The Man Who SAVED the Roman Empire - Gallienus The Great and Invincible #35 Roman History
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- Опубліковано 25 січ 2023
- Gallienus ruled an empire that was disintegrating under pressure from foreign invaders. The Senate proclaimed him co-emperor because it saw that no one man could run the vast military operations needed to defend the empire.
Gallienus is a controversial figure, many ancient historians, especially from the senatorial class, talk about his role in bringing Rome to ruin. The reality, however, was very different; modern historians cite him as why the Empire could revive under Aurelian, Probus and Diocletian.
On this channel we focus on Roman History and right now we're doing a video on every Roman Emperor, if you're interested in that subscribe or watch the playlist here:
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Narration by: James O'Neil
0:00
1:20 - First Couple of Years
8:20 - Usurpers and Tragedy
12:37 - Valerians Campaign
14:22 - The Years of Crisis
20:22 - The Gallic Empire
26:05 - Magnus et Invictus
30:11 - The Gothic War
36:46 - The Conspiracy
38:01 - Final Thoughts
Music:
The Battle for Glory
Family - Imperator Rome OST
In The Desert' by @Savfk
Hero's Theme - Twin Musicom
Scott Buckley - Phoenix
Ephemera by Scott Buckley
Miguel Johnson - Good Day To Die
Inescapable - Ugonna Onyekwe
Monster At The Door - Sir Cubworth
The Empty Moons of Jupiter - DivKid
#Emperorsofrome #Romanemperors #SPQR #Romanhistory
Without Gallienus, Aurelian would have no empire to restore.
Their is something beautiful in tragic heroes that I love.
Gallienus, Majorian, Stilico and Aecius fought with all their willpower to mantain a crumbling empire from total colapse.
Don't forget belisarius I feel like he is the very embodiment of all those who fought so hard to preserve what was crumbling what was about to fall and what had fallen.
@@rdf4315 Belisarius was more of a restorer, since like Aurelian, Diocletian, or Constantine, he actually succeeded.
what about Aurelian?
@@kekianvsmaximvs8624 As tragic as his death was, Aurelian SUCCEEDED in restoring Rome.
Sertorius too, in the era before the fall of the republic
Ridiculously underappreciated Augustus of Rome. Gallienus had a hell of a career despite suffering just about every setback an Emperor could experience. Thanks for another amazing video SPQRH.
One thing in my grad research on Late Antiquity military that I learned is just how much Gallienus' military reforms are misattributed to Diocletian and Constantine. Gallienus really set the stage for the Empire to live on throughout the Dominate through his cavalry reforms and permanent fortification techniques.
I personally think he is one of the greatest emperors ever, because what makes a man great is playing the cards he is dealt, not the luck of the cards themselves.
I absolutely agree
Gallienus caused all of the troubles that he was constantly then having to put out. He was a disaster.
This video is long overdue. Roman historians after Gallienus had ulterior motives for blackening his reputation, and later historians took up their opinions uncritically. But, when you look at all of the evidence, the worst thing you can say about him is that he wasn't Aurelian. But who was? Gallienus had every disadvantage but he survived and held together the center. And don't forget he was the main patron for Plotinus, the founder of the philosophical school of Neoplatonism, which is incredibly important to the intellectual world of late antiquity and the early Middle Ages.
You sound just as nerdy about this stuff as me. I subbed to you even though you have no content. Just cuz your a kindred spirit. Now go make a video, then come back here and let me know.
@@WrathofArminius I'd seriously been thinking about it. I just might if I can clear up the time.
It was Diocletion who started it. He took credit for what Gallienus, Claudius, Auralien and Probus all did and tried to ignore them entirely.
This is legit exactly what I was going to write. Gallienus gets so much shit, but his big irredeemable flaw was simply not being Aurelianus. That's just an impossible standard to hold anyone to. It's like calling Philipus II a bad king because he wasn't Alexander.
ua-cam.com/video/AMGXy4PF4JU/v-deo.html
I promise it doesn’t suck. Give it 2 minutes. You guys are probably my best demographic to listen to this.
He was a super Roman emperor and deserves much more recognition and credit
Gallienus gets an A for effort. He tried his best.
I guess that would be an official earning of use of the all encompassing word developed for this type of situation, for the admirable actions of an individual 2000 years in the past judged worthy by the scholarly types around the whole world who agree thru communication and discussion on a device known as a computer 2000 years into the future, that said recipient is officially badass enough to receive an "A" for "effort"aka the much coveted "Affort" is hereby awarded to Galienus, etc etc Emperor of the Roman Empire etc etc on this day of etc etc LOL Here Here!!!!
