Valerius Valens

Who was Valerius Valens?

Aurelius Valerius Valens was Roman Emperor from late 316 to March 1, 317. Valens had previously been dux limitis in Dacia.

In the first civil war between Licinius and Constantine I, the latter won an overwhelming victory at the battle of Cibalae on October 8, 316, Licinius fled to Adrianople where, with the help of Valens, gathered a second army. There, early in December 316, he elevated Valens to the rank of Augustus, presumably in order to secure his loyalty. Much later, Licinius would use the same trick in the second civil war with Constantine, by appointing Martinianus co-emperor.

Despite the literary sources referring to Valens as a junior emperor, the numismatic evidence indicates his Augustan rank.

After Licinius's indecisive defeat at Campus Ardiensis in later 316 / early 317, Constantine was still in the dominant position from which he was able to force Licinius to recognize him as the senior emperor, depose Valens and appoint their sons as Caesars. According to Petrus Patricius, he explicitly expressed his anger from the elevation of Valens by saying the following to the envoy of Mestrianus: