Senate elevate Gallienus to the rank of ''Augustus''. Valerian divided the empire between him and his son, with Valerian ruling the east and his son the west. Gallienus defeated the usurper Ingenuus in 258 and destroyed an Alemanni army at Mediolanum in 259. The defeat and capture of Valerian at Edessa in 260 by the Sasanian Empire threw the Roman Empire into the chaos of civil war. Contr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Saloninus
Publius Licinius Cornelius Saloninus Valerianus (died 260), typically just called Saloninus, was a young Roman nobleman who briefly became emperor in 260. The grandson of Valerian I, Saloninus was appointed ''caesar'' (heir) in 258 in an attempt to shore up the Licinial line of succession during the Crisis of the Third Century. During his time in power, Saloninus administered the German marches out of Cologne. Nevertheless, Saloninus soon became embroiled in a dispute with future Gallic emperor Postumus over war spoils. In 260, Saloninus' troops acclaimed him ''augustus'' (emperor) in an unsuccessful bid for political legitimacy; Postumus killed Saloninus shortly thereafter. Early life Saloninus' father was the later emperor Gallienus, his mother Cornelia Salonina, a Greek from Bithynia. In 258 Saloninus was appointed '' Caesar'' by his father (just like his older brother Valerian II, who had died around 258) and sent to Gaul to make sure his father's authority was ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ingenuus
Ingenuus was a Roman military commander, the imperial legate in Pannonia, who became a usurper to the throne of the emperor Gallienus when he led a brief and unsuccessful revolt in the year 260. Appointed by Gallienus himself, Ingenuus served him well by repulsing a Sarmatian invasion and securing the Pannonian border, at least temporarily. Ingenuus had also been charged with the military education of ''Caesar'' Cornelius Licinius Valerianus, the young son of Emperor Gallienus, but after the boy's death in 258, his position became perilous. A well-liked and admired commander, Ingenuus found an opportunity to become the Roman Emperor when Valerian was captured and killed by Shapur I of the Sassanid Empire. Throwing off their allegiance to Valerian's son, the legions of Moesia proclaimed Ingenuus Roman Emperor at Sirmium in 260. Gallienus was in Germania on the Rhine frontier, so he acted quickly by recalling troops from Gaul and after a rapid march he met Ingenuus on the bat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Valerian II
Publius Licinius Cornelius Valerianus (died 258), also known as Valerian II (), was the eldest son of Roman Emperor Gallienus and '' Augusta'' Cornelia Salonina who was of Greek origin and grandson of the Emperor Valerian who was of a noble and traditional senatorial family. Life Shortly after his acclamation as Emperor (Augustus) Valerian made Gallienus his co-Emperor and his grandson, Valerian, Caesar, in 256. (For a discussion of the dynastic politics that motivated this process, see the related article on Saloninus). The young Caesar was then established in Sirmium to represent the Licinius family in the government of the troubled Illyrian provinces, while Gallienus transferred his attentions to Germany to deal with barbarian incursions into Gaul. Because of his youth (he was probably no more than fifteen at the time), Valerian was put under the guardianship of Ingenuus, who seems to have held an extraordinary command as governor of the Illyrian provinces, i.e. Upper a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Postumus
Marcus Cassianius Latinius Postumus ( 259–269) 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 emperor Gallienus around the year 260,The year of Postumus's accession was either 259 or 260. While the year 259 has sometimes been favoured, the consensus now favours mid-/late 260 as the date that he was hailed emperor, according to and The ''terminus ante quem'' is an inscription from September 260 naming Postumus as emperor: Bakker (1993), pp. 369–386. Other dates cited in this article must be pushed back one year for those who take 259 as the year of Postumus's accession. See . and Postumus assumed the title and powers of Emperor in the provinces of Gaul, Germania, Britannia, and Hispania. He ruled for the better part of ten yearsBased on numismatic evidence, Postumus's rule extended over ten periods of tribunician powe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium
Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium was the Roman colony in the Rhineland from which the city of Cologne, now in Germany, developed. It was usually called ''Colonia'' (colony) and was the capital of the Roman province of Germania Inferior and the headquarters of the military in the region. With administrative reforms under Diocletian it became the capital of Germania Secunda. During the second and mid-third centuries, around 20,000 people lived in the city. Many artefacts from the ancient city survive, including the arch of the former city gate with the inscription 'CCAA', which is today housed in the Romano-Germanic Museum. Historical background ''Oppidum Ubiorum'' (Latin city of Ubii), ''Ara Ubiorum'' and ''Apud Aram Ubiorum'' A Germanic tribe known as the Eburones had originally inhabited the present-day Cologne Lowland. But they were wiped out in a war of reprisal carried out by Julius Caesar. In 38 BC, the Germanic tribe known as the Ubii, who inhabited the right ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
3rd-century Romans
The 3rd century was the period from AD 201 (represented by the Roman numerals CCI) to AD 300 (CCC) in accordance with the Julian calendar. In this century, the Roman Empire saw a crisis, starting with the assassination of the Roman Emperor Severus Alexander in 235, plunging the empire into a period of economic troubles, barbarian incursions, political upheavals, civil wars, and the split of the Roman Empire through the Gallic Empire in the west and the Palmyrene Empire in the east, which all together threatened to destroy the Roman Empire in its entirety, but the reconquests of the seceded territories by Emperor Aurelian and the stabilization period under Emperor Diocletian due to the administrative strengthening of the empire caused an end to the crisis by 284. This crisis would also mark the beginning of Late Antiquity. While in North Africa, Roman rule continued with growing Christian influence, particularly in the region of Carthage. In Persia, the Parthian Empire was s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
