Background
He was born in 206 in Perugia, Italy.
He was born in 206 in Perugia, Italy.
Gallus commanded the reserve at Arbrittus (Thrace) in June 251, when Decius, fighting the Goths, lost his life.
He permitted them to withdraw with their booty and promised them a subsidy.
Returning to Rome, he consolidated his position by deferring to the Senate and by taking as co-emperor Decius' son Hostilianus.
Whatever competence they had was unequal to meeting the disasters of their short reign.
Plague raged, and the eastern and Danubian frontiers collapsed before the Persians and Goths, respectively.
Compared with Decius' reign, persecution of the Christians was only sporadic and local.
Gallus lost the loyalty of his frontier armies by not taking the field, and in 253 another Danubian commander, M. Aemilius Aemilianus, revolted and marched on Italy.
Gallus and his son were murdered by their own soldiers in Umbria, central Italy, in August 253, while preparing to engage the revolutionaries.
Gaius Gallus had two children in his marriage with Afinia Gemina Baebiana.