One of the most underrated Roman emperors.
THE most underrated Emperor.
The testament to ability of Gallienus is that he reigned for 15 years straight, in a time when average Roman emperor reigned for, like, 1-3 years at best. His idea of having a central reserve cavalry force that rapidly rides to cut down enemies all across the empire, was directly improved and adopted wholesale by Diocletian and Constantine in the form of Comitatenses.
I might be alone in this, but Gallienus is a genuine top 5 Roman Emperor for me.
He literally did the best he could to save Rome... When he really didn't need to. Think about what a life he lived and he must have known he was fighting a losing battle, but he still fought. He literally took an arrow and kept going. No one would have blamed him if he had just gone full debauchery and hedonist and left the empire to rot, but he didn't. Tragedy after tragedy he still fought to preserve the empire no matter what.
I would even argue that it's because of this tenacity that the crisis would eventually come to an end. He fought the losing battle so that Rome may emerge victorious in the war. Truly one of the greatest Romans... And one of the greatest Men of all time.
You're not alone he and Augustus and majorian and Marcus Aurelius and Trajan are probably my favorite emperors to learn and study
It's funny because I thought I was the only history fan that he was a top 10 emperor. He was surrounded by attacking enemies and I always felt he had to deal with a pressure not many emperors had.ti
And second in the underated list is domitian...hatred from the senate meant he was forgotten about until now
For me it's
1-Augustus
2-Hadrian
3-Diocletian
4-Trajan
5-Gallienus
@@miracleyang3048 Diocletian is a great one to learn about as well
Everyone gushes over the rock stars like Aurelian or Majorian, but I'd argue Gallienus was more vital to Rome's survival. Gallienus has to be the most underrated Roman emperor, who ruled during the most dangerous time in the Roman Empire. His is as underrated as Antoninus Pius who ruled during the most peaceful time of the Roman Empire. Neither man is talked about, yet each was absolutely essential for Rome's success. If Gallienus hadn't done what he did, Rome would have certainly dissolved in the 260s AD and become a barbarian state. And on top of that, he did it all while his co-emperor Valerian was literally kidnapped and executed by a foreign king. And if Antoninus Pius hadn't made his decisions he did, then the Pax Romana may have not existed at all.
Gallianus was a reason it fell into such tough times. He couldn't fix the issues. The Illyrian emperors did
@@TonyFontaine1988 Gallienus also invented the Roman cavalry. He was ahead of his time. But, like Domitian (another good emperor) the senate did not like him so they smeared him in the history books.
Antoninus Pius was a very good administrator, but did NOT face the crises and problems that plagued later emperors, even for instance his immediate successor (Marcus Aurelius).
Ending is just depressing Rest in Peace Top G
I read historical books about Roman Emperors written not more than twenty years ago. Almost all of them considered Gallienus as a very bad emperor, who sit around and watched everything around him burn. He even insulted Valerian, his own father, for dying pathetically.
This also didn't stop there. The Historia Augusta writes Gallienus as "one who lived for nothing but his belly", "effeminate and crossdresser", "Did absolutely nothing but stay in Milan or Rome and be degenerate" (?!?!?), "Diverted all gold he could to construct a second giant Colossus in Rome" (no such colossus was ever found)
But the only source for that slander is Historia Augusta, a known historical book that was filled with outright wrong information. It was wrote a century after Gallienus's death by unknown senatorial class in Rome and since Gallienus transfered power to Milan to better answer all shit he had to deal with, they hated him. Now, it's pretty obvious, using all information about the period, that Gallienus was a good Emperor in a very unfortunate times. He was so damn unlucky and was paid for his good service with nothing but his own death and those of his family one by one, traitors, secession and damnation and fake news...
Seems have made a lot of enemies, even Aurelian turned against him, must have been doing something wrong.
@@anthonymeyers3184 I suspect that Gallienus became very suspicious and paranoid at the very end. He was betrayed by literally everyone, after all. He lost his father and both of his sons were murdered. Maybe that was the reason...
@MrSergore It's worth a mention that while he may have itched his Commanders into a planned revolt. His regular soldiers were of a different mindset
They absolutely loved him & got super pissed off when they found out he was dead. Claudius had to calm them down but things got worse when they got reports about the Senate killing Gallienus's remaining family & supporters in Rome. The soldiers upon hearing this got even more uncomfortable & pissed that at some point Claudius wrote to the Senate
"Stop killing his family & friends or else this Army will march on Rome" (not in these words but you get the idea)
Man… you have a cool channel name. You claimed that first? Lol wtf. I should’ve gotten this name. Anyway… here’s a song I wrote for you…
ua-cam.com/video/KfVRlCW5QbU/v-deo.html
I have a live version too… but this one sounds better.
