Valentinian I
Reputation
Valentinian was a superb soldier and a conscientious worker, endowed with ferocious energy. He felt a strong duty to the state, and, much more unusual, a strong duty to the poor, an emotion which he combined with a considerable distaste for the Roman upper class. More unusual still, in the age in which he lived, he believed in tolerating differences of religious opinion. For all his faults he would have been an outstanding man in any epoch, and it is only because of the misleading tradition which dismisses the personalities of the later Empire that most people have never heard of him.
Valentinian I
Valentinian I (Latin: Valentinianus; 321 – 17 November 375), sometimes known as Valentinian the Great, was Roman emperor from 364 to 375. He is the second-last emperor to govern the empire as a whole, albeit he only did so from February 26th to March 28th of 364, after which he appointed Valens to rule over the Eastern half the empire, while he remained in control of the West. During his reign, he fought successfully against the Alamanni, Quadi, and Sarmatians, strengthening the border fortifications and conducting campaigns across the Rhine and Danube. Also, his general Theodosius the Elder defeated a revolt in Africa) and the Great Conspiracy (a coordinated assault on Roman Britain by Picts, Scoti, and Saxons). Valentinian founded the Valentinian dynasty, with his sons Gratian and Valentinian II succeeding him in the western half of the empire and his daughter Galla) marrying emperor Theodosius I.
Early life
Valentinian was born in 321 at Cibalae (now Vinkovci, Croatia) in southern Pannonia into a family of Illyro-Roman origin. Valentinian and his younger brother Valens were the sons of Gratianus (nicknamed Funarius), a military officer renowned for his wrestling skills.
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