Editing Valerian (emperor) (section)

===Persecution of Christians===
{{see also|Anti-Christian policies in the Roman Empire#Valerian}}
While fighting the Persians, Valerian sent two letters to the Senate ordering that firm steps be taken against [[Christians]]. The first, sent in 257, commanded Christian clergy to perform sacrifices to the [[Roman gods]] or face banishment. The second, the following year, ordered the execution of Christian leaders. It also required Christian senators and [[equites]] to perform acts of worship to the Roman gods or lose their titles and property, and directed that they be executed if they continued to refuse. It also decreed that Roman matrons who would not [[apostasy|apostatize]] should lose their property and be banished, and that civil servants and members of the Imperial household who would not worship the Roman gods should be reduced to slavery and sent to work on the Imperial estates.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Rise of Christianity|url=https://archive.org/details/riseofchristiani00fren|url-access=limited|author=W. H. C. Frend|author-link=W. H. C. Frend|publisher=Fortress Press, Philadelphia|year=1984|page=[https://archive.org/details/riseofchristiani00fren/page/326 326]|isbn= 978-0800619312}}</ref> This indicates that Christians were well-established at that time, some in very high positions.{{sfn|Moss|2013|p=153}}

The execution of Saint [[Prudent de Narbonne|Prudent]] at [[Narbonne]] is taken to have occurred in 257.{{sfn|Baudoin|2006|p=19}}
Prominent Christians executed in 258 included [[Pope Sixtus II]] (6 August), Saint [[Romanus Ostiarius]] (9 August) and [[Saint Lawrence]] (10 August).
Others executed in 258 included the saints [[Saint Denis of Paris|Denis]] in Paris, [[Pontius of Cimiez|Pontius]] in [[Cimiez]], [[Cyprian]] and [[Martyrs of Carthage under Valerian|others]] in Carthage and [[Eugenia of Rome|Eugenia]] in Rome. 
In 259 Saint [[Patroclus of Troyes|Patroclus]] was executed at [[Troyes]] and Saint [[Fructuosus]] at [[Tarragona]].{{sfn|Baudoin|2006|p=19}}
When Valerian's son [[Gallienus]] became emperor in 260, the decree was rescinded.{{sfn|Moss|2013|p=153}}
[[File:Cameo Shapur Valerianus Bab360 CdM Paris.jpg|thumb|[[Cameo (carving)|Cameo]] of Shapur I capturing Valerian at the Battle of Edessa]]