This is the only fully illustrated military life of the Emperor Publius Licinius Egnatius Gallienus (253-268). Considered the most blatantly military man of all of the soldier emperors of the third century, Gallienus is the emperor in Harry Sidebottom’s best-selling Warrior of Rome novels.
Gallienus faced more simultaneous usurpations and foreign invasions than any other emperor, but somehow he managed to survive. Dr. Ilkka Syvanne explains how this was possible. It was largely thanks to the untiring efforts of Gallienus that the Roman Empire survived for another 1,200 years. Gallienus was a notorious libertarian, womanizer, and cross-dresser, but he was also a fearless warrior, duellist and general all at the same time. This monograph explains why he was loved by the soldiers,yet so intensely hated by some officers that they killed him in a conspiracy.
The year 2018 is the 1,800th anniversary of Gallienus’ date of birth and the 1,750th anniversary of his date of death. The Reign of Gallienus celebrates the life and times of this great man.
The Man who oversaw the Nadir of Empire The life of the Roman Emperor Gallienus and his father, Valerian, is incredibly dramatic, so much so that it is surprising that there has been no novel or movie made about it. The greatest reason explaining that is that the sources on that historic period are mostly fragmentary and frequently contradictory. There are only two modern English language monographs about Gallienus, both very academic and full of hedging. Dr. Ilkke Syvanne has recently written several controversial books on the Roman Third Century Crisis and subsequent resurgence and this volume falls squarely into the lowest point of the Crisis.In Classics today, an easy way to make a name for one’s self might be to write a biography rehabilitating an historic figure whose reputation has been reviled by the ancient sources. I got the feeling that Dr. Syvanne was working this angle while reading his biography of Caracalla while he claimed that Emperor was some kind of military genius. That said, I would prefer…
Good contribution A long neglected aspect of Roman history. We need more books that cover topics like this