Valerian (emperor)

Valerian (/vəˈlɪəriən/; Latin: Publius Licinius Valerianus Augustus;^[1] 193/195/200 – 260 or 264, also known as Valerian the Elder, was Roman Emperor from 253 to 260 AD. He was taken captive by Sassanian Persian king Shapur I after the Battle of Edessa, becoming the first Roman Emperor who was captured as a prisoner of war, causing instability in the Empire.

Life

Origins and rise to power

Coin of Egnatia Mariniana, wife of Valerian and mother of Gallienus.

Unlike many of the ephemeral emperors and rebels who bid for Imperial Power during the Crisis of the Third Century of the Roman Empire, Valerian was of a noble and traditional senatorial family. Details of his early life are elusive, but for his marriage to Egnatia Mariniana, who gave him two sons: later emperor Publius Licinius Egnatius Gallienus and Valerianus Minor.^[2]

He was Consul for the first time either before 238 AD as a Suffectus or in 238 as an Ordinarius. In 238 he was princeps senatus, and Gordian I negotiated through him for Senatorial acknowledgement for his claim as emperor. In 251 AD, when Decius revived the censorship with legislative and executive powers so extensive that it practically embraced the civil authority of the emperor, Valerian was chosen censor by the Senate, though he declined to accept the post. During the reign of Decius he was left in charge of affairs in Rome when that prince left for his ill-fated last campaign in Illyricum.^[3] Under Trebonianus Gallus he was appointed dux of an army probably drawn from the garrisons of the German provinces which seems to have been ultimately intended for use in a war against the Persians.^[4] However, when Trebonianus Gallus had to deal with the rebellion of Aemilianus in 253 AD it was to Valerian he turned for assistance in crushing the attempted usurpation. Valerian headed south but was too late: Gallus was killed by his own troops, who joined Aemilianus before Valerian arrived. The Raetian soldiers then proclaimed Valerian emperor and continued their march towards Rome. Upon his arrival in late September, Aemilianus's legions defected, killing Aemilianus and proclaiming Valerian emperor. In Rome, the Senate quickly acknowledged Valerian, not only for fear of reprisals but also because he was one of their own.

Rule and fall

A bas relief of Emperor Valerian standing at the background and held captive by Shapur I found at Naqsh-e Rustam, Shiraz, Iran. The kneeling man is probably Philip the Arab.

Valerian's first act as emperor on 22 October 253 was to make his son Gallienus his Caesar and colleague. Early in his reign, affairs in Europe went from bad to worse, and the whole West fell into disorder. In the East, Antioch had fallen into the hands of a Sassanid vassal and Armenia was occupied by Shapur I (Sapor). Valerian and Gallienus split the problems of the empire between them, with the son taking the West, and the father heading East to face the Persian threat.

In 254, 255, and 257, Valerian again became Consul Ordinarius. By 257, he had recovered Antioch and returned the province of Syria to Roman control. The following year, the Goths ravaged Asia Minor. In 259, Valerian moved on to Edessa, but an outbreak of plague killed a critical number of legionaries, weakening the Roman position, and the town was besieged by the Persians. At the beginning of 260, Valerian was decisively defeated in the Battle of Edessa, and he arranged a meeting with Shapur to negotiate a peace settlement. The truce was betrayed by Shapur, who seized Valerian and held him prisoner for the remainder of his life. Valerian's capture was a tremendous defeat for the Romans.^[5]

Persecution of Christians

See also Persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire#Under Valerian

Valerian, while fighting the Persians, sent two letters to the Senate, ordering steps to be taken against Christians. The first, sent in 257, commanded Christian clergy to perform sacrifices to the Roman gods or face banishment. The second, the following year, ordered Christian leaders to be executed, Roman senators and knights who were Christians to perform acts of worship to the Roman gods or lose their titles, their property and if they continued to refuse, also to be executed, Roman matrons who would not apostatize to lose their property and be banished, and civil servants and members of the Imperial household who would not worship the Roman gods to be reduced to slavery and sent to work on the Imperial estates.^[6] This shows that Christians were prevalent at this time in very high positions. Among the prominent Christians executed as a result of their refusal to perform acts of worship to the Roman gods as ordered by Valerian were Cyprian, bishop of Carthage, Pope Sixtus II, bishop of Rome along with six deacons and Lawrence of Rome. When Valerian's son Gallienus became Emperor in 260, the legislation was rescinded.^[7]

