| Quietus | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Usurper of theRoman Empire | |||||||||
 Quietus on a coin celebratingEternal Rome.[1] | |||||||||
| Reign | 260-261 (with Macrianus Minor) | ||||||||
| Predecessor | Gallienus | ||||||||
| Successor | Gallienus | ||||||||
| Died | 261 Emesa,Syria | ||||||||
| |||||||||
| Father | Macrianus Major | ||||||||
| Mother | ? (of senatorial descent) | ||||||||
Titus Fulvius Junius Quietus (died 261) was aRoman usurper againstRoman EmperorGallienus.
Quietus was the son ofFulvius Macrianus[2] and a noblewoman, possibly named Junia. According toHistoria Augusta, he was a militarytribune underValerian,[3] but this information is challenged by historians.[citation needed]
He gained the imperial office with his brotherMacrianus Minor, after the capture of Emperor Valerian in the Sassanid campaign of 260.[4] 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 ofBalista,Praetorian prefect of the late Emperor Valerian, proved instrumental in his promotion.[5]
Quietus and Macrianus, electedconsuls,[6] 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 theRoman Empire. After the defeat and deaths of his brother and father inThrace in 261, Quietus lost the control of the provinces in favour of SeptimusOdaenathus ofPalmyra, a loyal client king of the Romans who had helped push thePersians out of the eastern provinces and recoveredRoman Mesopotamia in 260.[citation needed] Forced to flee to the city ofEmesa,[7] he was besieged there by Odaenathus,[citation needed] during the course of which he was killed by its inhabitants, possibly instigated by Balista.[8]
Quietus appears inHarry Sidebottom's historical fiction novel series as one of the series' antagonists.
Media related toQuietus at Wikimedia Commons
| Political offices | ||
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| Preceded by | Consul of theRoman Empire 261 withMacrianus Minor, Postumus, Gallienus, Lucius Petronius Taurus Volusianus | Succeeded by |
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| People | |
