Titus Fulvius Junius Quietus (died 261) was a

Roman usurper Roman usurpers were individuals or groups of individuals who obtained or tried to obtain power by force and without legitimate legal authority. Usurpation was endemic during the Roman imperial era, especially from the crisis of the third centu ...

against Roman Emperor Gallienus.

History

Quietus was the son of Fulvius Macrianus and a noblewoman, possibly named Junia. According to ''

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 ...

'', he was a military tribune under Valerian, but this information is challenged by historians. He gained the imperial office with his brother Macrianus Minor, after the capture of Emperor Valerian in the Sassanid campaign of 260. With the lawful heir, Gallienus, being far away in the West, the soldiers elected the two emperors. The support of his father, controller of the imperial treasure, and the influence of Balista, Praetorian prefect of the late Emperor Valerian, proved instrumental in his promotion. Quietus and Macrianus, elected

consul Consul (abbrev. ''cos.''; Latin plural ''consules'') was the title of one of the two chief magistrates of the Roman Republic, and subsequently also an important title under the Roman Empire. The title was used in other European city-states thro ...

s, had to face the Emperor Gallienus, at the time in the West. Quietus and Balista stayed in the eastern provinces, while his brother and father marched their army to Europe to seize control of the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ruled the Mediterranean and much of Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. The Roman people, Romans conquered most of this during the Roman Republic, Republic, and it was ruled by emperors following Octavian's assumption of ...

. After the defeat and deaths of his brother and father in

Thrace Thrace (, ; ; ; ) is a geographical and historical region in Southeast Europe roughly corresponding to the province of Thrace in the Roman Empire. Bounded by the Balkan Mountains to the north, the Aegean Sea to the south, and the Black Se ...

in 261, Quietus lost the control of the provinces in favour of Septimus Odaenathus of Palmyra, a loyal client king of the Romans who had helped push the

Persians Persians ( ), or the Persian people (), are an Iranian ethnic group from West Asia that came from an earlier group called the Proto-Iranians, which likely split from the Indo-Iranians in 1800 BCE from either Afghanistan or Central Asia. They ...

out of the eastern provinces and recovered Roman Mesopotamia in 260. Forced to flee to the city of Emesa, he was besieged there by Odaenathus, during the course of which he was killed by its inhabitants, possibly instigated by Balista.( Zonaras xii.24)

Cultural depictions

Quietus appears in Harry Sidebottom's historical fiction novel series as one of the series' antagonists.

References

Sources

* * Jones, A.H.M., Martindale, J.R. ''The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire, Vol. I: AD260-395'', Cambridge University Press, 1971

External links

{{Authority control 261 deaths Gallienus usurpers Thirty Tyrants (Roman) 3rd-century Roman consuls Year of birth unknown Quietus, Titus Junius Quietus, Titus Fulvius People of the Roman–Sasanian Wars Generals of Valerian Roman pharaohs 3rd-century Roman usurpers