Death in captivity

Eutropius, writing between 364–378 AD, stated that Valerianus "was overthrown by Shapur king of Persia, and being soon after made prisoner, grew old in ignominious slavery among the Parthians.".^[8] An early Christian source, Lactantius, thought to be virulently anti-Persian, thanks to the occasional persecution of Christians by some Sasanian monarchs,^[9] maintained that for some time prior to his death Valerian was subjected to the greatest insults by his captors, such as being used as a human footstool by Shapur when mounting his horse. According to this version of events, after a long period of such treatment Valerian offered Shapur a huge ransom for his release. In reply, according to one version, Shapur was said to have forced Valerian to swallow molten gold (the other version of his death is almost the same but it says that Valerian was killed by being flayed alive) and then had the unfortunate Valerian skinned and his skin stuffed with straw and preserved as a trophy in the main Persian temple. It was further alleged that it was only after a later Persian defeat against Rome that his skin was given a cremation and burial.^[10] The captivity and death of Valerian has been frequently debated by historians without any definitive conclusion.^[9]

The Humiliation of Emperor Valerian by Shapur I, pen and ink, Hans Holbein the Younger, ca. 1521

One modern scholar^[9] claims that, contrary to the account of Lactantius, Shapur I sent Valerian and some of his army to the city of Bishapur or Gundishapur where they lived in relatively good condition. Shapur used the remaining soldiers in engineering and development plans. Band-e Kaisar (Caesar's dam) is one of the remnants of Roman engineering located near the ancient city of Susa.^[11] In all the stone carvings on Naghshe-Rostam, in Iran, Valerian is represented holding hands with Shapur I, a sign of submission.

It has been alleged that the account of Lactantius is colored by his desire to establish that persecutors of the Christians died fitting deaths;^[12] the story was repeated then and later by authors in the Roman Near East fiercely hostile to Persia.^[13]

The joint rule of Valerian and Gallienus was threatened several times by usurpers. Nevertheless, Gallienus secured the throne until his own assassination in 268 AD.

Family

Gallienus
Publius Licinius Valerianus Minor or Valerian the Younger was another son of Valerian I. Consul in 265, he was probably killed by usurpers, some time between the capture of his father in 260 and the assassination of his brother Gallienus in 268.

Portrayals in popular fiction

Valerian appears in Harry Sidebottom's historical fiction series of novels Warrior of Rome.

He also appears in Anthony Hecht's book of poetry, The Hard Hours in the poem, "Behold the Lilies of the Field".

References

↑ Valerian's full title at his death was IMPERATOR CAESAR PVBLIVS LICINIVS VALERIANVS PIVS FELIX INVICTVS AVGVSTVS GERMANICVS MAXIMVS PONTIFEX MAXIMVS TRIBUNICIAE POTESTATIS VII IMPERATOR I CONSUL IV PATER PATRIAE, "Emperor Caesar Publius Licinus Valerianus, Patriotic, Favored, Unconquered Augustus, Conqueror of the Germans, Chief Priest, seven times Tribune, once Emperor, four times Consul, Father of the Fatherland".
↑ Bray, J. (1997). Gallienus: A study in reformist and sexual politics. Kent Town, S. Australia: Wakefield press. p. 20.
↑ Zonaras, Ioannes. Epitome Historiarum. p. XII, 20.
↑ Christol, M. (1980). "A propos de la politique exterieure de Trebonien Galle". Revue Numismatique (6): 63–74.
↑ Valerian
↑ W. H. C. Frend (1984). The Rise of Christianity. Fortress Press, Philadelphia. p. 326. ISBN 978-0800619312.
↑ Candida Moss (2013). The Myth of Persecution. HarperCollins. p. 153. ISBN 978-0-06-210452-6.
↑ Eutropius. Abridgement of Roman History. Translated by the Rev. John Selby Watson. London: Henry G. Bohn, 1853. (Book 9.7)
1 2 3 Touraj Daryaee "Sasanian Iran"
↑ Lactantius, De Mortibus Persecutorum, v; Wickert, L., "Licinius (Egnatius) 84" in Pauly-Wissowa, Realencyclopädie 13.1 (1926), 488–495; Parker, H., A History of the Roman World A.D. 138 to 337 (London, 1958), 170. From .
↑ Abdolhossein Zarinkoob "Ruzgaran: tarikh-i Iran az aghz ta saqut saltnat Pahlvi" pp. 195
↑ Meijer, Fik (2004). Emperors don't die in bed. New York: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-31202-7. |access-date= requires |url= (help)
↑ Isaacs, Benjamin. The Near East under Roman Rule. Boston: Brill Academic Publishers. p. 440. ISBN 90-04-09989-1. |access-date= requires |url= (help)

Sources

Primary sources

Aurelius Victor, Epitome de Caesaribus
Eutropius, Breviarium ab urbe condita
Historia Augusta, The Two Valerians
Joannes Zonaras, Compendium of History extract: Zonaras: Alexander Severus to Diocletian: 222–284
Zosimus, Historia Nova

Secondary sources

Christian Settipani. Continuité gentilice et continuité sénatoriale dans les familles sénatoriales romaines à l'époque impériale, 2000
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.

External links

Media related to Valerian at Wikimedia Commons
"Valerian and Gallienus", at De Imperatoribus Romanis.

