Middle Roman Empire, Military Anarchy (235-284): 42*Valerian; Gothic War [2/6], Sassanid War [3/9]

42 *VALERIAN (c.65; r.253-260)

Valerian’s Gothic War (254-257) [2/6]

In 254 the Goths raided Moesia and Thracia as far as Thessalonica before returning home. In 255 the Goths and Sarmatians gained control of the Roman client state of the Cimmerian Bosporus (east Crimea and the Taman Peninsula), whose navy until this time in cooperation with the Romans had been able to safeguard navigation on the Black Sea.  

In 256 the Borani, a Sarmatian people from southern Russia, confiscated ships from the Bosporeans and sailed against Pityus (=Pitsunda) on the west coast of the Caucasus Mountains. The first expedition failed, but a second expedition was successful. Then the rich city of Trapezus (=Trabzon) on the northern coast of the Black Sea fell; caught by surprise, the garrison had simply run away.

In 257 the Goths ravaged the southwestern coast of the Black Sea for the first time and penetrated into the Propontis (=Marmara Sea). While the land forces moved southward along the coast, the Gothic fleet had collected a number of fishing boats sufficient to ferry the land forces across to Asia Minor. Chalcedon was captured without a fight and the Goths went on to take Nicomedia, Nicaea, Cius, Apamea and Prusa before their advance westwards to the city of Cyzicus (Mysia) were halted by the flooded Rhyndacus (≈Mustafakemalpaşa River), southwest of Prusa.

Valerian’s Sassanid War (257-161), [3/9]

By the end of 255 Valerian had arrived with a force drawn from the Rhine and Danube regions and taken residence at Antioch in Syria. In the southeast the important city of Dura Europos was under attack by the Sassanids. When Valerian reached the city he was unable to save it and it fell to Shapur in 256, after which it was largely destroyed and abandoned.

At the end of 256 Valerian renewed the active persecution of the Christians. Both Pope Stephen-I (r.254-257) and his successor, Pope Sixtus II (r.257-258), suffered martyrdom in Rome. In Africa, Cyprian (r.248-258) was executed in 258 on the orders of the proconsul ⁰¹Galerius (1) Maximus.

After several years of being fully occupied in repelling Gothic attacks, Valerian mounted a counterattack on the Sassanids. In summer 260 a great battle was fought near Edessa, but the Roman army was defeated and besieged by the Persians. It seems that when Valerian tried to negotiate he was captured and remained his enemy’s prisoner for the rest of his life. It was rumoured that when he died, his skin was stripped off, stuffed with straw, and put on display in a local temple.