Editing Claudius Gothicus (section)

=== Government and foreign affairs ===
[[File:5313 - Brescia - S. Giulia - Ritratto di Claudio II il Gotico - Foto Giovanni Dall'Orto, 25 Giu 2011.jpg|thumb|left|Possible bust of Claudius, [[Santa Giulia Museum]], [[Brescia]] (Italy).<ref>{{cite book |last=White |first=John |title=The Roman Emperor Aurelian: Restorer of the World |publisher=Casemate |year=2015 |isbn=978-1-4738-4569-5 |url=https://archive.org/details/romanemperoraure0000whit/page/138/mode/2up?view=theater |page=139}}</ref>]]
Claudius was not the only man to reap the benefits of holding high office after the death of [[Gallienus]]. Before the rule of Claudius Gothicus, there had only been two emperors from the [[Balkans]], but afterwards there would only be one emperor who did not hail from the provinces of [[Pannonia]], [[Moesia]] or [[Illyricum (Roman province)|Illyricum]] until 378, when [[Theodosius I]] from [[Hispania]] would take the throne. Four inscriptions provide an insight into the government at the time. The first is a dedication to [[Aurelius Heraclianus]], the prefect involved in the conspiracy against Gallienus, from Traianus Mucianus, who also gave a dedication to Heraclianus's brother, Aurelius Appollinaris, who was the equestrian governor of the province of [[Thracia]] in 267–68 AD.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Christol |first=Michel |author-link=Michel Christol |title=Une carrière équestre sous le règne de l'empereur Gallien |journal=Latomus |year=1976 |volume=35 |pages=866–874 |language=fr}}</ref> Because these men shared the family name, Marcus Aurelius, a name given to those made citizens by the [[constitutio Antoniniana]], these men did not come from the imperial ''élite''. The third inscription reveals the career of [[Marcianus]], another leading general by the time that Gallienus died. The fourth honours Julius Placidianus, the prefect of the [[vigiles]]. Heraclianus, Appollinaris, [[Placidianus]], or Marcianus may not have been of [[Danubian]] origin themselves, but none of them were members of the [[Severan]] aristocracy, and all of them appear to owe their prominence to their military roles. [[Marcus Aurelius Probus]] (another emperor in waiting) was also of Balkan background, and from a family enfranchised in the time of [[Caracalla]].<ref name="Potter-265">Potter, p. 265</ref>

Although their influence was weakened, there were still a number of men with influence from the older [[aristocracy]]. Claudius assumed the consulship in 269 with [[Paternus (consul 269)|Paternus]], a member of the prominent senatorial family, the Paterni, who had supplied consuls and urban prefects throughout Gallienus's reign, and thus were quite influential. In addition, [[Flavius Antiochianus]], one of the consuls of 270, who was an urban prefect the year before, would continue to hold his office for the following year. A colleague of Antiochianus, Virius Orfitus, also the descendant of a powerful family, would continue to hold influence during his father's term as prefect. Aurelian's colleague as consul was another such man, Pomponius Bassus, a member of one of the oldest senatorial families, as was one of the consuls in 272, Junius Veldumnianus.<ref name="Potter-265" />

In his first full year of power, Claudius was greatly assisted by the sudden destruction of the imperium Galliarum. When Ulpius Cornelius [[Laelianus]], a high official under [[Postumus]], declared himself emperor in [[Germania Superior]], in the spring of 269, Postumus defeated him, but in doing so, refused to allow the sack of [[Mainz]], which had served as Laelianus's headquarters. This proved to be his downfall, for out of anger, Postumus's army mutinied and murdered him. Selected by the troops, [[Marcus Aurelius Marius]] was to replace Postumus as ruler. Marius's rule did not last long though, as [[Victorinus]], Postumus's praetorian prefect, defeated him. Now emperor of the [[Gaul]]s, Victorinus was soon in a precarious position, for the Spanish provinces had deserted the [[Gallic Empire]] and declared their loyalty to Claudius, while in southern Gaul, [[Placidianus]] had captured [[Grenoble]]. Luckily, it was there that Placidianus stopped and Victorinus's position stabilized. In the next year, when [[Autun]] revolted, declaring itself for Claudius, the central government made no moves to support it. As a result, the city went through a siege, lasting many weeks, until it was finally captured and sacked by Victorinus.<ref name="Potter-266">Potter, p. 266</ref>
[[File:Claudiusgothicus77000981cng.jpg|thumb|400x400px|Medallion of Claudius. An attempt of his to reform Roman currency is commemorated on the reverse with three [[Moneta|''Monetae'']], personifications of gold, silver, and bronze]]
It is still unknown why Claudius did nothing to help the city of Autun, but sources tell us his relations with [[Palmyra]] were waning in the course of 269. An obscure passage in the ''[[Historia Augusta]]''{{'}}s life of Gallienus states that he had sent an army under [[Aurelius Heraclianus]] to the region that had been annihilated by [[Zenobia]]. But because Heraclianus was not actually in the east in 268 (instead, at this time, he was involved in the conspiracy of Gallienus's death), this cannot be correct. But the confusion evident in this passage, which also places the bulk of Scythian activity during 269 a year earlier, under Gallienus, may stem from a later effort to pile all possible disasters in this year into the reign of the former emperor. This would keep Claudius's record of being an ancestor of [[Constantine I|Constantine]] from being tainted. If this understanding of the sources is correct, it might also be correct to see the expedition of Heraclianus to the east as an event of Claudius's time.<ref name="Potter-266" />