Regnal titles
Preceded by Aemilianus	Roman Emperor 253–260 Served alongside: Gallienus	Succeeded by Gallienus
Political offices
Preceded by Volusianus, Lucius Valerius Poplicola Balbinus Maximus	Consul of the Roman Empire 254–255 with Gallienus	Succeeded by Lucius Valerius Claudius Acilius Priscillianus Maximus, Marcus Acilius Glabrio
Preceded by Lucius Valerius Claudius Acilius Priscillianus Maximus, Marcus Acilius Glabrio	Consul of the Roman Empire 257 with Gallienus	Succeeded by Marcus Nummius Tuscus, Mummius Bassus

Roman and Byzantine emperors

Principate 27 BC – 235 AD	Augustus Tiberius Caligula Claudius Nero Galba Otho Vitellius Vespasian Titus Domitian Nerva Trajan Hadrian Antoninus Pius Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus Commodus Pertinax Didius Julianus (Pescennius Niger) Septimius Severus Caracalla with Geta Macrinus with Diadumenian Elagabalus Severus Alexander

Crisis 235–284	Maximinus Thrax Gordian I and Gordian II Pupienus and Balbinus Gordian III Philip the Arab Decius with Herennius Etruscus Hostilian Trebonianus Gallus with Volusianus Aemilianus Valerian Gallienus with Saloninus Claudius Gothicus Quintillus Aurelian Tacitus Florian Probus Carus Carinus and Numerian

Dominate 284–395	Diocletian (Whole empire) Diocletian (East) and Maximian (West) Galerius (East) and Constantius Chlorus (West) Galerius (East) and Severus (West) Galerius (East) and Licinius I (West) Licinius I (West) and Maximinus Daia (East) Licinius I (East) and Constantine the Great (West) Constantine the Great (Whole empire), with son Crispus as Caesar Constantine II Constans I Magnentius with Decentius as Caesar Constantius II with Vetranio Julian Jovian Valentinian the Great Valens Gratian Valentinian II Magnus Maximus Theodosius the Great

Western Empire 395–480	Honorius Constantius III Joannes as Western usurper in Ravenna Valentinian III Petronius Maximus Avitus Majorian then Libius Severus then Anthemius then Olybrius Glycerius Julius Nepos (de jure) Romulus Augustulus (Usurper)

Eastern/ Byzantine Empire 395–1204	Arcadius Theodosius II Pulcheria Marcian Leo I the Thracian Leo II Zeno (first reign) Basiliscus with son Marcus as co-emperor Zeno (second reign) Anastasius I Dicorus Justin I Justinian the Great Justin II Tiberius II Constantine Maurice with son Theodosius as co-emperor Phocas Heraclius Constantine III Heraklonas Constans II Constantine IV with brothers Heraclius and Tiberius and then Justinian II as co-emperors Justinian II (first reign) Leontios Tiberios III Justinian II (second reign) Philippikos Anastasios II Theodosius III Leo III the Isaurian Constantine V Artabasdos Leo IV the Khazar Constantine VI Irene Nikephoros I Staurakios Michael I Rangabe Leo V the Armenian with Symbatios-Constantine as junior emperor Michael II the Amorian Theophilos Michael III Basil I the Macedonian Leo VI the Wise Alexander Constantine VII Porphyrogennetos Romanos I Lekapenos with sons Christopher, Stephen and Constantine as junior co-emperors Romanos II Nikephoros II Phokas John I Tzimiskes Basil II Constantine VIII Zoe (first reign) and Romanos III Argyros Zoe (first reign) and Michael IV the Paphlagonian Michael V Kalaphates Zoe (second reign) with Theodora Zoe (second reign) and Constantine IX Monomachos Constantine IX Monomachos (sole emperor) Theodora Michael VI Bringas Isaac I Komnenos Constantine X Doukas Romanos IV Diogenes Michael VII Doukas Nikephoros III Botaneiates Alexios I Komnenos John II Komnenos Manuel I Komnenos Alexios II Komnenos Andronikos I Komnenos Isaac II Angelos Alexios III Angelos Alexios IV Angelos Nicholas Kanabos as usurper chosen by the Senate Alexios V Doukas

Empire of Nicaea 1204–1261	Constantine Laskaris Theodore I Laskaris John III Doukas Vatatzes Theodore II Laskaris John IV Laskaris

Eastern/ Byzantine Empire 1261–1453	Michael VIII Palaiologos Andronikos II Palaiologos with Michael IX Palaiologos as co-emperor Andronikos III Palaiologos John V Palaiologos John VI Kantakouzenos with John V Palaiologos and Matthew Kantakouzenos as co-emperors John V Palaiologos Andronikos IV Palaiologos John VII Palaiologos Andronikos V Palaiologos Manuel II Palaiologos John VIII Palaiologos Constantine XI Palaiologos

Italics usually indicate an usurper or co-emperor.

Authority control	WorldCat VIAF: 37709520 LCCN: n80125735 GND: 118625942

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