Publius Aelianus Aelianus was a senior officer in the Imperial Roman army in the mid-Third Century AD who rose from relatively lowly origins to become the prefect of a legion under the Emperor Gallienus He was one of the earliest beneficiaries of Gallienus's policy that effectively excluded senators from army commands in favour of career-soldiers of equestrian rank. His later life is obscure. He was possibly procurator (i.e. Chief Financial Officer) of Epirus in the late-260s, but the foremost authorities query this identification. However, there are stronger grounds for believing that he was appointed a praeses (provincial governor of equestrian rank) in Africa, most likely under the Emperor Probus. Sources The sum total of our knowledge of this man derives from five epigraph inscriptions from: (a) A fragment of an epigraphic inscription from Poetovio (now Ptuj in Slovenia) that indicates that one AEL...I (a Vir Egregius, presumed to be Aelianus) commanded vexillationes (detachments) of the four legions of Pannonia; (b) A sarcophagus dedicated by one Aelianus to the memory of his parents found at Obuda, a district of modern Budapest on the west bank of the River Danube which was the site of Aquincum Castrum, Pannonia Inferior, the base of Legio II Adiutrix; (c) An altar dedicated one Aelianus to Herculi Augusti - i.e. to the Majestic Hercules - from Szentendre, the site of Ulcisia Castra an auxiliary fortress 12 km north of Aquincum; (d) A stone from Photike in the Roman province of Epirus, nowadays a province of Greece; and (e) A stone from Zucchabar in Algeria, in the Roman province of Mauritania Caesaensis. The last four of these inscriptions are analysed in great detail by T. Nagy. This article largely reflects Prof. Nagy's findings and conclusions. Origins It is likely that Aelianus was born at Aquincum in Pannonia Inferior which was the base of Legio II Adiutrix. His father was Martialis (P. Aelius) who had been a Custos Armorum (i.e. Warden of the Armoury) of Legio II (obviously he was described as ex custode armorum - i.e.'formerly Warden etc.' on his tomb) and his mother Fl. Agathe. The gentilicum Aelius suggests that the family was either descended from one of the settlers who arrived in Pannonia in the century after the Roman conquest or from one of many native Pannonian clans that was given Roman citizenship when the future Emperor Hadrian was governor in the early years of