Licinius (263-1 April 325) was Roman emperor from 1 August 313 to 1 April 325, succeeding Maximinus II and preceding Constantine the Great.
Biography[]
Gaius Valerius Licinianus Licinius was born in 263 in Moesia Superior, Roman Empire to a family of Dacians. He was close friends with Galerius, and he accompanied him on his campaign against the Sassanids of Persia, which saw the Romans sack the Persian capital of Ctesiphon. On 11 November 308, Galerius appointed him Augustus of the Western Roman Empire, and in May 311 he had an agreement with Galerius' successor Maximinus II to divide the empire between them. However, in 313 the two of them had a falling out, and Licinius defeated and killed Maximinus at the Battle of Tzirallum, where his 30,000 troops defeated Maximinus' 70,000 men. In 314, a civil war between Constantine the Great in the west and Licinius in the east broke out, as the victor of the Battle of Milvian Bridge faced the victor of Tzirallum in the final battle for control of the Roman Empire. Licinius and Constantine met at Chrysopolis in 324, and Licinius was defeated and captured. Constantine's sister, Licinius' wife, pleaded for mercy; he would be hanged a year later for "conspiracy".