Valens became the Eastern Roman Emperor in 364. By far his most notable accomplishment was the construction of the aqueduct that supplied water to Constantinople, his capital city, for over a thousand years. Although a fine administrator, Valens was not a military man. He led a series of unsuccessful campaigns against the Goths, culminating in the disastrous Battle of Hadrianopolis, when he rode into battle instead of waiting for reinforcements. This error in judgment cost him more than his life: the decisive military defeat heralded the disintegration of the Roman Empire, a moment recognized even by fourth-century historians. Valens is recalled as the Last True Roman.
Valentinian was a stout, brave, rough man of limited education but strong faith, a soldier named emperor. As soon as he reached Constantinople, he divided the Empire with his brother Valens, whom he...
Magnentius was a military commander in Gaul who rebelled against the Roman emperor Constantius II, removing and killing his junior colleague Constans, in the west. He appears to have had widescale...
A soldier during the reigns of Aurelian and Probus, Galerius was named Caesar in 293 and Augustus 12 years later, during the Tetrarchy period, when the Empire was divided into smaller units for ease...
The second in command to Diocletian, and co-Emperor in the West in the early days of the Tetrarchy, Maximian was a tough general who commanded important battles against the Goths.