Ilkka Syvänne - The Reign of Emperor Gallienus: The Apogee of Roman Cavalry

The Reign of Emperor Gallienus

There are

known knowns,

known unknowns,

unknown unknowns,

unknowns knowns.

MEMO: February 4, 2004.

SUBJECT: What you know.

Donald Rumsfeld

For my wife Sini, and children Ari and Nanna for their patience;

and for the Great Masters Uderzo and Goscinny

The Apogee of Roman Cavalry

Dr. Ilkka Syvanne

IMP. GALLIENVS AVG

REVERSE: ALACRITATI (NO S.C.)

A coin celebrating the famous alacrity of Gallienus

and his equally famous cavalry forces.

The Pegasus on the reverse is a symbol of cavalry

and in this case a symbol of Gallienus equites .

First published in Great Britain in 2019 by

Pen & Sword Military

an imprint of

Pen & Sword Books Ltd

47 Church Street

Barnsley

South Yorkshire

S70 2AS

Copyright Dr. Ilkka Syvanne 2019

ISBN 978 1 52674 521 7

eISBN 978 1 52674 522 4

Mobi ISBN 978 1 52674 523 1

The right of Dr. Ilkka Syvanne to be identified as the Author of this Work

has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and

Patents Act 1988.

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted

in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical including

photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system,

without permission from the Publisher in writing.

Pen & Sword Books Limited incorporates the imprints of Atlas,

Archaeology, Aviation, Discovery, Family History, Fiction, History,

Maritime, Military, Military Classics, Politics, Select, Transport,

True Crime, Air World, Frontline Publishing, Leo Cooper,

Remember When, Seaforth Publishing, The Praetorian Press,

Wharncliffe Local History, Wharncliffe Transport,

Wharncliffe True Crime and White Owl.

For a complete list of Pen & Sword titles please contact

PEN & SWORD BOOKS LIMITED

47 Church Street, Barnsley, South Yorkshire, S70 2AS, England

E-mail:

Website: www.pen-and-sword.co.uk

First of all, I would like to thank the Commissioning Editor Philip Sidnell for accepting the proposal for a book which had been waiting on my bookshelf for several years. He also deserves a big thanks for his patience. Special thanks are also due to my copy-editor Ian Hughes, Matt Jones and the marketing and other staff of Pen & Sword for their stellar work and for the outstanding support they have given to the author. I would also like to thank many of my friends and family for their support and patience. If there are any mistakes left, those are the sole responsibility of the author.

1.A bust of Decius, front and side. ( Bernoulli )

2.Coins of: Trebonius Gallus, Aemilianus, Postumus, and Volusianus, the son of Gallus. ( Bernoulli )

3.Coins of: Laelianus. ( Source: Delaroche ). Marius, Victorinus, Tetricus, Macrianus jr., Zenobia, Waballathus, Uranius Antoninus, Saloninus, Valerian (Valerianus) Junior, Valerian (Valerianus), and Salonina. ( Except for Marius, source of images: Bernoulli )

4.Coins of: Gallienus, Claudius II, Quintillus, brother of Claudius II, Aurelian (Aurelianus) and Probus. ( Bernoulli )

5.A possible bust of Gallienus in a 19th-century photo.

6.A bust of Gallienus at the Louvre. ( Bernoulli )

7.Radiate Valerian drawn after the Carlsberg Copenhagen bust. ( Dr. Ilkka Syvnne )

8.Radiate Gallienus drawn after Carlsberg bust. ( Dr. Ilkka Syvnne )

9.Photo of the Berlin bust of Gallienus. ( Public domain )

10.Salonina drawn after Hermitage, St. Petersburg bust. ( Dr. Ilkka Syvnne )

11.Photo of the Cologne (Kln) bust of Gallienus. ( Public domain )

12.A drawing of one of the Capitoline busts of Gallienus. ( Dr. Ilkka Syvnne )