@@WrathofArminius You got a far better name of the channel, since you can change the name that appears easily in the settings! Nice song, btw
In my opinion, Gallienus was one of the best roman emperors ever. If he had lived one century earlier, he could be as successful same as Vespasianus or Traianus. Unfortunately, he lived in incredible difficult times. Never before were the Roman empire attacked from so many enemies at the same time and never before took place so many uprisings simultanesly. Despite such disasters, Gallienus tried do the best he could and turned away the collapse of the empire. Later sucesful emperors as Aurelianus or Diocletianus just countinued in work he began.
This man had horrible luck and circumstances but despite all that he pushed on and gave it his best instead of standing around complaining. It's a lesson for all of us to take in our own lives
I bet Gallienus was like "Can I catch a damn break I just came from that region" He was great in my eyes bc he was up and moving his nickname should be the saddle. Another day another barbarian horde and usurper to put down lol
He was like a main protagonist in a story with no plot armor.
A seriously underrated Agustus of Roman history. I've been waiting for this ^^
Being an emperor in this period was the worst/most dangerous job in the Empire: going up and down all over the empire all the time, fighting one barbarian incursion after another (plus Persians), while constantly worrying that your own army will rebel or just kill you on spot.
A great rule, disappointing to see how Gallienus’ demise went down…
In the mess of the Crisis of the Third Century, Gallienus was the only emperor who's reign can be measured in double digits. Even if you exclude the time he co-reigned with his father, he *still* reigns longer than any Crisis of the Third Century emperor
Gallienus was arguably a better all around emperor than Aurelian. Aurelian was very much a general (the greatest in the third century even), and ran the empire like his army: no messing around, ruthless, efficient. He was the right man for the mess of the 270s. Gallienus was a skilled commander, a military reformer, adaptible, cultured, and tolerant. In a time of peace, Gallienus would still be one of the best, while Aurelian would resemble an intensely religious version of Septimius Severus.
Underrated comment!
Tolerant? I could literally count 5 instances where he went on a killing binge to his perceived opponents!
@@kelvinosas6518 When I talk of tolerance, I talk about religious tolerance.
Gallienus: Can you stop proclaiming new emperors FOR 5 F*CKING MINUTES?
SPQR, thank you for doing all these. Of the many takes on Rome/Roman emperors, I think I like yours the best!
The man who held Rome together, patching up holes everywhere
The only reason Gallienus was so brutal in his Reign was because he was just so fed up with all the bullshit. 2 out of 3 sons are murdered
His father captured with an unknown fate in Persia
Revolts out the fucking ass
The slaughter at Byzantium was mostly just him being sick of it & just told his men "Fuck it, kill them all, JUST KILL THEM ALREADY"
And him challenging Postumus to single combat was likely him not only wanting to avoid the spill of Roman blood but also wanting to personally avenge his sons death
Men he trusted betrayed him, so I could see why he would just tell his men to kill anyone who wasn't loyal to him as that was an immediate red flag that a revolt was gonna happen
It's also worth mentioning that the Army LOVED him alot. Maybe not the Commanders but the regular soldiers yes. When they heard that he was dead, they became extremely upset & Claudius had to calm them down. But once reports came in that the Senate was massacring Gallienus's remaining family in Rome, the Soldiers once again got very upset & threatened to march on Italy. So Claudius had to personally write to the Senate for them to stop
Thanks for the info as a Roman enthusiastic i never knew about that.
@justlikeme2797 No problem man! Watching videos of historians talk about events & piecing everything together has made me learn alot. I am a very big fan of Roman history. No matter the period, Kingdom, Republic, Empire, the Eastern Empire, etc.
THE* most underrated Roman emperor.
...after Probus
In this era, Rome looking more like a disorganised crime syndicate than an empire.
The unsung hero of the Third Century Crisis.
Gallienus worked his tail off! Great example of why you need to build a strong talent pipeline of engaged/capable/loyal people. Just impossible to lead on a large scale when you are constantly just putting out fires.
This channel does not get nearly the high plaudits and attention it richly deserves
This is incredible account of this period and I've been a student of Late Roman History for decades...wonderful telling and production, thank you
Wow! Gallienus had a tumultuous reign to say the least! His military innovation was interesting concerning the calvary. Over a 15 year reign he had his critics and enemies. Many he was able to suppress but eventually "they" got him in the end. It was a very difficult time with so many incursions and generals being proclaimed Emperor whenever they would win a skirmish with some tribe. His harsh treatment of enemies, rebels insubordination by soldiers you could see this was a man that had lost his father & two sons to the strains of Emperorship and was in no mood to suffer fools. He tried to innovate by taking a second wife and use that alliance to supplement border security. But something more was needed. And we would see that later on with Diocletian and the Tetrarchy. Well done! Enjoyed that immensely!
