Regalianus

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Regalianus
Usurper of the Roman Empire
Antoninianus issued by Regilianus' wife, Sulpicia Dryantilla, who is shown here as Augusta.^[1]
Reign	260
Full name	P. C. Regalianus
Died	260
Predecessor	Gallienus
Successor	Gallienus
Wife	Sulpicia Dryantilla (senatorial descent)

P. C(assius?) Regalianus (d. 260) was a Roman usurper against Gallienus.

The main source of information is the unreliable Historia Augusta. Other sources are Eutropius, who calls him Trebellianus, and Aurelius Victor and the Epitome, which call him Regillianus. About his origin, the Tyranni Triginta says he was a Dacian, a kinsman of Decebalus. He probably was of senatorial rank.

After the defeat and capture of Emperor Valerian in the east (260), the border populations felt insecure, and elected their own emperors to guarantee they would have leaders against the threat of foreigners. The population and the army of the province of Pannonia had chosen Ingenuus, and elected him emperor, but the lawful emperor, Gallienus, had defeated the usurper.

Gallienus had moved to Italia, however, to deal with an invasion of the Alamanni. The local population, facing the threat of the Sarmatians, elected Regalianus emperor, who raised his wife Sulpicia Dryantilla to the rank of Augusta to strengthen his position. Regalianus bravely fought against the Sarmatians. After his victory, he was killed by a coalition of his own people and of the Roxolani.

A few anecdotes survive about this man, in the brief biographical sketch of him given in the Book on Thirty Tyrants in the Historia Augusta: it is stated for example that he was raised to the throne because of his name (Regalianus, "of a king" or "kingly"); when his soldiers heard this jest they greeted Regalianus as their emperor.

[edit] References

^ All the coinage of Regalianus and Dryantilla is composed of antoniniani struck over other coins, mostly from the reign of Septimius Severus, Alexander Severus and Maximian. The only mint to issue coins for Regalianus was the mint of Carnuntum in Pannonia (modern Austria); most of the coins have been found in a small zone around the same city, testifying for a little spread of the rebellion.