Galerius 308AD Large Rare Authentic Ancient Roman Coin Genius Cult i54464

Item: i54464

 Authentic Ancient Coin of:

Galerius –

Roman Emperor
: 305-311

  Bronze Follis 26mm (6.56 grams) Struck at the mint of Heraclea 308-309
A.D.
Reference: RIC 37a (Heraclea)
IMPCGALVALMAXIMIANVSPFAVG – Laureate head right.
GENIOIMPERATORIS Exe: HTΓ. – Genius standing left, pouring out patera and
holding cornucopia.
 

You

Authenticity.

The cornucopia (from Latin cornu copiae) or horn of plenty
is a symbol of abundance and nourishment, commonly a large horn-shaped container
overflowing with produce, flowers, nuts, other edibles, or wealth in some form.
Originating in
classical antiquity
, it has continued as a
symbol in
Western art
, and it is particularly associated
with the
Thanksgiving
holiday in
North America
.

Allegorical
depiction of the Roman
goddess
Abundantia
with a cornucopia, by
Rubens
(ca. 1630)

In Mythology

Mythology
offers multiple
explanations of the origin
of the cornucopia.
One of the best-known involves the birth and nurturance of the infant

Zeus, who had to be hidden from his devouring father
Cronus
. In a cave on
Mount Ida
on the island of
Crete
, baby Zeus was cared for and protected by
a number of divine attendants, including the goat
Amalthea
(“Nourishing Goddess”), who fed him
with her milk. The suckling future king of the gods had unusual abilities and
strength, and in playing with his nursemaid accidentally broke off one of her
horns
, which then had the divine power to
provide unending nourishment, as the foster mother had to the god.

In another myth, the cornucopia was created when
Heracles
(Roman
Hercules
) wrestled with the river god
Achelous
and wrenched off one of his horns;
river gods were sometimes depicted as horned. This version is represented in the

Achelous and Hercules

mural painting
by the
American Regionalist
artist
Thomas Hart Benton
.

The cornucopia became the attribute of several
Greek
and
Roman deities
, particularly those associated
with the harvest, prosperity, or spiritual abundance, such as personifications
of Earth (Gaia
or
Terra
); the child
Plutus
, god of riches and son of the grain
goddess Demeter
; the
nymph

Maia
; and
Fortuna
, the goddess of luck, who had the power
to grant prosperity. In
Roman Imperial cult
, abstract Roman deities who
fostered peace (pax
Romana) and prosperity were also depicted with a cornucopia,
including Abundantia
, “Abundance” personified, and
Annona
, goddess of the
grain supply to the city of Rome
.
Pluto
, the classical ruler of the underworld in
the
mystery religions
, was a giver of agricultural,
mineral and spiritual wealth, and in art often holds a cornucopia to distinguish
him from the gloomier Hades
, who holds a
drinking horn
instead.

Modern depictions

In modern depictions, the cornucopia is typically a hollow, horn-shaped
wicker basket filled with various kinds of festive
fruit
and
vegetables
. In North America, the cornucopia
has come to be associated with
Thanksgiving
and the harvest. Cornucopia is
also the name of the annual November Wine and Food celebration in
Whistler
, British Columbia, Canada. Two
cornucopias are seen in the
flag
and
state seal
of
Idaho
. The Great
Seal
of
North Carolina
depicts Liberty standing and
Plenty holding a cornucopia. The coat of arms of
Colombia
,
Panama
,

Peru and
Venezuela
, and the Coat of Arms of the State of
Victoria, Australia
, also feature the
cornucopia, symbolising prosperity.

The horn of plenty is used on body art and at Halloween, as it is a symbol of
fertility, fortune and abundance.

In
ancient Roman religion
, the genius was
the individual instance of a general divine nature that is present in every
individual person, place, or thing.

 

Winged genius facing a woman with a tambourine and mirror, from
southern Italy, about 320 BC.

Nature of the genius

The rational powers and abilities of every human being were attributed to
their soul, which was a genius. Each individual place had a genius
(genius
loci) and so did powerful objects, such as volcanoes. The concept
extended to some specifics: the genius of the theatre, of vineyards, and of
festivals, which made performances successful, grapes grow, and celebrations
succeed, respectively. It was extremely important in the Roman mind to
propitiate the appropriate genii for the major undertakings and events of their
lives.