One of the great Emperors for sure. Gallienus walked so Aurelianus and Diocletianus could run.
Like Gallienus, this channel is massively under-appreciated. How am I just finding this gold mine of content?
I wish all of your videos were so deeply in-depth as this masterpiece, I’ve always found Valerian and Galllianeus the most fascinating of the 3rd century emperors, seriously just a fantastic episode can’t wait for your Claudius video
It was AURELIANwho saved Rome. It is true though that Gallienus was an insanely UNDERrated hero who helped Claudius II Conquer the Goths but then he got quite literally stabbed in the back.
Same as stilicho
Rome's greatest threat was itself.
Man I missed this guy's voice on history marche. Amazing video covering a topic I didn't know anything about. I wish youtube would send me notifications with any regularity. Especially with channels that don't post super often.
Being Roman Emperor at that period must've sucked. Why anyone would want that job is not really clear. Great video.
What a wonderful exposé. I was aware of Gallienus but didn't know he had started using cataphracts. Thank you for this video.
You need to continue and do all the emperors. Fourth and fifth century emperors are exciting too.
This guy is so underrated, easily top 10, not many rulers got dealt a worse hand than Gallianus, most would have lost the empire in his shoes, I always think a ruler should be judged not just by what happens when they rule but what happens after, this guy assembled the greatest officer core in history, he put them right there behind him, when he died they were legendary, but he set the stage for what came next, without him Claudius, Aurelian, Probus, Carius, Diocletian, may never have got a chance to do what they did, he deserves a ot of credit for what happened after he died, he's the turning point for the fate of the whole empire, it was falling apart before him, then started to mend a after him
Looking over my Gallienus coins again, I think I'll value them higher from now on.
Greetings. I very much appreciate your diligence and approach to addressing this very complex and convoluted part of history. You present the facts as you know them, as well as clearly stating when you are expressing an opinion. This is something that I have found rare in my life, else I may have continued my formal education instead of joining the Army, which was an education of the world as it really is. As I am older, I appreciate the bot you have started to use in narration, as it is easier for ME to follow, and the cadence used doesn't lull me into inattention. Not that YOU ever did, I just had to strain to follow your vocal cadence. If I strain too much to focus on one thing, I miss the details that I want to hear. I say that with all respect and absolutely no intention of offence. As I have said, I AM old, with a small amount of brain damage. In closing sir, once again all respect as well as best wishes for your future endeavors, which I look forward to with a great deal of interest.
Ran across your site by accident. So glad I did. A good story about a very underrated emperor. Keep up the good work.
Amazing work, thank you :)
Another great video 👍
Well narrated as always!
This story needs to be committed to celluloid, film or TV. Arguably even more interesting than Caesar himself
If HBO ever decides to relaunch HBO Rome. This period should be it.
Great work !
Simply excellent. Thank you.
Great great video.💯
Please come back with more content :(
This was great! Very detailed but also comprehensive. I learned a lot. Or at least I heard a lot of things I didn’t know, we’ll see down the road how much I learned.
Again, this Channel is Amazing! Ave!
Always a good story teller, love chilling to these documentary's
Awesome ) now do for Aurelian pls)
Very good video
love it !
Thank you for covering this Emperor.
Superb video.
Totally excellent!
One of the _very_ best.
Good one
Excellent and detailed video. And the final thoughts are really fair if all he did was true. The Empire needed a king like him at that time for sure
FINALLY some love for this CHAD!
Exeptional portrait of emperor Galienus ,the best of such entreprises of historians traying an excellent equilibrium between panegyric and critique.
!
Don’t usually watch these videos, but I have to for my favorite emperor
You deserve more notice.
I’ve never heard of this dude 🎉 1 great thing about this channel: the narrator takes his time: I really appreciate that 😊
So many Romans who suddenly meet their fate with an _"Argh!"_ 🤣 Great video, interesting story.
Well done
I hate the fact that you make us waiting for so long for next episode
It's back!
Gallienus the great. More deserving than theodosius
Theodosius the Mediocre only gets credit for being a Christian Hardliner. Gallienus was leagues about him and his shitty sons that brought ruin upon Roma
I have to agree. To be honest the most I know about Gallienus is through Mike Duncan, who wasn't exactly gushing about him, but the facts in his narrative seemed to describe an emperor who was making a good fist of a shitty situation .