13.A drawing of Gallienus. ( Dr. Ilkka Syvnne )

14.A coin of Gallienus. British Museum. ( Photo by the author )

15.A drawing of still another bust in the Capitoline. ( Dr. Ilkka Syvnne )

16.A drawing of one of the busts of Gallienus preserved in Italy. ( Dr. Ilkka Syvnne )

17.A drawing of the same bust with hair dyed blond. ( Dr. Ilkka Syvnne )

18.A drawing of the Brussels bust of Gallienus. ( Dr. Ilkka Syvnne )

19.A drawing of one of the extant busts of Gallienus. ( Dr. Ilkka Syvnne )

20.A drawing of a bust in Italy. ( Dr. Ilkka Syvnne )

21.A drawing of Gallienus based on Torlonia bust. ( Dr. Ilkka Syvnne )

22.A drawing of Gallienus as he would have appeared at Rome. ( Dr. Ilkka Syvnne )

23.A drawing of a bust of Gallienus. ( Dr. Ilkka Syvnne )

24.A drawing of Carlsberg bust of Gallienus. ( Dr. Ilkka Syvnne )

25.A drawing of the Brescia bust representing probably either Claudius or Aurelian. ( Dr. Ilkka Syvnne )

26.A drawing of the so-called Odaenathus bust. ( Dr. Ilkka Syvnne )

27.Authors drawings of: 1) a foot archer; 2) legionary (partially after a re-enactor photo); 3) a member of the imperial bodyguards (partially after Ludovisi Sarchophagus); 4) lanciarius; 5) legionary in old-style lorica segmentata and using similarly old-style shield. ( Dr. Ilkka Syvnne )

28.Authors drawing of a third century mounted archer ( Dr. Ilkka Syvnne ), and three coins of Gallienus at British Museum. ( Photos by the author )

29.Authors drawing of an irregular wedge of cataphractarii of Gallienus. ( Dr. Ilkka Syvnne )

30.A drawing of Gallienus in cavalry combat. ( Dr. Ilkka Syvnne )

31.A drawing of Gallienus horse performing a courbette -jump. ( Dr. Ilkka Syvnne )

32.A drawing of Gallienus engaging a soldier of Postumus. ( Dr. Ilkka Syvnne )

33.A drawing of Gallienus leading a cavalry charge against the Goths. ( Dr. Ilkka Syvnne )

34.My artistic impression of one of the practical jokes of Gallienus according to Trebellius Pollio ( Historia Augusta , Gallieni Duo 17.89).

The Latin text states: cum iret ad hortos nominis sui, omnia Palatina officia sequebantur. ibant et praefecti et magistri officiorum omnium adhibebanturque conviviis et nationibus lavabant simul cum principe. admittebantur saepe etiam mulieres, cum ipso pulchrae pullae, cum illis anus deformes, et iocari se dicebant, cum orbem terrarium undique perdidisesset .

The slightly sanitized and inaccurate translation of David Magie (HA, pp.5355) is as follows:

Whenever he went to the gardens named after him, all the staff of the Palace followed him. And there went with him, too, the prefects and the chiefs of all the staffs, and they were invited to his banquets and bathed in the pools along with the prince. Women, too, were often sent in, beautiful girls with the emperor, but with the others ugly old hags. And he used to say that he was making merry, whereas he had brought the world on all sides to ruin.

I have taken some artistic liberties in the presentation because we do not possess detailed information regarding the building and its pools nor do we possess busts or statues or paintings of the persons other than Gallienus (here with his hair coloured blond). I have also tried to present the women in such a way that my interpretation follows the period taste in what was beautiful and what was not. However, I have used later works of art as sources of inspiration for the persons presented and Uderzo for the bath scene so that my drawings should be seen as homage to these great artists. Furthermore, I have made the assumption that the prostitutes would have had red hair. My intention is not to denigrate the women in any way or manner. My intention is to present the reality as accurately as possible.