Specific genii

 

Bronze genius depicted as
pater familias
(1st century CE)

Although the term genius might apply to any divinity whatsoever, most
of the higher-level and state genii had their own well-established names.
Genius applied most often to individual places or people not generally
known; that is, to the smallest units of society and settlements, families and
their homes. Houses, doors, gates, streets, districts, tribes, each one had its
own genius.The supreme hierarchy of the Roman gods, like that of the
Greeks, was modelled after a human family. It featured a father,
Jupiter
(“father god”), who, in a
patriarchal society
was also the supreme divine
unity, and a mother,
Juno
, queen of the gods. These supreme
unities were subdivided into genii for each individual family; hence, the
genius of each female, representing the female domestic reproductive
power, was a Juno. The male function was a Jupiter.

The juno was worshipped under many titles:

• Iugalis, “of marriage”
• Matronalis, “of married women”
• Pronuba, “of brides”
• Virginalis, “of virginity”

Genii were often viewed as protective spirits, as one would propitiate
them for protection. For example, to protect infants one propitiated a number of
deities concerned with birth and childrearing
:
Cuba (“lying down to sleep”), Cunina (“of the cradle”) and
Rumina (“of breast-feeding”). Certainly, if those genii did not
perform their proper function well, the infant would be in danger.

Hundreds of lararia, or family shrines, have been discovered at
Pompeii
, typically off the
atrium
, kitchen or garden, where the smoke
of burnt offerings could vent through the opening in the roof. A lararium
was distinct from the penus (“within”), another shrine where the
penates
, gods associated with the storerooms,
was located. Each lararium features a panel fresco containing the same
theme: two peripheral figures (Lares)
attend on a central figure (family genius) or two figures (genius
and Juno) who may or may not be at an altar. In the foreground is one or
two serpents crawling toward the genius through a meadow motif.
Campania
and
Calabria
preserved an ancient practice of
keeping a propitious house snake, here linked with the genius. In
another, unrelated fresco (House
of the Centenary) the snake-in-meadow appears below a depiction of
Mount Vesuvius
and is labelled Agathodaimon,
“good
daimon
“, where daimon must be regarded
as the Greek equivalent of genius.

History of the concept

Origin

Etymologically
genius
(“household guardian spirit”) has
the same derivation as nature from
gēns
(“tribe”, “people”) from the
Indo-European
root *gen-, “produce.”
It is the indwelling nature of an object or class of objects or
events that act with a perceived or hypothesized unity. Philosophically the
Romans did not find the paradox of the one being many confusing; like all other
prodigies they attributed it to the inexplicable mystery of divinity. Multiple
events could therefore be attributed to the same and different divinities and a
person could be the same as and different from his genius. They were not
distinct, as the later guardian angels, and yet the Genius Augusti was
not exactly the same as Augustus either. As a natural outcome of these
beliefs, the pleasantness of a place, the strength of an oath, an ability of a
person, were regarded as intrinsic to the object, and yet were all attributable
to genius; hence all of the modern meanings of the word. This point of
view is not attributable to any one civilization; its roots are lost in
prehistory. The Etruscans had such beliefs at the beginning of history, but then
so did the Greeks, the native Italics and many other peoples in the near and
middle east.

Genii under the
monarchy

No literature of the monarchy has survived, but later authors in recounting
its legends mention the genius. For example, under
Servius Tullius
the triplets
Horatii
of Rome fought the triplets Curiatii of
Alba Longa
for the decision of the war that had
arisen between the two communities. Horatius was left standing but his sister,
who had been betrothed to one of the Curiatii, began to keen, breast-beat and
berate Horatius. He executed her, was tried for murder, was acquitted by the
Roman people but the king made him expiate the Juno of his sister and the
Genius Curiatii, a family genius.

Republican genii

The genius appears explicitly in Roman literature relatively late as
early as Plautus
, where one character in the play,
Captivi
, jests that the father of another
is so avaricious that he uses cheap Samian ware in sacrifices to his own
genius, so as not to tempt the genius to steal it.In this passage,
the genius is not identical to the person, as to propitiate oneself would
be absurd, and yet the genius also has the avarice of the person; that
is, the same character, the implication being, like person, like genius.

Implied geniuses date to much earlier; for example, when
Horatius Cocles
defends the
Pons Sublicius
against an Etruscan crossing at
the beginning of the
Roman Republic
, after the bridge is cut down he
prays to the Tiber to bear him up as he swims across: Tiberine pater te,
sancte, precor …, “Holy father Tiber, I pray to you ….” The Tiber so
addressed is a genius. Although the word is not used here, in later
literature it is identified as one.

