25 Facts About Gallienus

Publius Licinius Egnatius Gallienus was Roman emperor with his father Valerian from 253 to 260 and alone from 260 to 268.

Gallienus ruled during the Crisis of the Third Century that nearly caused the collapse of the empire.

Gallienus won numerous military victories against usurpers and Germanic tribes, but was unable to prevent the secession of important provinces.

Gallienus defeated the usurper Ingenuus in 258 and destroyed an Alemanni army at Mediolanum in 259.

Aureolus, another usurper, proclaimed himself emperor in Mediolanum in 268 but was defeated outside the city by Gallienus and besieged inside.

Gallienus married Cornelia Salonina about ten years before his accession to the throne.

Gallienus was the mother of three princes: Valerian II, who died in 258; Saloninus, who was named co-emperor but was murdered in 260 by the army of general Postumus; and Marinianus, who was killed in 268, shortly after his father was assassinated.

Valerian left for the East to stem the Persian threat, and Gallienus remained in Italy to repel the Germanic tribes on the Rhine and Danube.

Gallienus spent most of his time in the provinces of the Rhine area, though he almost certainly visited the Danube area and Illyricum in the years from 253 to 258.

In 255 or 257, Gallienus was made consul again, suggesting that he briefly visited Rome on those occasions, although no record survives.

Sometime between 258 and 260, while Valerian was distracted with the ongoing invasion of Shapur I in the East, and Gallienus was preoccupied with his problems in the West, Ingenuus, governor of at least one of the Pannonian provinces, took advantage and declared himself emperor.

Gallienus left his son Saloninus as Caesar at Cologne, under the supervision of Albanus and the military leadership of Postumus.

Gallienus sent his successful commander Aureolus against the rebels and the decisive battle was fought in the spring or early summer of 261, most likely in Illyricum, although Zonaras locates it in Pannonia.

Gallienus came to an agreement with Odenathus, who had just returned from his victorious Persian expedition.

Gallienus had installed his son Saloninus and his guardian, Silvanus, in Cologne in 258.

Potter, he never tried to unseat Gallienus or invade Italy.

Gallienus returned in 263 or 265 and surrounded Postumus in an unnamed Gallic city.

In 262, the mint in Alexandria started to again issue coins for Gallienus, demonstrating that Egypt had returned to his control after suppressing the revolt of the Macriani.

In 268, at some time before or soon after the battle of Naissus, the authority of Gallienus was challenged by Aureolus, commander of the cavalry stationed in Mediolanum, who was supposed to keep an eye on Postumus.

Gallienus laid siege to the city but was murdered during the siege.

Cecropius, commander of the Dalmatians, spread the word that the forces of Aureolus were leaving the city, and Gallienus left his tent without his bodyguard, only to be struck down by Cecropius.

The tomb of Gallienus is thought to be located to the south of Rome, at the IXth mile of the Via Appia.

About 40 rare gold coins of Gallienus have been discovered as part of the Lava Treasure in Corsica, France, in the 1980s.

Gallienus contributed to military history as the first to commission primarily cavalry units, the Comitatenses, that could be dispatched anywhere in the Empire in short order.

Gallienus was played by Franco Cobianchi in the 1964 film The Magnificent Gladiator.