Imperator Caesar Publius Licinius Egnatius Gallienus Augustus Chadicus Maximus. Read L. De Blois The policy of emperor Gallienus. Hands down one of the best and underrated emperors period. Well done boy
This was a very interesting and informative presentation. Primarily, I'm interested in the 1st Century BC and 1st Century AD. But I found this time period to be quite interesting. Thanks!
great video but you gotta proofread those little notes that come up in the corner. they're riddled with typos
Love ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ Roman history.
I say he gets A- for battles and speed but D for economic reforms. The empire was terrible affected by loosing the silver mines of Spain and inflation was extreme. The semi silver double denarii was not a poorly minted copper coin… and gold became scarce. Two years later, in 270, Aurelien worked on economic and military losses… new coins minted “XXI” meaning 1 part in 20 was silver… 5%… much better than the 1 to 2%.
You know we are all waiting for roman emperor Aurelian :)
Great video once again! Is there a way to support this channel? Also, can you recommend at least top 5 books for Roman history.
His officer corps is no doubt the most OP in Roman history. Aureolus innovated the calvary units, Claudius rose to be an incredible general, Odenathus was clearly very talented at everything, while the younger Auralien and Probus each showed a lot of promise and capability in independent commands. And the augustus here was no scrub, he cut his teeth in the 250s even if he struggled to deal a knockout blow to Posthumus.
So Ingenuus was being Dis-Ingenuus when he took his job 😉; also, Gallienus' nickname should have been The Lawnmower the way he had to carry on cutting guys down everywhere all the time. If Rome had had road miles the way we have air miles today, Gallienus would have been on permanent discount prices his whole life the way he got dragged from pillar to post.
Finally someone made a video about this chad
Hey guys, great video! I wonder what program or app you use to make these videos? :)
Would appreciate a response very much!
I have many Roman coins of this period. Silver content was about 35% under early Valerian (255 AD) but dropped quickly to 5% then 2% under Gallieus. His coins are pretty poor quality. With coins going from 35% to 2%… items cost rose 1500% so the double denarii were copper coins with a silver coating. It stay this way into 320’s when new coins issued. Gold coins stayed 95% pure but size was 1/2 to 1/4 the older gold coins.
MORE VIDEOS OF THIS SERIES. PLEASE SER CAN I HAVE SOME MORE?
First time i have heard of this emperor. Gallianus effectively saved Rome from barbarian incusions and revolts, but this similar set of events cascaded permanently out of control in the 5th century.
Its been a while bro whats happening, cant wait for Claudius Gothicus and finally, Aurelian❤️
Imagine you hold more than half of europe, half of "Asia", and all of North Africa, but then it starts to crumble. I don't think most or any person today would have the mental fortitude to handle all of that PLUS colossal hordes AND inside scheming for 15 whole years while STILL having time to indulge in upper class interests like he did, especially back when you had to walk to every single place things happened in.
A gigachad through and through, the man should be taught in all western schools today as an example of perseverance and working under pressure.
Are you going to do Claudius Gothicus next?
The size of the empire was just too much to manage
Aureolus: one who betrays once betrays twice
Aureolus was Daco-Roman. i am a Romanian. he btrayed twice. i... um.... :|
Could you do one on the Airyanus,
When are you going to do Julian the Apostate?.....excellent video by the way.
361 A.D. The Last Pagan By Adrian Murdoch. Is a good book on Julian's reign.
@@Steven-dt5nu Have read several times; excellent book.
Still waiting for AURELIAN
Pathetic Pig emperor. Forget him. Gallienus 1000 times better.
@@palacehaunter5442no lol
I remember these days, I was a busy dude getting things set up for the Dark Ages, Crusades, Inquisition, and such. But I did My share of partying in Gaul.
[SPQR] we have the quote on quote 4 good emperors, trajan to Marcus starting with the old guy no one remembers. But I would say starting with Valerian to Aurelian, we get the 4 genius emperors. All genius military political and even somewhat financial for their time, that kept the empire together. These four halted the decline and laid the foundations for a stable empire under Diocletian. What do you think?
let's all forget Probus, he was so useless 😃
@@tsonobi How dare you insult Probus :(
@@iDeathMaximuMII well huh, i meant exactly the opposite, replying to ''4 genius emperors'', with Probus missed as if he was not worth mentioning
This guys IQ was OP imo sad he could not catch a break
*Chuckles at your pronounciation of Ilkka Syvänne*
Is this the narrator of Baz Battles or where do I know him from