Horace

describes the genius as “the companion which controls the natal star; the god of
human nature, in that he is mortal for each person, with a changing expression,
white or black”.

Imperial genii

 

Genius of Domitian

Octavius Caesar
on return to Rome after the
final victory of the
Roman Civil War
at the
Battle of Actium
appeared to the Senate to be a
man of great power and success, clearly a mark of divinity. In recognition of
the prodigy they voted that all banquets should include a libation to his
genius. In concession to this sentiment he chose the name
Augustus
, capturing the numinous meaning of
English “august.” This line of thought was probably behind the later vote in 30
BC that he was divine, as the household cult of the Genius Augusti dates
from that time. It was propitiated at every meal along with the other household
numina.The vote began the tradition of the
divine emperors
; however, the divinity went
with the office and not the man. The Roman emperors gave ample evidence that
they personally were neither immortal nor divine.

 

Inscription on votive altar to the genius of
Legio VII Gemina
by L. Attius Macro
(CIL
II 5083)

If the genius
of the
imperator
, or commander of all troops, was
to be propitiated, so was that of all the units under his command. The
provincial troops expanded the idea of the genii of state; for example,
from Roman Britain have been found altars to the genii of Roma,
Roman aeterna, Britannia, and to every
legion
,
cohors
,
ala
and
centuria
in Britain, as well as to the
praetorium
of every
castra
and even to the
vexillae
. Inscriptional dedications to
genius were not confined to the military. From
Gallia Cisalpina
under the empire are numerous
dedications to the genii of persons of authority and respect; in addition
to the emperor’s genius principis, were the geniuses of patrons of
freedmen, owners of slaves, patrons of guilds, philanthropists, officials,
villages, other divinities, relatives and friends. Sometimes the dedication is
combined with other words, such as “to the genius and honor” or in the case of
couples, “to the genius and Juno.”

Surviving from the time of the empire hundreds of dedicatory, votive and
sepulchral inscriptions ranging over the entire territory testify to a floruit
of genius worship as an official cult. Stock phrases were abbreviated:
GPR, genio populi Romani (“to the genius of the Roman people”); GHL,
genio huius loci (“to the genius of this place”); GDN, genio domini
nostri (“to the genius of our master”), and so on. In 392 AD with the final
victory of Christianity
Theodosius I
declared the worship of the Genii,
Lares
and
Penates
to be treason, ending their official
terms. The concept, however, continued in representation and speech under
different names or with accepted modifications.

Roman iconography

Coins

The genius of a corporate social body is often a
cameo
theme on ancient coins: a
denarius
from Spain, 76–75 BC, featuring a bust
of the GPR (Genius Populi Romani, “Genius of the Roman People”) on
the
obverse
; an
aureus
of
Siscia
in
Croatia
, 270–275 AD, featuring a standing image
of the GENIUS ILLVR (Genius Exercitus Illyriciani, “Genius of the
Illyrian Army”) on the reverse; an
aureus
of Rome, 134–138 AD, with an image of a
youth holding a cornucopia and patera (sacrificial dish) and the inscription
GENIOPR, genio populi Romani, “to the genius of the Roman people,” on the
reverse.

Scene from Lararium, House of Iulius Polybius, Pompeii  Agathodaimon (“good divinity”), genius of the soil around Vesuvius  Unknown Roman genius near Pompeii, 1st century BC  Genius of Augustus   Genius of Antoninus Pius

Modern-era
representations

Genius of love, Meister des Rosenromans, 1420-1430  Genius of victory, Michelangelo (1475-1564  Genius of Palermo , Ignazio Marabitti, c. 1778  Genius of liberty, Augustin Dumont , 1801-1884  Genius of Alexander, Marie Louise Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun, 1814  Genius of war, Arturo Melida y Alinara (1849-1902)  Genius of Beethoven

Galerius

Maximianus (ca.

260 – late April or early May 311), formally Gaius

Galerius Valerius Maximianus was

Roman Emperor from 305 to 311.

//

Galerius started as an ordinary soldier in the armies of Aurelian and
then Probus. By the time he served under Diocletian his military career had
culminated with the position of Praetorian Prefect. Under Diocletian’s new
scheme for ruling the empire, he named Galerius as one of the Caesars in the new
Tetrarchy and assigned him to the eastern half. With Diocletian abdicating soon
after, Galerius automatically became Augustus himself.

