Publius Licinius Valerianus Maior (c. 193, c. 195, c. 200 - aft. 260 or 264), commonly known in English as Valerian or Valerian I, the Elder, was the only Roman Emperor to be taken captive alive, having reigned from 253 to 260.
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...
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Publius Licinius Valerianus Maior (c. 193, c. 195, c. 200 - aft. 260 or 264), commonly known in English as Valerian or Valerian I, the Elder, was the only Roman Emperor to be taken captive alive, having reigned from 253 to 260.
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...
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