Gallien
| Gallien | |
|---|---|
| Roman Emperor | |
 Marble bust of Gallienus. | |
| Reign | |
| October 253 - September 268 (~ 15 years) | |
| Period | The "Thirty Tyrants" |
| Predecessor (s) | Emilian |
| Co-emperor (s) | Valerian ( 253 - 260 ) Phr Odenatus of Palmyra (of 260 ) corrector of the whole East ( 267 ) |
| Usurper (s) | The Thirty Tyrants whose emperors of Gaul |
| Successor (s) | Claudius II Goth |
| Biography | |
| Birth | c. 218 |
| Original Name | Publius Licinius Gallienus Egnatius |
| Deaths | September 268 (50) Mediolanum ( Italy ) |
| Father | Valerian |
| Mother | Mariniane |
| Spouse (s) | Cornelia Salonina ( 243 - 268 ) |
| Descent | (1) Valerian II (2) Salonin (3) Egnatius Marinianus |
| List of Roman Emperors | |
Gallienus (Publius Licinius Gallienus Egnatius) ( 218 - 268 ) was Roman emperor from October 253 to September 268. Until 260 , it shares power with his father Valerian. It is the latest member of the senatorial order to become emperor. After him, his successors are nothing more than the military. It is usually considered his reign as one of the most critical periods for the Roman Empire.
Summary |
The tradition of senatorial inspiration gives the reign of Gallienus a very bad image. It is indeed overwhelmed with all faults: lazy and debauched, effeminate and surrounded by cute, implacable tyrant, coward on the battlefield, saying the Roman world would disintegrate if provincial securities had contained the Barbarians of the West and East (the Historia Augusta him constantly opposes the merits of Posthumus and Odenatus ) while ignoring his reforms the most lucid that announce the tetrarchy.
The secessions in the Empire
Several regions of the Empire know revolts, usurpations and secession: they spring from the same concern to find ways to place on a defense that centralized Empire is no longer able to ensure that all regions time.
The two most important secession broke out where the pressure is greater (in Gaul against the Germans and face the Persians at Palmyra), showing at once the weakness of central power and the will to resist provincial.
Gallic Empire
At the inability of Salonin , son of the emperor, the army of the Rhine, in the aftermath of the disastrous invasion of the Alemanni of 259-260, proclaims one of its heads of Gallic origin, Posthumus , who is recognized by Gallic elites. He established his authority in Britain and to Spain. Some historians have described the secession of the Gallic Empire , suggesting he was a division.
Posthumus is all badges are those of the Roman emperors and coinage in Gaul whose legend recalls the eternity of Rome, but he did not claim to exercise power in Rome.
He obtained some notable successes against the Franks and managed to protect Gaul but also to repel the attacks of Gallienus in 261 and then 266. He is facing rebellion from one of his own, thelink : he won but was murdered for refusing his troops bag Mainz.
The kingdom of Palmyra
The kingdom of Palmyra (rich caravan city in Syria) is founded by a significant plamyrnien, Odenatus , who distinguished himself in the fight against the Persians: he has excellent archers and strong cavalry.
He received Valerian Gallienus and honorary titles including the dux Romanorum which allows him to legally order the Roman forces.
It is then called king of kings. It ends with two wins and usurpations notable successes against the Persians but was assassinated in 267 following a conspiracy hatched in his family. The power goes to his wife Zenobia and her son Vaballath. who get in first trust Gallien.
The military reforms: the necessary adaptation of command and the army
With a certain period in the exercise of his office, Gallien takes the initiative to initiate several reforms of military to cope with the most pressing dangers.
It fundamentally upsets the system of command within the army withdraws to senators command of legions to entrust it to knights who are often officers Illyrian and Pannonian out of range. This is due to demographic ratio between these two orders, very much in favor of the equestrian order. The Senators have never forgiven Gallien this measure especially since it comes from their order.
He thinks the battle mode of the Roman army and attaches more importance to the cavalry, better adapted to the mobility of Germanic troops. At the same time, he resorts to barbarian mercenaries who are either prisoners or volunteers who fought with the troops without joining. For this he performs "vanes," the division into two of the existing legions.
It also creates what is called the "Protector", the elite troops protecting the emperor called later Praetorian Guard. They are nicknamed "Emperor-maker."
It rearranges the Rhine-Danube limes by abandoning Agri Decumates (which served as no-man's land until about 300) and retired on the left bank of the Rhine and Upper Danube.
Galen seems to have been honorably pulled. He won military victories and took his part in the relief experienced by the end of the century, notably by reforming the army, which enabled the Illyrian emperors to repel invasions. Despite a very troubled reign, he managed to stay in power for fifteen years, exceptional durability in the third century.
A humanist emperor
Gallien is, like Augustus and Hadrian, a lover of Greece and Athens which is one of the eponymous archons. He seems to have sought to return to the Empire of the Antonines humanist: he wished to maintain a balance between the two parts of the empire.
His personal convictions are not easy to penetrate: Demeter is his favorite deity and he is initiated into the mysteries of Eleusis, reviving a tradition that prevailed under the Severi.
He is a follower of the neo-Platonic philosophy. It is surrounded by a circle of neo-Platonic philosopher whose brightest Plotinus was the chief. This is the companion and counselor of the emperor and his wife Salonina and court circles. Through his personal tendencies and by the choice of this environment, there is no doubt that both attracts Gallien contempt for military pannonic of his staff and hatred of the Senate, that Hadrian was already known for the same reasons. In this brutal century when the fate of the Empire is more than ever in the hands of soldiers, the figure of the emperor humanist takes a strange relief.
Unlike his father, he tolerates the Christians and gave them the freedom to practice their religion by a rescript of Milan of 260 addressed to the bishops of Egypt.
The end
Gallien is assassinated while besieging the usurper Aureolus , entrenched in Milan. Proclaimed emperor, his successor, Claude le Gothique seems take offense and punish the guilty, although he probably belonged to the conspiracy that removed Gallien.
Names successive
- 218 , was born Publius Licinius Gallienus Egnatius
- 253 , made by Auguste Valerian: Imperator Caesar Publius Licinius Pius Felix Invictus Augustus Valerianus
- earns the nicknames Germanicus Maximus Maximus persicus
- 268 , Titulature to his death: Imperator Caesar Publius Licinius Gallienus Pius Felix Valerianus Egnatius Invictus Augustus Germanicus Maximus persicus Maximus, Pontifex Maximus, Tribuniciae potestatis XVI Imperator I, Consul VII, Pater Patriae.
Portraits of Gallienus
- A bust of Gallienus is kept in the Berlin Museum Atles.
- It seems that considering the "Portrait of a Flamen" in the Muse du Louvre (inventory MR 622 / My usual No. 341) as that of a bust of the emperor Gallienus. Indeed, the resemblance to the Berlin bust is obvious.
artistic evocation
- The Magnificent Gladiator, peplum Italian 1964 of Alfonso Brescia
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