Ingenuus
Usurper of the Roman Empire
Reign
260[1]
Predecessor
Successor
Died
260
Mursa Major, Pannonia Inferior
Names
Ingenuus
Imperator Caesar Ingenuus Augustus
Reign of Maximinus Thrax (235–238)
Year of the Six Emperors (238)
Reign of Gordian III (238–244)
Reign of Philip the Arab (244–249)
Reign of Decius (249–251)
Reign of Trebonianus Gallus (251–253)
Reign of Aemilianus (253)
Reign of Valerian and Gallienus (253–260)
Reign of Gallienus (260–268)
Reign of Claudius Gothicus (268–270)
Reign of Aurelian (270–275)
Reign of Tacitus (275-276)
Reign of Probus (276-282)
Reign of Carus (282-283)
Reign of Carinus (283-285)
Ingenuus was a Roman military commander, the imperial legateinPannonia,[citation needed] who became a usurper to the throne of the emperor Gallienus when he led a brief and unsuccessful revolt in the year 260.[2] Appointed by Gallienus himself,[3] Ingenuus served him well by repulsing a Sarmatian invasion and securing the Pannonian border, at least temporarily. Ingenuus had also been charged with the military education of Caesar Cornelius Licinius Valerianus, the young son of Emperor Gallienus, but after the boy's death in 258, his position became perilous.[3]
A well-liked and admired commander,[4] Ingenuus found an opportunity to become the Roman Emperor when Valerian was captured and killed by Shapur I of the Sassanid Empire.[1] Throwing off their allegiance to Valerian's son, the legions of Moesia proclaimed Ingenuus Roman EmperoratSirmium in 260.[1] Gallienus was in Germania on the Rhine frontier,[citation needed] so he acted quickly by recalling troops from Gaul and after a rapid march he met Ingenuus on the battlefieldatMursa.[1] The troops of Ingenuus were defeated, as Gallienus' general, Aureolus, used to great effect the advantage given by the mobility of an improved cavalry component of the army, which was the remarkable military innovation wanted by the Emperor.[3]
Ingenuus died after the battle by drowning himself in a nearby river to avoid capture. [5]
Principate
27 BC – AD 235
Crisis
235–285
Dominate
284–610
Eastern Empire
395–610
Eastern/
Byzantine Empire
610–1453
See also
Italics indicates a junior co-emperor, underlining indicates an emperor variously regarded as either legitimate or a usurper