| Macrianus Minor | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Usurper of the Roman Empire | |||||||||
 Macrianus on a coin celebrating Eternal Rome.[1] | |||||||||
| Reign | 260-1 (with Quietus) | ||||||||
| Predecessor | Gallienus | ||||||||
| Successor | Gallienus | ||||||||
| Died | 261 Illyricum | ||||||||
| |||||||||
| Father | Macrianus Major | ||||||||
| Mother | ? (of senatorial descent) | ||||||||
Titus Fulvius Iunius Macrianus (died 261), also known as Macrianus Minor, was a Roman usurper. He was the son of Fulvius Macrianus, also known as Macrianus Major.[2]
Career
Although his father was from an equestrian family, Macrianus Minor's mother was of noble birth and her name, possibly, was Iunia. According to the often unreliable Historia Augusta, he had served as military tribune under Valerian.[2]
Macrianus, his father and his brother Quietus, were in Mesopotamia in 260, for the Sassanid campaign of Emperor Valerian, when the Roman army was defeated, and the emperor was captured.[3] With help from his father, who kept the imperial treasure, and by the influence of Balista, Valerian's praefect, Macrianus gained the imperial office together with his brother Quietus,[3] through the election by the army, in contrast with the lawful Emperor Gallienus, son and co-emperor with Valerian, who was far in the West. The two emperors and brothers were recognized in the eastern part of the Empire, having a stronghold in Egypt, the grain supplying province for the city of Rome.
After having temporarily secured the Persian frontier, Macrianus Major and Macrianus Minor moved to the West to attack and eliminate their rival Gallienus. They were however defeated in autumn 261 by Aureolus,[2] and later killed by their own soldiers at the father's request.
Cultural depictions
Macrianus appears in Harry Sidebottom's historical fiction novel series as one of the series' antagonists..
See also
References
- ↑ The coinage of Macrianus and of his brother and co-emperor Quietus celebrated the army, the confidence in victory, and the foreseen arrival of happy times. All of these themes were very important in a time of emergency, when the Roman Empire had lost its Emperor in battle against the Sassanid Empire, and the army was deep in enemy territory.
- 1 2 3 Jones, pg. 528
- 1 2 Körner, http://www.roman-emperors.org/galusurp.htm#Note%202
Sources
Media related to Macrianus Minor at Wikimedia Commons
- Körner, Christian, "Usurpers in the east: The Macriani and Ballista", s.v. "Usurpers under Gallienus", De Imperatoribus Romanis
- Jones, A.H.M., Martindale, J.R. The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire, Vol. I: AD260-395, Cambridge University Press, 1971