1. GALLIENUS’ INHERITANCE

1. Claudius II

• Lack of coherent logic in politics; why are particular emperors chosen at particular points?
• Obvious candidates passed over for less capable individuals; less easily to explain why/what is going on
• Gallienus declared to be usurper
• Historia Augusta: usurpation against Gallienus, new regime paid off soldiers and claimed Gallienus himself was a usurper (despite following on from his father)
• Flexibility of memory; how easy is it to rewrite the legacy of previous emperors?
• Claudius Gothicus comes to the throne
• Numerous accounts of his accession
• Remembered positively; coins with symbol of peace; 
• Claudius appears to be one of the better emperors of 3rd century, always with reference to Constantine’s father
• Constantine plucks Claudius Gothicus from obscurity to legitimise his reintroduction of the principate and removal of tetrarchy 
• Only reason Claudius Gothicus is of interest?
• Name suggests from family with recent citizenship (Caracalla’s edict) - Marcus Aurelius Claudicus
• Deifies Gallienus - again, reversal of memory
• Doesn’t reach all provinces - some areas where he receives damnatio memoriae and others where he is deified
• Why deify? Difficult to get idea of Gallienus as usurper to stick, so change of motive?
• Focuses on Danubian frontier - not unusual, being am military emperor
• Ignores east; epigraphy of military officials from this year showing many come from Danubian frontier suggests this is why he was put in power and Gallienus was removed
• Suggested Gallienus abandoned Danubian frontier to deal with other usurper, angering Danubian military officials and so LOCAL INTEREST put in an emperor who was willing to pay attention
• Claims victory over the Goths
• Death from plague - only soldier emperor to die in bed

2. Quintillus and Aurelian

• Succession plan in place for Claudius’ brother (Marcus Aurelius Quintullus) to succeed
• Quintillus minor figure; procurator in Sardinia
• Only emperor for 17 days
• Has time to mint coins
• Army in Sirmium acclaim another individual, Marcus Aurelius Aurelianus, emperor (270-275)
• Claudius’ own army support Aurelian, rather than Claudius’ brother Quintillus
• Quintillus dies; murder or suicide unclear
• 270/271- Aurelian cleans up northern frontier
• Gothic invasion stemmed and seems to happen muchness in this period
• Why? Aurelian more competent emperor? Building on success of his predecessor, Claudius Gothicus? Were the Goths themselves less interested in raiding in Rome if resistance was stronger?
• Abandons Transdanubian Dacia,and creates a new province called Dacia to mask the lost of the first area
• Manipulation of memory
• Fortification of cities, including Rome
• Aurelian Wall increases territory of city of Rome
• Why? Raiding groups getting further into Roman territory
• Roman refortifying suggest Rome itself was at threat; violent of frontier crept ever closer and the heartland of empire was at threat
• Augustan period; conflict getting further and further from Rome
• Reversal of this; conflict getting closer, city of Rome at threat
• Fragmentation of empire - Gallic and Palymrene empires

II. THE GALLIC EMPIRE (260-274)

1. Postumus’ empire

• Postumus established new state beyond Alps
• Ten year reign, unchallenged and without conflict
• Resources of central government had been spread to thin; local elites were able to provide for citizens that which central government could no longer 
• Roman ideology - titulature, coins, etc
• No desire for independence?
• Usurper can’t be put down, Gallienus just has to live with him
• At what point does a continuous usurper become an emperor?
• Seen as being so established that someone else wants to be in his place, and is usurped
• Ulpius Cornelianus Laelianus (288) defeated in battle
• This story rhetorical trope? Reign begins and ends with stories of military blunder
• Central government was still unable to do anything, so we see succession the Gallic empire
• Authority passes from one individual to another, thus becoming an empire in itself
• Victorinus defeats Marius and becomes emperor in Gallic empire, who is then defeated by Tetricus 
• At point at which there is civil war, a number of regions declare authority to central Roman authority, Claudius Gothicus
• Suggests it was precisely the political stability offered by Postumus that made him an attractive ruler to these regions 
• Postumus rules at a time where instability is centrla, some emperors reigning for only 17 days
• Clear why this might be attractive to local magistrates; allows individuals to get on with local life, trading, etc without constant political disturbance 
• To what extent are individuals aware of central recognition?
• What are the mechanisms by which individuals can check who has legitimately claimed power?
• If nobody challenges Postumus for 10 years, what reason would one have for viewing him as illegitimate?
• To what extent do individuals pay attention to the close details of central authority?

III. THE PALYMRENE KINGDOM 

1. Odaenathus’ role

• De-facto control over Western side of empire
• Claiming other titles
• King of kings in; corrector totes Orients
• Odaenathus’ accepted overture from Gallienus
• A working relationship… that stopped working
• Moments of succession which mean the basis of power and legitimacy are brought into light and questioned 
• Odaenathus dies

2. Zenobia’s empire

• Wife of Odaenathus viewed his position as one which should be inherited, by his son Vaballathus, aged >10
• Zenobia engineers succession of her son 
• Inscriptions indicate her own agency; claiming position that was given to the father; ‘mother of the king’
• Attempt to claim magistracy for the son
• Zenobia’s ambitions exceeded those of her husband; he was happy with bounds of power given to him in the position of corrector totius orientis
• Envisages Palmyrene empire
• Begins minting coins - something Odaenathus had never done
• Coins claim authority over the Romans; claiming Vaballathus and Aurelian as co-emperors, uses language of emperors 
• Uses central imperial imagery - crowned and in style of Augustus
• Coins of Vaballathus dressed as Hercules; cf. Commodus 
• Coinage also produced for Zenobia - indication for her own ambition?
• Starts as king of kings, already disputed by central government, and then claims more and more, co-emperor with Aurelian 
• Backdating of Vaballathus 3 years; claiming he is the senior emperor with Aurelian - changing of memory
• Instability creates space for individuals to push boundaries 

III. AURELIAN’S RESTORATION

1. Defeat of the Palmyrene Empire

• 273: Aurelian advances towards Palmyra
• 2 quick defeats
• Besieges Palmyra, Zenobia captured and taken as a prisoner to Rome

2.  Defeat of Gallic Empire

• 274 Aurelian approaches
• Tetricus negotiates own surrender 
• Sacrifices army to need for a victory
• Both victorie anti climactic
• Discovering problems of original empire
• Once they have to place the problem of succession -THE FUNDAMDENTLA PROBLEM OF TH E ROMAN EMPIRE WHICH IS NEVER FACE/RESOLVED - those empires themselves become too weak to continue

3. The image of victory

• Double triumph; first in many years
• Aurelian presenting as victory over foreign barbarians, rather than reclaiming of territories; cf. Flavian attitudes to Jewish War
• Zenobia marries senator; Tetricus becomes senator
• Interesting because you can see the distinction between reality of events and the image Aurelian attempts to present