Thirty Tyrants (Roman)

Thirty Tyrants (Roman)

The Thirty Tyrants (Latin: Tyranni Triginta) were a series of thirty rulers that appear in the "Historia Augusta" as having ostensibly been pretenders to the throne of the Roman Empire during the reign of the emperor Gallienus.

Given the notorious unreliability of the "Historia Augusta", the veracity of this list is debatable; there is a scholarly consensus that the author deliberately inflated the number of pretenders in order to parallel the Thirty Tyrants of Athens.

The source actually gives 32 names but as the author, writing under the name of one Trebellius Pollio, places the last two under the reign of Maximinus Thrax and Claudius II respectively, this leaves thirty pretenders supposedely under the reign of Gallienus.

The following list gives the Thirty Tyrants as depicted by the "Historia Augusta", along with notes contrasting the Historia Augusta's claims with their actual historical position:

Notwithstanding the author's pretensions regarding the time during which these persons aspired to the throne, this list includes:
*two women and six youths who never claimed imperial dignity
*seven men who either certainly or probably never claimed imperial dignity
*three probably and two possibly fictitious persons
*two pretenders admittedly not contemporary with Gallienus
*three pretenders not contemporary with Gallienus

Leaving nine pretenders roughly contemporary with Gallienus. According to David Magie (the editor of the Loeb Classical Library edition of the "Historia Augusta"), at least some of these men issued coins.

ee also

*Crisis of the Third Century
*Roman Emperor (Crisis of the Third Century)
*List of Roman usurpers
*Gallienus usurpers

External links

* [http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Historia_Augusta/Tyranni_XXX*.html Historia Augusta: the Thirty Tyrants] (Latin text and English translation)


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужно решить контрольную?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Thirty Tyrants — The Thirty Tyrants ( el. 30 τύραννοι or el. οἱ Τριάκοντα) were a pro Spartan oligarchy installed in Athens after its defeat in the Peloponnesian War in April 404 BC. Contemporary Athenians referred to them simply as the oligarchy or the Thirty ;… …   Wikipedia

  • Thirty Tyrants (disambiguation) — Thirty Tyrants, one of two groups of rulers in classical Antiquity:* Those usually meant are the Thirty Tyrants of Sparta, a committee of men that ruled the city together. * The Historia Augusta includes a book on The Thirty Tyrants , a loose… …   Wikipedia

  • Concise list of Roman emperors — This article provides a complete but concise list of those individuals who claimed the title of Emperor between the inception of the imperial period (27 BC) and the end of the Western Roman Empire in c.480 AD; a nominal end point used to… …   Wikipedia

  • Victoria (Roman usurper) — Victoria, also known as Vitruvia, was a usurper against Roman Emperor Aurelianus, according to Historia Augusta , which includes her into the list of the Thirty Tyrants.The only source for Victoria s life (and even her existence) is the Historia… …   Wikipedia

  • Outline of The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire — Edward Gibbon (1737–1794) This is an outline of the six volume work The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, authored by the celebrated English historian Edward Gibbon (1737–1794). It also includes a Gibbon chronology …   Wikipedia

  • Augustan History — The Augustan History (Lat. Historia Augusta ) is a late Roman collection of biographies, in Latin, of the Roman Emperors, their junior colleagues and usurpers of the period 117 to 284. It presents itself as an assemblage of works by six different …   Wikipedia

  • Gallienus usurpers — The Gallienus usurpers were the usurpers who claimed imperial power during the reign of Gallienus (253–268, the first part of which he shared with his father Valerian). The existence of usurpers during the Crisis of the Third Century was very… …   Wikipedia

  • Cornelia (gens) — House of Cornelius Rufus, Pompeii The gens Cornelia was one of the most distinguished Roman gentes, and produced a greater number of illustrious men than any other house at Rome. The first of this gens to achieve the consulship was Serviu …   Wikipedia

  • Gallienus — Infobox Roman emperor title = Emperor of the Roman Empire name=Gallienus full name =Publius Licinius Egnatius Gallienus (from birth to accession); Caesar Publius Licinius Egnatius Gallienus Augustus (as emperor) caption =Bust of Gallienus reign… …   Wikipedia

  • GALLIENUS, PUBLIUS LICINIUS —    Roman Emperor from 260 to 268, and for seven years (253 260) associated in the government with his father, the Emperor Valerian; under his lax rule the empire was subjected to hostile inroads on all sides, while in the provinces a succession… …   The Nuttall Encyclopaedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”