The Thirty Tyrants (Latin: Tyranni Triginta) were a series of thirty rulers who appear in the Historia Augusta , as having ostensibly been pretenders to the throne of the Roman Empire during the reign of the emperor Gallienus.
Given the notorious unreliability of the Historia Augusta, the veracity of this list is debatable. There is a scholarly consensus that the author deliberately inflated the number of pretenders in order to parallel the Thirty Tyrants of Athens.
The Historia actually gives 32 names. The author, who wrote under the name of Trebellius Pollio, places the last two during the reigns of Maximinus Thrax and Claudius II respectively, leaving thirty alleged pretenders during the reign of Gallienus.
The following list gives the Thirty Tyrants as depicted by the Historia Augusta, along with notes contrasting the Historia Augusta's claims with their actual historical positions:
Chapter in Historia Augusta | Name | Notes about historicity |
---|---|---|
2 | Cyriades | never claimed Imperial dignity |
3 | Postumus | accurate placement |
4 | Postumus Junior | youth; probably never existed [1] |
5 | Laelianus | accurate placement |
6 | Victorinus | contemporary not with Gallienus but Claudius II and Aurelian |
7 | Victorinus Junior | Fiction, never existed [2] |
8 | Marius | accurate placement |
9 | Ingenuus | accurate placement |
10 | Regalianus | accurate placement |
11 | Aureolus | accurate placement |
12 | Macrianus | accurate placement |
13 | Macrianus Junior | accurate placement |
14 | Quietus | accurate placement |
15 | Odaenathus | never claimed Imperial dignity |
16 | Herodes | youth, never claimed Imperial dignity, but older brother of Vaballathus (see below), who did so. |
17 | Maeonius | never claimed Imperial dignity |
18 | Balista | never claimed Imperial dignity |
19 | Valens | probably never claimed Imperial dignity |
20 | Valens Superior | contemporary of Decius, not Valerianus |
21 | Piso | probably never claimed Imperial dignity |
22 | Aemilianus | probably never claimed Imperial dignity |
23 | Saturninus | probably fictitious |
24 | Tetricus Senior | contemporary not with Gallienus but Claudius II and Aurelian |
25 | Tetricus Junior | youth, contemporary not with Gallienus but Claudius II and Aurelian |
26 | Trebellianus | probably fictitious |
27 | Herennianus | youth, never claimed Imperial dignity, possibly fictitious |
28 | Timolaus | youth, never claimed Imperial dignity, possibly fictitious |
29 | Celsus | probably fictitious |
30 | Zenobia | female, accurate placement, her son Vaballathus also claimed imperial dignity |
31 | Victoria (or Vitruvia) | female, never claimed Imperial dignity |
32 | Titus | admittedly not contemporary with Gallienus but Maximinus Thrax |
33 | Censorinus | admittedly not contemporary with Gallienus but Claudius II |
Notwithstanding the author's pretensions regarding the time during which these persons aspired to the throne, this list includes:
Leaving nine pretenders roughly contemporary with Gallienus. According to David Magie (the editor of the Loeb Classical Library edition of the Historia Augusta), at least some of these men issued coins.
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 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.
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 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.
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.
Domitian II was a Roman soldier of the mid 3rd century who was acclaimed emperor, probably in northern Gaul in late 270 or early 271, and struck coins to advertise his elevation. It is now generally assumed that this man is to be equated with the Domitianus who is twice mentioned in the literary sources as a significant figure in the politics of the age, but on neither occasion as an outright contender for the Imperial throne.
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.
P. C. Regalianus, also known as Regalian, was Roman usurper for a few months in 260 and/or 261, during the Crisis of the Third Century, a period of intense political instability in the Roman Empire. Regalianus was acclaimed emperor by the troops along the Danube river, a region of the empire that frequently experienced barbarian raids, probably in the hope that he might be able to secure the frontier.
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.
Aureolus was a Roman military commander during the reign of Emperor Gallienus before he attempted to usurp the Roman Empire. After turning against Gallienus, Aureolus was killed during the political turmoil that surrounded the Emperor's assassination in a conspiracy orchestrated by his senior officers. Aureolus is known as one of the Thirty Tyrants and is referenced in ancient sources including the Historia Augusta, Zonaras' epitome and Zosimus' Historia Nova.
Thirty Tyrants may refer to either of two groups of rulers in classical Antiquity:
Cyriades was a Roman rebel who betrayed the city of Antioch to Shapur I sometime during the 250s. His chief claim to fame is that he is enumerated as one of the Thirty Tyrants who supposedly tried to overthrow the emperor Gallienus.
Trebellianus was a Roman usurper listed among the thirty tyrants in the Historia Augusta. Modern historians consider this figure a character invented by the author of Historia, whose traditional name was Trebellius Pollio.
Valens is one of the Thirty Tyrants, a list of Roman usurpers compiled by the author(s) of the Historia Augusta.
Titus Cornelius Celsus was supposedly a Roman usurper, who rebelled against Gallienus. He was one of the so-called Thirty Tyrants enumerated by Trebellius Pollio. His historicity is doubted by some scholars, who consider him an invention of the Historia Augusta.
Valens Thessalonicus was a Roman usurper during the reign of Emperor Gallienus.
The Gallienus usurpers were the usurpers who claimed imperial power during the reign of Gallienus. The existence of usurpers during the Crisis of the Third Century was very common, and the high number of usurpers fought by Gallienus is due to his long rule; fifteen years was a long reign by the standards of the 3rd century Roman Empire.
Lucius Calpurnius Piso Frugi was probably a Roman general whom the imperial pretender Macrianus Major sent to suppress the governor of Achaia, Valens Thessalonicus. His existence is attested only by the unreliable Historia Augusta, which labels Piso as one of several usurpers who plagued the reign of Emperor Gallienus. While some historians grudgingly regard Piso as a historical figure, many reported details of his life, including his usurpation, are dismissed as fabrications.
Maeonius, or Maconius, was a usurper who, according to the Historia Augusta, briefly ruled over Palmyra. He is included in the list of the Thirty Tyrants.
In the Historia Augusta, Postumus the Younger figures as one of the so-called Thirty Tyrants who usurped power against the Roman Emperor Gallienus. According to the pseudo-historical list of 'Thirty Tyrants', the Emperor of the Gallic Empire Postumus had a son, also called Postumus, whom he nominated to be first caesar, and later even augustus and co-ruler. Postumus the Younger would have been killed together with his father in 268, during the rebellion of Laelianus.