Balista (d. c. 264), also known in the sources with the probably wrong name of "Callistus", was one of the Thirty Tyrants of Trebellius Pollio, and supported the rebellion of the Macriani against Emperor Gallienus. Events Sun Hao succeeds Sun Xiu as ruler of the Chinese kingdom of Wu Births Deaths Deng Ai, Wei general Jiang Wei, Shu general,Grand Commander and strategist, and foster son of Zhuge Liang Zhang Yi, Shu general Zhong Hui, Wei general Categories: 264 ... Callistus can be any of the following: the Roman Catholic Pope Callistus I Callistus, one of the genera of ground beetles This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... The Thirty Tyrants, or Thirty Pretenders (Latin: Tyranni Triginta) were a group of thirty men and two women declared by the author of the notoriously unreliable Historia Augusta, writing under the name Trebellius Pollio, to have been pretenders to the throne of the Roman Empire in the time of the... The Augustan History (Lat. ... Macriani can refer to: Macrianus Major Macrianus Minor Quietus This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... Emperor Gallienus Gallienus depicted on a lead seal Publius Licinius Egnatius Gallienus (218-268) ruled the Roman Empire as co-emperor with his father Valerian from 253 to 260, and then as the sole Roman Emperor from 260 to 268. ...

Balista was Praetorian prefect under the Macriani, and possibly also under Valerian, whom he accompanied to the East. After the defeat and capture of that emperor, when the Persians had penetrated into Cilicia, a body of Roman troops rallied and placed themselves under the command of the magister equitum Balista. Led by him, they raised the siege of Pompeiopolis, cut off numbers of the enemy who were straggling in disorderly confidence over the face of the country, and retook a vast quantity of plunder. Praetorian prefect (Latin Praefectus praetorio) was the constant title of a high office in the Roman state that changed fundamentally in nature. ... Valerian on a coin celebrating goddess Fortuna, associated with health and wealth. ... The Persian Empire was a series of historical empires that ruled over the Iranian plateau (Irān - Land of the Aryans) and beyond. ... Cilicia as Roman province, 120 AD In Antiquity, Cilicia (Κιλικία) was the name of a region, now known as Çukurova, and often a political unit, on the southeastern coast of Asia Minor (modern Turkey), north of Cyprus. ... The Roman Empire was a phase of the ancient Roman civilization characterized by an autocratic form of government. ... The Master of the Horse was (and in some cases, is) a historical position of varying importance in several European nations. ... Pompeiopolis is a Roman city-state and a titular see in ancient Paphlagonia, situated today in the Taşköprü district, Kastamonu, Turkey. ...

With the army deep in enemy territory and the lawfule emperor (Gallienus) far in the West, Balista allied with Macrianus Major, controller of the treasure of the army, and supported the election of Macrianus Minor and Quietus to the purple. He stayed with Quietus in the East, while the Macriani, father and son, moved with the army in the West, only to be crushed by generals loyal to Gallienus in Thrace, and killed by their own soldiers. Fulvius Macrianus (died 261), also known as Macrianus Major to distinguish him from his son Macrianus Minor, was disqualified from the imperial office because of his lameness, but with support from Ballista, Roman emperor Valerians praefect, he had his two sons Macrianus Minor and Quietus elevated to the throne. ... Roman emperor Titus Fulvius Iunius Macrianus (died 261), also known as Macrianus Minor to distinguish him from his father, was the son of Fulvius Macrianus. ... Quietus coin celebrating Eternal Rome. ...

His career after the destruction of the Macriani is very obscure. According to one account, he retired to an estate near Daphne; according to another, he assumed the purple, and maintained a precarious dominion over a portion of Syria and the adjacent provinces for three years. This assertion is however based on no good foundation, resting as it does on the authority of certain medals now universally recognised as spurious, and on the hesitating testimony of Trebellius Pollio, who acknowledges that, even at the time when he wrote, the statements regard­ing this matter were doubtful and contradictory. Neither the time nor manner of Balista's death can be ascertained with certainty, but it is believed to have happened about 264, and to have been contrived by Odaenathus. Daphne - From the painting by Deverial. ... Events Sun Hao succeeds Sun Xiu as ruler of the Chinese kingdom of Wu Births Deaths Deng Ai, Wei general Jiang Wei, Shu general,Grand Commander and strategist, and foster son of Zhuge Liang Zhang Yi, Shu general Zhong Hui, Wei general Categories: 264 ... Septimius Odaenathus, or Odenatus (Greek: (Hodainathos), Palmyrene אחינל = little ear), the Latinized form of Odainath, was a famous prince of Palmyra, in the second half of the 3rd century AD, who succeeded in recovering the Roman East from the Persians and restoring it to the Empire. ...

References

• Based on the public domain Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, edited by William Smith, page 459 (v. 1)
• Körner, Christian, "Usurpers in the east: The Macriani and Ballista", s.v. "Usurpers under Gallienus", De Imperatoribus Romanis

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