AD 260
Valerian captured

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The capture of Valerian by the Persians – the first time this has ever happened to a Roman emperor – sends shockwaves throughout the empire. Valerian, besieged at Edessa, is tricked into meeting the Persian ruler Shapur I without his guards, whereupon he is seized and kept as a slave until his death. The emperor is humiliated by being forced to act as a stool on which Shapur stands to mount his horse. After his death, his body is skinned and kept on display in a temple as a warning to the Persians' enemies.

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