http://www.TrustedCoins.com Galerius Maximianus (ca. 260 – late April or early May 311), formally Gaius Galerius Valerius Maximianus was Roman Emperor from 305 to 311.  Early life Galerius was born on a small farm estate, on the site where he later built his palace, Felix Romuliana.[5] His father was a Thracian and his mother Romula was a Dacian woman, who left Dacia because of the Carpians' attacks.[10] He originally followed his father's occupation, that of a herdsman, where he got his surname of Armentarius (Latin: armentum, herd). He served with distinction as a soldier under Emperors Aurelian and Probus, and in 293 at the establishment of the Tetrarchy, was designated Caesar along with Constantius Chlorus, receiving in marriage Diocletian's daughter Valeria (later known as Galeria Valeria), and at the same time being entrusted with the care of the Illyrian provinces. Soon after his appointment, Galerius would be dispatched to Egypt to fight the rebellious cities Busiris and Coptos.[11]  War with Persia  Invasion, counterinvasion In 294, Narseh, a son of Shapur who had been passed over for the Sassanid succession, came into power in Persia. Narseh probably moved to eliminate Bahram III, a young man installed by a noble named Vahunam in the wake of Bahram II's death in 293.[12] In early 294, Narseh sent Diocletian the customary package of gifts, but within Persia he was destroying every trace of his immediate predecessors, erasing their names from public monuments. He sought to identify himself with the warlike reigns of Ardashir (r. 226–41) and Shapur (r. 241–72), the same Shapur who had sacked Roman Antioch, skinned the Emperor Valerian (r. 253–260) to decorate his war temple.[13] In 295 or 296, Narseh declared war on Rome. He appears to have first invaded western Armenia, retaking the lands delivered to Tiridates in the peace of 287. He would occupy the lands there until the following year.[14] Narseh then moved south into Roman Mesopotamia, where he inflicted a severe defeat on Galerius, then commander of the Eastern forces, in the region between Carrhae (Harran, Turkey) and Callinicum (Ar-Raqqah, Syria).[15] Diocletian may or may not have been present at the battle,[16] but would present himself soon afterwards at Antioch, where the official version of events was made clear: Galerius was to take all the blame for the affair. In Antioch, Diocletian forced Galerius to walk a mile in advance of his imperial cart while still clad in the purple robes of an emperor.[17] The message conveyed was clear: the loss at Carrhae was not due to the failings of the empire's soldiers, but due to the failings of their commander, and Galerius' failures would not be accepted.[18] (It is also possible that Galerius' position at the head of the caravan was merely the conventional organization of an imperial progression, designed to show a Caesar's deference to his Augustus.)[19] Detail of Galerius attacking Narseh on the Arch of Galerius at Thessaloniki, Greece, the city where Galerius carried out most of his administrative actions.[20] Galerius had been reinforced, probably in the spring of 298, by a new contingent collected from the empire's Danubian holdings.[21] Narseh did not advance from Armenia and Mesopotamia, leaving Galerius to lead the offensive in 298 with an attack on northern Mesopotamia via Armenia.[18] Diocletian may or may not have been present to assist the campaign.[22] Narseh retreated to Armenia to fight Galerius' force, to Narseh's disadvantage: the rugged Armenian terrain was favorable to Roman infantry, but unfavorable to Sassanid cavalry. Local aid gave Galerius the advantage of surprise over the Persian forces, and, in two successive battles, Galerius secured victories over Narseh.[23] During the second encounter, Roman forces seized Narseh's camp, his treasury, his harem, and his wife along with it.[23] Narseh's wife would live out the remainder of the war in Daphne, a suburb of Antioch, serving to the Persians as a constant reminder of Roman victory.[18] Galerius advanced into Media and Adiabene, winning continuous victories, most prominently near Erzurum,[20] and securing Nisibis (Nusaybin, Turkey) before October 1, 298. He moved down the Tigris, taking Ctesiphon, and gazing onwards to the ruins of Babylon before returning to Roman territory via the Euphrates.[24]  Peace negotiations Narseh had previously sent an ambassador to Galerius to plead for the return of his wives and children, but Galerius had dismissed this ambassador, reminding him of how Shapur had treated Valerian.[21] The Romans, in any case, treated Narseh's captured family with tact, perhaps seeking to evoke comparisons to Alexander and his beneficent conduct towards the family of Darius III.[18] Peace negotiations began in the spring of 299, with both Diocletian and Galerius presiding. Their magister memoriae (secretary) Sicorius Probus was sent to Narseh to present terms.[21]

http://www.TrustedCoins.com Marcus Aurelius Numerius Numerianus (d. November, 284), known in English as Numerian, was a Roman Emperor (December 283 – November, 284), together with his brother Carinus. They were sons of Carus, a Gaul raised to the office of praetorian prefect under Emperor Probus in 282. In 282, the legions of the upper Danube in Raetia and Noricum proclaimed Numerian's father, the praetorian prefect Marcus Aurelius Carus, emperor, beginning a rebellion against the emperor Probus. Probus' army, stationed in Sirmium (Sremska Mitrovica, Serbia), decided they did not wish to fight Carus, and assassinated Probus instead. Carus, already sixty, wished to establish a dynasty; and immediately elevated Carinus and Numerian to the rank of Caesar. In 283, Carus raised Carinus to the title Caesar, left him in charge of the West, and moved with Numerian and his praetorian prefect Arrius Aper to the East, to wage war against the Sassanid Empire. (The Sassanids had been embroiled in a succession dispute since the death of Shapur, and were in no position to oppose Carus' advance.) According to Zonaras, Eutropius, and Festus, Carus won a major victory against the Persians, taking Seleucia and the Sassanid capital of Ctesiphon (near modern Al-Mada'in, Iraq), cities on opposite banks of the Tigris. In celebration, Numerian, Carus, and Carinus all took the title Persici maximi. Carus died in July or early August, reportedly due to a strike of lightning. Carus' death left Numerian and Carinus as the new Augusti. Carinus quickly made his way to Rome from Gaul, and arrived in January 284. Numerian lingered in the East. The Roman retreat from Persia was orderly and unopposed, for the Persian King, Bahram II, was still struggling to establish his authority. By March 284 Numerian had only reached Emesa (Homs) in Syria; by November, only Asia Minor. In Emesa he was apparently still alive and in good health, as he issued the only extant rescript in his name there. (Coins are issued in his name in Cyzicus at some time before the end of 284, but it is impossible to know whether he was still in the public eye by that point.) After Emesa, Numerian's staff, including the prefect Aper, reported that Numerian suffered from an inflammation of the eyes, and had to travel in a closed coach. When the army reached Bithynia, some of Numerian's soldiers smelled an odor reminiscent of a decaying corpse emanating from the coach. They opened its curtains. Inside, they found Numerian, dead. Aper officially broke the news in Nicomedia (İzmit) in November. Numerian's generals and tribunes called a council for the succession, and chose Diocles, commander of the cavalry arm of the imperial bodyguard, emperor, in spite of Aper's attempts to garner support. On November 20, 284, the army of the east gathered on a hill 5 km (3.1 mi) outside Nicomedia. The army unanimously saluted their new Augustus, and Diocles accepted the purple imperial vestments. He raised his sword to the light of the sun, and swore an oath denying responsibility for Numerian's death. He asserted that Aper had killed Numerian and concealed it. In full view of the army, Diocles drew his blade and killed Aper. According to Historia Augusta, Numerian was a man of considerable literary attainments, remarkably amiable and known as a great orator and poet. However, no other sources, apart from the unreliable Historia, report anything about his personality.