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AD 260-268
The period of the 20 pretenders
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There are so many different claimants to imperial office following the
capture of Valerian that one historian calls it the 'period of the 20
pretenders'. Valerian's son Gallienus struggles against, first, a new
Persian invasion in the east; then a secessionist power based on Palmyra,
in Syria, and the establishment of a separate Gallic empire (which lasts
for 15 years) in modern-day France, Britain and Spain; and finally, in
AD 268, a massive invasion by the Goths, who sack Athens and advance into
northern Italy. Gallienus is murdered in the same year following a conspiracy
by his own officers.
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