[[File:Carska palata Sirmijum1.JPG|thumb|Ruins of Imperial Palace at [[Sirmium]], today in [[Sremska Mitrovica]]]]

The victories of Claudius over the [[Goths]] would not only make him a hero in [[Latin]] tradition, but an admirable choice as an ancestor for [[Constantine I]], who was born at [[Niš|Naissus]], the site of Claudius's victory in 269. Claudius is also held in high esteem by [[Zonaras]], whose [[Greeks|Greek]] tradition seems to have been influenced by Latin. For [[Zosimus (historian)|Zosimus]], a more reasoned contemporary view shows Claudius as less grand. Claudius's successes in the year 269 were not continued in his next year as emperor. As the Scythians starved in the mountains or surrendered, the legions pursuing them began to see an epidemic spreading throughout the men. Also, Claudius's unwillingness to do anything at the siege of [[Autun]] likely provoked a quarrel with [[Zenobia]].<ref name="Potter-267">Potter, p. 267</ref>

Although it is not proven that the invasion of [[Gaul]] was the breaking point between Claudius and Zenobia, the sequence of events point to the siege as an important factor. The issue at hand was the position that [[Odaenathus]] held as ''corrector totius orientis'' (imparting overall command of the Roman armies and authority over the Roman provincial governors in the designated region). [[Vaballathus]], the son of Zenobia, was given this title when Zenobia claimed it for him. From then on, tension between the two empires would only get worse. [[Aurelius Heraclianus]]'s fabled arrival might have been an effort to reassert central control after the death of Odaenathus, but, if so, it failed. Although coins were never minted with the face of Odaenathus,<ref>{{cite book |last=Young |first=Gary K. |date=2003 |title=Rome's Eastern Trade: International Commerce and Imperial Policy 31 BC – AD 305 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-134-54793-7}}</ref> soon after his death coins were made with image of his son<ref>{{cite book |last=Southern |first=Patricia |date=2008 |title=Empress Zenobia: Palmyra's Rebel Queen |publisher=A&C Black |isbn=978-1-4411-4248-1}}</ref> – outstripping his authority under the emperor.<ref>{{cite news |title=Coins with power |first=Liesbeth |last=Claes |publisher=Jaarboek voor Munt |date=2015 |issue=102 |pages=15–60 |url=https://openaccess.leidenuniv.nl/bitstream/handle/1887/37219/Claes%202015%20JMP%20Coins%20with%20power_def.pdf?sequence=1}}</ref>

Under [[Zabdas]], a [[Palmyrene Empire|Palmyrene]] army invaded [[Arabia]] and moved into [[Egypt]] in the late summer. At this time, the prefect of Egypt was Tenagino Probus, described as an able soldier who not only defeated an invasion of [[Cyrenaica]] by the nomadic tribes to the south in 269, but also was successful in hunting down Scythian ships in the [[Mediterranean]]. However, he did not see the same success in Egypt, for a group allied to the Palmyrene empire, led by [[Timagenes]], undermined Probus, defeated his army, and killed him in a battle near the modern city of [[Cairo]] in the late summer of 270.<ref name="Potter-267" />
[[File:Portrait head of a Roman man, perhaps Claudius Gothicus (Worcester Art Mus 1915.24) 04.jpg|alt=Marble portrait head of a man with short hair and a short curly beard and mustache, looking slightly upward to the right|thumb|Portrait head of a 3rd-century soldier-emperor, perhaps Claudius Gothicus ([[Worcester Art Museum]]).<ref>{{Cite web |title=Claudius Gothicus |url=https://viamus.uni-goettingen.de/fr/e/uni/e/08/09 |access-date=2023-07-01 |website=Virtuelles AntikenMuseum Goettingen}}</ref>]]
Generally, when a Roman commander is killed it is taken as a sign that a state of war is in existence, and if we can associate the death of [[Heraclianus]] in 270, as well as an inscription from [[Bostra]] recording the rebuilding of a temple destroyed by the Palmyrene army, then these violent acts could be interpreted the same way. Yet they apparently were not. As [[David Stone Potter|David Potter]] writes, "The coins of [[Vaballathus]] avoid claims to imperial power: he remains vir consularis, rex, imperator, dux Romanorum, a range of titles that did not mimic those of the central government. The status vir consularis was, as we have seen, conferred upon [[Odaenathus]]; the title rex, or king, is simply a Latin translation of [[Malik|mlk]], or king; imperator in this context simply means "victorious general"; and dux Romanorum looks like yet another version of corrector totius orientis" (Potter, 263). These titles suggest that Odaenathus's position was inheritable. In Roman culture, the status gained in procuring a position could be passed on, but not the position itself. It is possible that the thin line between office and the status that accompanied it were dismissed in the Palmyrene court, especially when the circumstance worked against the interests of a regime that was able to defeat [[Persia]], which a number of Roman emperors had failed to do.  Vaballathus stressed the meanings of titles, because in the Palmyrene context, the titles of Odaenathus meant a great deal. When the summer of 270 ended, things were looking very different in the empire than they did a year before. After its success, Gaul was in a state of inactivity and the empire was failing in the east. Insufficient resources plagued the state, as a great deal of silver was used for the [[antoninianus]], which was again diluted.<ref name="Potter-267" />