Lucius Aurelius Marcianus was a Roman soldier whose military career coincided with the period of crisis that characterized the middle decades of the Third Century AD – see Crisis of the Third Century. Probably of humble origins in one of the Illyrician provinces of the Empire he was one of the group of men from this region who chose a military career – or had it chosen for them – whose professional capabilities brought them to the fore of public life in those troubled times. Marcianus rose to the highest levels of the military hierarchy. The evidence suggests that he earned the trust of the Emperors Gallienus and Claudius II and, possibly, Marcus Aurelius Probus among their successors and that he was one of the principal commanders in the prolonged war against a coalition of what the late antique Greek writers called Scythian peoples whose incursions in that period seemed to threaten the very survival of the Roman state. These would refer to the major Germanic and Iranian peoples, among them the Goths and Roxolani, who invaded the Roman empire across the lower Danube River.
Nothing is known of his private life.
The sources
Literary
Ancient
The notoriously inaccurate Scriptores Historiae Augustae (SHA) make several references to Marcianus's military exploits in two of the Imperial uitae, i.e. the Duo Gallieni (the Two Gallieni) and the Diui Claudii (the Deified Claudius), albeit solely in relation to his role in dealing with barbarian incursions into the Imperial provinces of the region now described as South Eastern Europe in 267–8 AD. They also assert that he was deeply involved in the conspiracy of senior officers that led to the assassination of Gallienus in 268 AD and his replacement by Claudius II – i.e. Claudius Gothicus.
The only other ancient literary source in which Marcianus is securely attested is the Νέα Ιστορία ("New History") of the Greek historian, Zosimus. Zosimus's "Marcianus" is generally agreed to be the same man as that referred to in the SHA, but he is mentioned only once in the "New History" and then in a purely military context. However, Zosimus's failure to make any mention of him in relating the events of the army marshals' coup against Gallienus is considered very significant by some modern commentators.
It was at one time believed that Marcianus was to be identified with the Marianus who was one of three leaders mentioned in a recently discovered fragment of Dexippus as coordinating Greek resistance to a Gothic invasion that swept across the Balkans in the early 260s. However recent scholarship has established Marianus as a previously unknown governor of Achaia
Secondary
The only modern biography specifically devoted to Marcianus is that of Gerov which was written in 1965. Gerov wrote before recent archaeological and numismatic discoveries encouraged the development of a new view of Imperial activity in Asia during the reign of Claudius II and Marcianus's possible involvement in this. Thus his biography did not consider the possibility that Marcianus commanded an expedition to counter Scythian incursions into Asia region at this time, for which the only literary reference was an off-hand statement in Zosimus. In addition, he was not able to take account of the very critical examination of the SHA material that took place from the late-1960s onwards, especially by Sir Ronald Syme, which might have affected his willingness to accept the account of Marcianus's activity propagated by that work. Although Gerov's paper is still considered the standard study of Marcianus, it is now possible to come to significantly different conclusions on some points.
Epigraphic
Reference to Marcianus authoritatively established
There are three epigraphic inscriptions that have been identified by published authorities as relating to the Marcianus of the ancient literary sources – albeit with varying degrees of confidence. These add considerably to the knowledge of his career derived from the literary sources:
1. From Philippopolis, Thracia (ancient city located in modern Plovdiv, Bulgaria): This inscription (in Greek) comes from a monument set up by the Town-Council and People of Philippopolis honouring one "Marcianus" (i.e. no praenomen or nomen) who saved the city when it was besieged by an unidentified enemy. The identification with the Marcianus of the literary sources (see above) was first made by Gerov;