Template:Short description Template:Infobox royalty Template:Campaignbox Crisis of the Third Century 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.<ref name="jones 528">Jones, pg. 528</ref>
CareerEdit
Although his father was from an equestrian family,Template:Citation needed 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.<ref name="jones 528" />
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.<ref name="remp galusurp 2">Körner, http://www.roman-emperors.org/galusurp.htm#Note%202</ref> 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,<ref name="remp galusurp 2" /> 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.Template:Citation needed They were however defeated in autumn 261 by Aureolus,<ref name="jones 528" /> and later killed by their own soldiers at the father's request.Template:Citation needed
Cultural depictionsEdit
Macrianus appears in Harry Sidebottom's historical fiction novel series as one of the series' antagonists.Template:Citation needed.
See alsoEdit
ReferencesEdit
SourcesEdit
- 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
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