Aurelius Theodotus was a

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

eques Eques, ''horseman'' or ''rider'' in Latin, may refer to: * Equites, a member of the Roman Equestrian order * the Latin word for a knight in chess * '' Eques'', a small genus of fishes in the drum family Sciaenidae Sciaenidae is a family (biolo ...

'' and general who flourished during the earlier part of the third century AD. He was assigned by the emperor

Gallienus Publius Licinius Egnatius Gallienus (; – September 268) was Roman emperor with his father Valerian from 253 to 260 and alone from 260 to 268. He ruled during the Crisis of the Third Century that nearly caused the collapse of the empire. He ...

to suppress the rebellion of

Lucius Mussius Aemilianus Lucius Mussius Aemilianus ''signo'' Aegippius (died 261 or 262) was a Roman who held a number of military and civilian positions during the middle of the third century. He is best known as a Roman usurper during the reign of Gallienus. Sources ...

, after which he served as ''

praefectus ''Praefectus'', often with a further qualification, was the formal title of many, fairly low to high-ranking, military or civil officials in the Roman Empire, whose authority was not embodied in their person (as it was with elected Magistrates) b ...

'' or governor of

Roman Egypt Roman Egypt was an imperial province of the Roman Empire from 30 BC to AD 642. The province encompassed most of modern-day Egypt except for the Sinai. It was bordered by the provinces of Crete and Cyrenaica to the west and Judaea, ...

;

Guido Bastianini Guido Bastianini (born September 10, 1945 in Florence) is an Italian papyrologist and palaeographer. Bastianini completed his papyrological studies in Florence 1970. He took part in various archaeological missions in Egypt organized by the Istit ...

dates his tenure from 262 to 263. The ''

Historia Augusta The ''Historia Augusta'' (English: ''Augustan History'') is a late Roman collection of biographies, written in Latin, of the Roman emperors, their junior colleagues, Caesar (title), designated heirs and Roman usurper, usurpers from 117 to 284. S ...

'' tells that Theodotus was of Egyptian origin, and that he had a brother named Causisoleus.John Jefferson Bray, ''Gallienus: A Study in Reformist and Sexual Politics'' (Wakefield Press, 1997), p. 147 During the 260s the Roman Empire was subjected to the pressure of various enemies from without and within. One of these was Aemilianus, who was proclaimed emperor by the army in Egypt in 261. Because Egypt was the granary for the city of Rome, in 262 Theodotus was sent against him. Theodotus defeated and captured Aemilianus near Thebes, and sent him to Gallienus who had him executed. While ''praefectus'', Theodotus also suppressed the revolt of

Memor The Gallienus usurpers were the Roman usurper, usurpers who claimed Roman Emperor, imperial power during the reign of Gallienus (253–268, the first part of which he shared with his father Valerian (emperor), Valerian). The existence of usurpers ...

, who had been one of Aemilianus's supporters. Following this, some magistrates complained to the emperor about how Theodotus had suppressed the revolt; however, Gallienus decided in favor of Theodotus and closed the case.Bray, ''Gallienus'', pp. 333–334

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