| Marius | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Augustus of Gaul and Britannia | |||||||||
 Coin featuring Marius. Caption: IMP. C. M. AVR. MARIVS AVG. | |||||||||
| Emperor of the Gallic Empire | |||||||||
| Reign | 269 | ||||||||
| Predecessor | Postumus | ||||||||
| Successor | Victorinus | ||||||||
| Died | 269 Augusta Treverorum (Trier) | ||||||||
| |||||||||
Marcus Aurelius Marius [1] was emperor of the Gallic Empire in 269 following the assassination of Postumus.
According to later tradition, he was a blacksmith by trade, which earned him the nickname Mamurius Veturius , a legendary metalworker in the time of Numa. [2] He rose through the ranks of the Roman army to become an officer. [3] He was part of the army that revolted at Moguntiacum (Mainz) after the Emperor Postumus refused to allow them to sack the city. [4] They murdered the emperor and in the confusion that followed, the army elected Marius as Postumus' successor. [5]
His first decision was to allow his troops to sack the city of Moguntiacum. [6] He then moved to Augusta Treverorum (Trier) to consolidate his power base. [7] His reign lasted no more than two or three months before Postumus' praetorian prefect Victorinus had Marius killed in mid-269, most likely at Augusta Treverorum. [8]
According to ancient written sources, Marius' reign lasted only two or three days before he was killed by a sword of his own manufacture. [9] This tradition is probably partly or wholly inaccurate. Based on the number of coins he issued, a more accurate length for his reign would be at least two or three months. [10]
Marius is listed as one of the Thirty Tyrants in the Historia Augusta. It is said that he was chosen because his names were reminiscent of two great Romans of the past, Marcus Aurelius and Gaius Marius. [7]
Publius Licinius Egnatius Gallienus was Roman emperor with his father Valerian from 253 to 260 and alone from 260 to 268. He ruled during the Crisis of the Third Century that nearly caused the collapse of the empire. He won numerous military victories against usurpers and Germanic tribes, but was unable to prevent the secession of important provinces. His 15-year reign was the longest in half a century.
Marcus Claudius Tacitus was Roman emperor from 275 to 276. During his short reign he campaigned against the Goths and the Heruli, for which he received the title Gothicus Maximus.
Marcus Aurelius Claudius "Gothicus", also known as Claudius II, was Roman emperor from 268 to 270. During his reign he fought successfully against the Alemanni and decisively defeated the Goths at the Battle of Naissus. He died after succumbing to a "pestilence", possibly the Plague of Cyprian that had ravaged the provinces of the Empire.
Flavius Valerius Constantius, also called Constantius I, was a Roman emperor from 305 to 306. He was one of the four original members of the Tetrarchy established by Diocletian, first serving as caesar from 293 to 305 and then ruling as augustus until his death. Constantius was also father of Constantine the Great, the first Christian emperor of Rome. The nickname Chlorus was first popularized by Byzantine-era historians and not used during the emperor's lifetime.
Marcus Aurelius Carus was Roman emperor from 282 to 283. During his short reign, Carus fought the Germanic tribes and Sarmatians along the Danube frontier with success.
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The Gallic Empire or the Gallic Roman Empire are names used in modern historiography for a breakaway part of the Roman Empire that functioned de facto as a separate state from 260 to 274. It originated during the Crisis of the Third Century, when a series of Roman military leaders and aristocrats declared themselves emperors and took control of Gaul and adjacent provinces without attempting to conquer Italy or otherwise seize the central Roman administrative apparatus.
Marcus Aurelius Claudius Quintillus was a short-lived Roman emperor. He was a brother of Emperor Claudius Gothicus, whom he succeeded after Claudius' death in 270. Quintillus' claim to be emperor was challenged by Aurelian, who was proclaimed emperor by the legions he commanded. Quintillus' reign only lasted a few weeks. Different sources report his cause of death as murder by his own soldiers, in battle with Aurelian, or by suicide.
Marcus Cassianius Latinius Postumus was a Roman commander of Batavian origin, who ruled as emperor of the splinter state of the Roman Empire known to modern historians as the Gallic Empire. The Roman army in Gaul threw off its allegiance to Gallienus around the year 260, and Postumus assumed the title and powers of Emperor in the provinces of Gaul, Germania, Britannia, and Hispania. He ruled for the better part of ten years before he was murdered by his own troops.
Laelian, also incorrectly referred to as Lollianus and Aelianus, was a usurper against Postumus, the emperor of the Gallic Empire. His revolt lasted from approximately late February to early June 269.
The Historia Augusta is a late Roman collection of biographies, written in Latin, of the Roman emperors, their junior colleagues, designated heirs and usurpers from 117 to 284. Supposedly modeled on the similar work of Suetonius, The Twelve Caesars, it presents itself as a compilation of works by six different authors, collectively known as the Scriptores Historiae Augustae, written during the reigns of Diocletian and Constantine I and addressed to those emperors or other important personages in Ancient Rome. The collection, as extant, comprises thirty biographies, most of which contain the life of a single emperor, but some include a group of two or more, grouped together merely because these emperors were either similar or contemporaneous.
Marcus Piavonius Victorinus was emperor in the Gallic provinces from 268 to 270 or 269 to 271, following the brief reign of Marius. He was murdered by a jealous husband whose wife he had tried to seduce.
Gaius Pius Esuvius Tetricus was the emperor of the Gallic Empire from 271 to 274 AD. He was originally the praeses (governor) of Gallia Aquitania and became emperor after the murder of Emperor Victorinus in 271, with the support of Victorinus's mother, Victoria. During his reign, he faced external pressure from Germanic raiders, who pillaged the eastern and northern parts of his empire, and the Roman Empire, from which the Gallic Empire had seceded. He also faced increasing internal pressure, which led him to declare his son, Tetricus II, caesar in 273 and possibly co-emperor in 274, although this is debated. The Roman emperor Aurelian invaded in 273 or 274, leading to the Battle of Châlons, at which Tetricus surrendered. Whether this capitulation was the result of a secret agreement between Tetricus and Aurelian or necessary after his defeat is debated. Aurelian spared Tetricus, and even made him a senator and corrector (governor) of Lucania et Bruttium. Tetricus died of natural causes a few years after 274.
Lucius Mussius AemilianussignoAegippius who held a number of military and civilian positions during the middle of the third century. He is best known as a Roman usurper during the reign of Gallienus.
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Victoria, also known as Vitruvia, was a leader in the Roman breakaway realm known as the Gallic Empire in the late 3rd century. She was the mother of Victorinus, who ruled as Gallic Emperor until his assassination in 271. Afterwards, Victoria used her authority to stabilize the empire and select a successor. For a few weeks, Victorina was considered as de facto empress of Gaul, from the death of Victorinus to the accession of Tetricus I. She took the throne as the reigning monarch.
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Faustinus was a 3rd-century CE political figure who launched a rebellion against the Gallic Emperor Tetricus I. His full name and his year of birth are unknown. According to a small number of literary sources, Faustinus sparked a mutiny among Tetricus' troops. At the time of his rebellion, Faustinus was a provincial governor (praeses), presumably of Gallia Belgica since the capital of that province—Augusta Treverorum—was where the rebellion began. Faustinus' revolt was formidable enough, according to the literary sources, to lead Tetricus to appeal to the central Roman emperor Aurelian for aid against the usurper.
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The gens Latinia was a minor family at ancient Rome, which flourished during Imperial times.
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