The rest of his reign would be taken up fighting the power grabbing of
Constantius Chlorus who, against the principles of the Tetrarchy, would start a
dynasty in his own bloodline as well as dealing with the increasingly
troublesome Maxentius who was now leading a revolt from Rome with the aim of
eliminating what was left of the Tetrarchy. He died of natural causes before any
conclusions were in store for the stalemate.

 Early

life

Galerius was born on a small farm

estate, on the site where he later built his palace,

Felix Romuliana. His father was a Thracian and his

mother Romula was a Dacian woman, who left Dacia because

of the Carpians’ attacks. He originally followed his

father’s occupation, that of a herdsman, where he got

his surname of Armentarius (Latin: armentum, herd). He

served with distinction as a soldier under Emperors

Aurelian and Probus, and in 293 at the establishment of

the Tetrarchy, was designated Caesar along with

Constantius Chlorus, receiving in marriage Diocletian’s

daughter Valeria (later known as Galeria Valeria), and

at the same time being entrusted with the care of the

Illyrian provinces. Soon after his appointment, Galerius

would be dispatched to Egypt to fight the rebellious

cities Busiris and Coptos.

 War

with Persia Invasion,

counterinvasion

In 294,

Narseh

, a son of Shapur who had been passed over for

the Sassanid succession, came into power in Persia.

Narseh probably moved to eliminate

Bahram III

, a young man installed by a noble named

Vahunam in the wake of Bahram II’s death in 293.

In early 294, Narseh sent Diocletian the customary

package of gifts, but within Persia he was destroying

every trace of his immediate predecessors, erasing their

names from public monuments. He sought to identify

himself with the warlike reigns of

Ardashir

(r. 226–41) and

Shapur

(r. 241–72), the same Shapur who had sacked

Roman Antioch, skinned the Emperor

Valerian

(r. 253–260) to decorate his war temple.

In 295 or 296, Narseh declared war on

Rome. He appears to have first invaded western Armenia,

retaking the lands delivered to Tiridates in the peace

of 287. He would occupy the lands there until the

following year.

Narseh then moved south into Roman Mesopotamia, where he

inflicted a severe defeat on Galerius, then commander of

the Eastern forces, in the region between Carrhae (Harran,

Turkey) and Callinicum (Ar-Raqqah,

Syria).

Diocletian may or may not have been present at the

battle,

but would present himself soon afterwards at Antioch,

where the official version of events was made clear:

Galerius was to take all the blame for the affair. In

Antioch, Diocletian forced Galerius to walk a mile in

advance of his imperial cart while still clad in the

purple robes of an emperor.

The message conveyed was clear: the loss at Carrhae was

not due to the failings of the empire’s soldiers, but

due to the failings of their commander, and Galerius’

failures would not be accepted.

(It is also possible that Galerius’ position at the head

of the caravan was merely the conventional organization

of an imperial progression, designed to show a Caesar’s

deference to his Augustus.)

Galerius had been reinforced,

probably in the spring of 298, by a new contingent

collected from the empire’s Danubian holdings.

Narseh did not advance from Armenia and Mesopotamia,

leaving Galerius to lead the offensive in 298 with an

attack on northern Mesopotamia via Armenia.

Diocletian may or may not have been present to assist

the campaign.

Narseh retreated to Armenia to fight Galerius’ force, to

Narseh’s disadvantage: the rugged Armenian terrain was

favorable to Roman infantry, but unfavorable to Sassanid

cavalry. Local aid gave Galerius the advantage of

surprise over the Persian forces, and, in two successive

battles, Galerius secured victories over Narseh.

During the second encounter, Roman

forces seized Narseh’s camp, his treasury, his harem,

and his wife along with it.

Narseh’s wife would live out the remainder of the war in

Daphne, a suburb of Antioch, serving to the Persians as

a constant reminder of Roman victory.

Galerius advanced into

Media

and

Adiabene

, winning continuous victories, most

prominently near Erzurum,

and securing Nisibis (Nusaybin,

Turkey) before October 1, 298. He moved down the Tigris,

taking Ctesiphon, and gazing onwards to the ruins of

Babylon before returning to Roman territory via the

Euphrates.

 Peace

negotiations

Narseh had previously sent an

ambassador to Galerius to plead for the return of his

wives and children, but Galerius had dismissed this

ambassador, reminding him of how Shapur had treated

Valerian.

