Valerian I - Roman Emperor 253-260 A.D. Biography
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Example of Authentic Ancient Coin of:
Valerian I - Roman Emperor: 253-260 A.D. -
Silver Antoninianus 23mm (3.74 grams) Antioch mint: 257-259 A.D.
Reference: RIC 283, C 56
IMPVALERIANVSAVG - Radiate, draped and cuirassed bust right.
FELICITASAVGG - Felicitas standing left, holding caduceus and
cornucopia.
Publius Licinius Valerianus (c. 200 - after
260), commonly known in
English as Valerian or
Valerian I, was the
Roman Emperor from 253 to 260.
Origins and rise to power
Unlike the majority of the pretenders during the
Crisis of the Third Centuryy, 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.
In 238 he was
princeps senatus, and
Gordian I negotiated through him for
Senatorial acknowledgement for his claim as emperor. In 251, 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. Under Decius he was nominated governor of
the
Rhine provinces of
Noricum and
Raetia and retained the confidence of
his successor,
Trebonianus Gallus, who asked him for
reinforcements to quell the rebellion of
Aemilianus
Rule and fall
Valerian's first act as emperor was to make his son
Gallienus his colleague. In the beginning of his reign the 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,
Armenia was occupied by
Shapur I (Sapor). Valerian and
Gallienus split the problems of the empire between the two, with the son
taking the West and the father heading East to face the
Persian threat.
By 257, Valerian had already recovered Antioch and
returned the province of
Syria to Roman control but in the
following year, the
Goths ravaged
Asia Minor. Later in 259, he moved to
Edessa, but an outbreak of
plague killed a critical number of
legionaries, weakening the Roman
position in Edessa which was then besieged by the Persians. At the
beginning of 260, Valerian was defeated in the
Battle of Edessa and he arranged a
meeting with Shapur to negotiate a peace settlement. The ceasefire was
betrayed by Shapur who seized him and held him prisoner for the
remainder of his life. Valerian's capture was a humiliating defeat for
the Romans.
Gibbon, in
The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman
Empire describes Valerian's fate:
The voice of history, which is often little more
than the organ of hatred or flattery, reproaches Sapor with a proud
abuse of the rights of conquest. We are told that Valerian, in
chains, but invested with the Imperial purple, was exposed to the
multitude, a constant spectacle of fallen greatness; and that
whenever the Persian monarch mounted on horseback, he placed his
foot on the neck of a Roman emperor. Notwithstanding all the
remonstrances of his allies, who repeatedly advised him to remember
the vicissitudes of fortune, to dread the returning power of Rome,
and to make his illustrious captive the pledge of peace, not the
object of insult, Sapor still remained inflexible. When Valerian
sunk under the weight of shame and grief, his skin, stuffed with
straw, and formed into the likeness of a human figure, was preserved
for ages in the most celebrated temple of Persia; a more real
monument of triumph, than the fancied trophies of brass and marble
so often erected by Roman vanity. The tale is moral and pathetic,
but the truth of it may very fairly be called in question. The
letters still extant from the princes of the East to Sapor are
manifest forgeries; nor is it natural to suppose that a jealous
monarch should, even in the person of a rival, thus publicly degrade
the majesty of kings. Whatever treatment the unfortunate Valerian
might experience in Persia, it is at least certain that the only
emperor of Rome who had ever fallen into the hands of the enemy,
languished away his life in hopeless captivity.
Valerian's massacre of 258
According to the
Catholic Encyclopedia article on
Valerian:
Pope Sixtus was seized on 6 August,
258, in one of the Catacombs and was put to death;
Cyprian of Carthage suffered
martyrdom on 14 September. Another celebrated martyr was the Roman
deacon
St. Lawrence. In Spain Bishop
Fructuosus of Tarragona and his two
deacons were put to death on 21 January, 259. There were also
executions in the eastern provinces (Eusebius, VII, xii). Taken
altogether, however, the repressions were limited to scattered spots
and had no great success..
Death in captivity
An early Christian source,
Lactantius, 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 by Lactantius that it was only after a later
Persian defeat against Rome that his skin was given a cremation and
burial. The role of a Chinese prince held hostage by Shapur I, in the
events following the death of Valerian has been frequently debated by
historians, without reaching any definitive conclusion.
The Humiliation of
Emperor Valerianrian
Shapur I, pen and ink,
Hans Holbein the Younger, ca. 1521
Some modern scholars believe that, contrary to
Lactantius' account,
Shapur I sent Valerian and some of his
army to the city of
Bishapur 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. In all the stone carvings on
Naghshe-Rostam, in Iran, Valerian is respected by holding hands with
Shapur I, in sign of submission.
It is generally supposed that some of
Lactantius' account is motivated by his
desire to establish that persecutors of the Christians died fitting
deaths; the story was repeated then and later by authors in the Roman
Near East "fiercely hostile" to Persia.
Other modern scholars tend to give at least some
credence to Lactantius' account.
Valerian and Gallienus' joint rule was threatened
several times by
usurpers. Despite several usurpation
attempts, Gallienus secured the throne until his own assassination in
268.
Owing to imperfect and often contradictory sources,
the chronology and details of this reign are very uncertain..
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