200 Births - Valerian (Paperback)

Chapters: Valerian. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 33. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: Publius Licinius Valerianus (c. 193, c. 195, c. 200 - aft. 260 or 264), commonly known in English as Valerian or Valerian I, the Elder, was a Roman Emperor, reigning from 253 to 260 CE. He was the only Emperor to be taken captive alive; tradition holds that he was kept as a slave by Shapur I, and used by him as a human mounting block. Coin of Egnatia Mariniana, wife of Valerian and mother of Gallienus.Unlike the majority of the pretenders during the Crisis of the Third Century, 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. He was Consul for the first time either before 238 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, 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 in 253. Valerian headed south, but was too late: Gallus' own troops had killed him and joined Aemilianus before his arrival. The Raetian soldiers then proclaimed Valerian emperor and continued their march towards Rome. At the time of his arrival in September or October, Aemilianus' legions defected, killing him and proclai...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=51831