The Romans, in any case, treated Narseh’s captured

family with tact, perhaps seeking to evoke comparisons

to

Alexander

and his beneficent conduct towards the

family of

Darius III

.^[18]

Peace negotiations began in the spring of 299, with both

Diocletian and Galerius presiding. Their magister

memoriae (secretary) Sicorius Probus was sent to

Narseh to present terms.^[21]

The conditions of the peace were

heavy:^[18]

Persia would give up territory to Rome, making the

Tigris the boundary between the two empires. Further

terms specified that Armenia was returned to Roman

domination, with the fort of Ziatha as its border;

Caucasian Iberia

would pay allegiance to Rome under

a Roman appointee; Nisibis, now under Roman rule, would

become the sole conduit for trade between Persia and

Rome; and Rome would exercise control over the five

satrapies between the Tigris and Armenia:

Ingilene

, Sophanene (Sophene),

Arzanene (Aghdznik),

Corduene

, and

Zabdicene

(near modern

Hakkâri

, Turkey). These regions included the passage

of the Tigris through the

Anti-Taurus

range; the

Bitlis

pass, the quickest southerly route into

Persian Armenia; and access to the

Tur Abdin

plateau. With these territories, Rome

would have an advance station north of Ctesiphon, and

would be able to slow any future advance of Persian

forces through the region.^[25]

Under the terms of the peace Tiridates would regain both

his throne and the entirety of his ancestral claim, and

Rome would secure a wide zone of cultural influence in

the region.^[21]

The fact that the empire was able to sustain such

constant warfare on so many fronts has been taken as a

sign of the essential efficacy of the Diocletianic

system and the goodwill of the army towards the

tetrarchic enterprise.^[26]

 Persecution

of Christians

Christians had lived in peace during

most of the rule of Diocletian. The persecutions that

began with an edict of February 24, 303, were credited

by Christians to Galerius’ work, as he was a fierce

advocate of the old ways and old gods. Christian houses

of assembly were destroyed, for fear of sedition in

secret gatherings.

Diocletian

was not anti-Christian during the first

part of his reign, and historians have claimed that

Galerius decided to prod him into persecuting them by

secretly burning the Imperial Palace and blaming it on

Christian saboteurs. Regardless of who was at fault for

the fire, Diocletian’s rage was aroused and he began one

of the last and greatest Christian persecutions in the

history of the

Roman Empire

.

It was at the insistence of Galerius

that the last edicts of persecution against the

Christians

were published, beginning on February 24,

303, and this policy of repression was maintained by him

until the appearance of the general edict of toleration,

issued from

Nicomedia

in April 311, apparently during his last

bout of illness, in his own name and in those of

Licinius

and

Constantine

(see

).

Lactantius

gives the text of the edict in his

moralized chronicle of the bad ends to which all the

persecutors came, De Mortibus Persecutorum (“On

the Deaths of the Persecutors”, chapters 34, 35). This

marked the end of official persecution of Christians.

 Rule

as Augustus

After the elevation of

Constantius I

and Galerius to the rank of Augusti,

two new Caesars were required to supply their place, and

to complete the system of the Imperial government. The

two persons whom Galerius promoted to the rank of Caesar

were very much Galerius’ creatures, and he hoped to

enhance his authority throughout the empire with their

elevation.^[27]

First was

Maximinus Daia

, whose mother was Galerius’ sister.

An inexperienced youth with little formal education, he

was invested with the purple, exalted to the dignity of

Caesar, and assigned the command of Egypt and Syria.

Second was

Severus

, Galerius’ comrade in arms; he was sent to

Milan

to receive the possession of Italy and Africa.

According to the forms of the constitution, Severus

acknowledged the supremacy of the western emperor; but

he was absolutely devoted to the commands of his

benefactor Galerius, who, reserving to himself the

intermediate countries from the confines of Italy to

those of Syria, firmly established his power over three

quarters of the empire.^[27]

His hopes were dashed when his

colleague Constantius died at

York

in 306 and the legions elevated his son

Constantine

to the position of Augustus. Galerius

only discovered this when he received a letter from

Constantine, who informed him of his father’s death,

modestly asserted his natural claim to the succession,

and respectfully lamented that the enthusiastic violence

of his troops had not allowed him to obtain the Imperial

purple in the regular and constitutional manner. The

first emotions of Galerius were those of surprise,

disappointment, and rage; and, as he could seldom

restrain his passions, he threatened to burn both the

letter and the messenger.^[28]

But when he had time to reconsider

his position, he inevitably saw that his chances of

winning a war against Constantine was doubtful at best,

especially given that he was well aware of Constantine’s

strengths as Constantine had been his guest for some

time at

Nicomedia

, not to mention the attachment of the

troops to him^[27].

