Valerian I - Roman Emperor: 253-260 A.D. -
Antoninianus 20mm Struck at the mint of Antioch 257 A.D. Reference: RIC 286, C
188 IMPCPLICVALERIANVSPFAVG - Radiate, draped bust right.
RESTITVTORIENTIS - Valerian standing left on right, holding scepter, receiving
wreath from the Orient to left.
You are bidding on the exact item pictured,
provided with a Certificate of Authenticity and Lifetime Guarantee of
Authenticity.
Publius Licinius Valerianus[1]
(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.[2]
Gibbon, in
The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire describes
Valerian's fate
[3]:
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.
[4]
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;
[5]
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.[6]
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[who?]
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.[7]
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;[8]
the story was repeated then and later by authors in the Roman Near East
"fiercely hostile" to Persia.[9]
Other modern scholars tend to give at least some credence to Lactantius'
account.[10]
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..
|