Valerian

200–c. 260s

Valerian ruled the Roman Empire from AD 253 to 260 during a period of invasion, plague and internal instability. He appointed his son Gallienus as co-emperor and campaigned in the east against the Sasanian king Shapur I.

Defeated near Edessa, Valerian was captured alive, an unprecedented humiliation for a reigning Roman emperor, and his later fate is uncertain. Valerian held the title of Roman emperor and ancient Roman senator.

Valerio Massimo Manfredi’s Empire of Dragons begins with Valerian’s capture after Edessa and follows members of his defeated guard into Persian captivity. Harry Sidebottom’s King of Kings portrays the fragile joint rule of Valerian and Gallienus as civil war and the Sasanian threat pull the empire apart, while Lion of the Sun opens with Valerian’s army collapsing and the emperor falling into Shapur I’s hands. Nick Holmes’ The Roman Revolution uses that capture as a defining moment in the third-century crisis, linking it to breakaway empires and the later recovery under Aurelian. Ian Hughes’ Thirteen Roman Defeats places Edessa within a longer study of Roman military disasters and the strategic changes forced by defeat.

Periods

Periods linked to Valerian

Crisis of the Third Century235–284 CE Reign of Gallienus253–268 CE

Series

Historical novels and book series featuring Valerian (1 series)

Warrior of Rome in Order

by Harry Sidebottom 8 books 4.3(9,729)

The Warrior of Rome series follows Marcus Clodius Ballista, an Angle raised within the Roman world who becomes a senior imperial commander during the Crisis of the Third Century. His service carries him from the Persian frontier to Palmyra, the Black Sea, the Eurasian steppe, Rome, Sicily and…