Macrianus Minor

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
Full name Titus Fulvius Iunius Macrianus
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,^[3] 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.^[4]

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.^[5] 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,^[6] 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.^[7] They were however defeated in autumn 261 by Aureolus,^[8] and later killed by their own soldiers at the father's request.^[9]

Portrayals In Popular Fiction

Macrianus appears in Harry Sidebottoms historical fiction novel series as one of the series antagonists.

See also

• Gallienus usurpers

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
• Canduci, Alexander (2010), Triumph & Tragedy: The Rise and Fall of Rome's Immortal Emperors, Pier 9, ISBN 978-1-74196-598-8

References

1. 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.
2. Jones, pg. 528
3. Canduci, pg. 85
4. Jones, pg. 528
5. Körner, www.roman-emperors.org/galusurp.htm#Note%202
6. Körner, www.roman-emperors.org/galusurp.htm#Note%202
7. Canduci, pg. 85
8. Jones, pg. 528
9. Canduci, pg. 86