Editing Gallienus (section)

==Early life==

=== Youth and family ===
[[File:Портрет Корнелии Салонины.jpg|thumb|Bust of [[Cornelia Salonina]]|273x273px]]The exact birth date of Gallienus is unknown. The 6th-century Greek chronicler [[John Malalas]] and the ''Epitome de Caesaribus'' report that he was about 50 years old at the time of his death, meaning he was born around 218.<ref>It is generally accepted that he was 35 years old when ascended to the throne in 253, see J. Bray (1997), p. 16</ref> He was the son of Emperor [[Valerian (emperor)|Valerian]] and [[Mariniana]], who may have been of senatorial rank, possibly the daughter of [[Egnatius Victor Marinianus]], and his brother was [[Valerianus Minor]]. Inscriptions on coins connect him with [[Falerii]] in [[Etruria]], which may have been his birthplace; it has yielded many inscriptions relating to his mother's family, the [[Egnatia gens|Egnatii]].<ref>R. Syme, ''Historia Augusta Papers'' (Oxford, 1983), p. 197.</ref> Gallienus married [[Cornelia Salonina]] about ten years before his accession to the throne. She was the mother of three princes: [[Valerian II]], who died in 258; [[Saloninus]], who was named co-emperor but was murdered in 260 by the army of general Postumus; and [[Marinianus]], who was killed in 268, shortly after his father was assassinated.<ref>J. Bray (1997), pp. 49–51</ref>