Therefore, without either condemning or ratifying the

choice of the British army, Galerius accepted the son of

his deceased colleague as the ruler of the provinces

beyond the Alps; but he gave him only the title of

Caesar, and the fourth rank among the Roman princes,

whilst he conferred the vacant place of Augustus on his

favourite Severus.

The ambitious spirit of Galerius was

only just gotten over this disappointment when he beheld

the unexpected loss of Italy to

Maxentius

. Galerius’ need for additional revenue had

persuaded him to make a very strict and rigorous

examination of the property of his subjects for the

purpose of a general taxation. A very minute survey was

taken of their real estates; and, wherever there was the

slightest suspicion of concealment, torture was used to

obtain a sincere declaration of their personal wealth.

Italy had traditionally been exempt from any form of

taxation^[27],

but Galerius ignored this precedent, and the officers of

the revenue already began to number the Roman people,

and to settle the proportion of the new taxes. Italy

began to murmur against this indignity and Maxentius

used this sentiment to declare himself emperor in Italy,

to the fury of Galerius. Therefore, Galerius ordered his

colleague Severus to immediately march to Rome, in the

full confidence that, by his unexpected arrival, he

would easily suppress the rebellion^[27].

Severus was quickly captured and executed by

Maximian

, who had once again been elevated to the

rank of co-emperor, this time by his son Maxentius.

The importance of the occasion needed

the presence and abilities of Galerius. At the head of a

powerful army collected from

Illyricum

and the East, he entered Italy, determined

to revenge the death of Severus and to punish the

rebellious Romans. But due to the skill of Maximian,

Galerius found every place hostile, fortified, and

inaccessible; and though he forced his way as far as

Narni

, within sixty miles of Rome, his control in

Italy was confined to the narrow limits of his camp.

Seeing that he was facing

ever-greater difficulties, Galerius made the first

advances towards reconciliation, and dispatched two

officers to tempt the Romans by the offer of a

conference, and the declaration of his paternal regard

for Maxentius, reminding them that they would obtain

much more from his willing generosity that anything that

might have been obtained through a military campaign^[27].

The offers of Galerius were rejected with firmness, his

friendship refused, and it was not long before he

discovered that unless he retreated, he might have

succumbed to the fate of Severus. It was not a moment

too soon; large monetary gifts from Maxentius to his

soldiers had corrupted the fidelity of the Illyrian

legions. When Galerius finally began his withdrawal from

Italy, it was only with great difficulty that he managed

to stop his veterans deserting him^[27].

In frustration, Galerius allowed his

legions to ravage the countryside as they passed

northwards. Maxentius declined to make a general

engagement.

With so many emperors now in

existence, in

308

Galerius, together with the retired emperor

Diocletian and the now active Maximian, called an

imperial ‘conference’ at

Carnuntum

on the River Danube to rectify the

situation and bring some order back into the imperial

government. Here it was agreed that Galerius’ long-time

friend and military companion

Licinius

, who had been entrusted by Galerius with

the defense of the Danube while Galerius was in Italy,

would become Augustus in the West, with Constantine as

his Caesar. In the East, Galerius remained Augustus and

Maximinus remained his Caesar. Maximian was to retire,

and Maxentius was declared a usurper.

Galerius’ plan soon failed. The news

of Licinius’ promotion was no sooner carried into the

East, than Maximinus, who governed, the provinces of

Egypt and Syria, rejected his position as Caesar, and,

notwithstanding the prayers as well as arguments of

Galerius, exacted, the equal title of Augustus^[27].

For the first, and indeed for the last time, six

emperors administered the Roman world. And though the

opposition of interest, and the memory of a recent war,

divided the empire into two great hostile powers, their

mutual fears and the fading authority of Galerius

produced an apparent tranquility in the imperial

government.

The last years of Galerius saw him

relinquishing his aspirations towards being the supreme

emperor of the empire, though he managed to retain the

position of first among equals. He spent the remainder

of his years enjoying himself and ordering some

important public works, such as discharging into the

Danube

the superfluous waters of

Lake Pelso

, and the cutting down the immense forests

that encompassed it^[27].

 Death

Galerius died on 5 May 311 from a

horribly gruesome disease described by

Eusebius

, possibly some form of

bowel cancer

,

gangrene

or

Fournier gangrene

.

Gamzigrad-Romuliana

, Palace of Galerius near

Zaječar

in

Serbia

he had constructed in his birthplace, was

inscribed into the

World Heritage List

in June 2007.