Faltonius Pinianus (Gaul Rising)

Faltonius Pinianus (May 6, 233 – February 11, 304) was a Roman general and politician, and also one of the claimants to the position of Roman Emperor during the Great Roman Civil War.

Prior to the seeking the purple, Pinianus served as governor of Macedonia under Emperor Aurelian. He began his candidacy for the purple on October 6, 275, and was recognized as Emperor in the Balkans and most of Anatolia within a few months. During his reign, Pinianus fought to defend Pannonia against invading armies from the newly independent Gallic Empire and Germanic tribes that had allied with it. He held back the invaders for almost two years, but he was ultimately unsuccessful; and for this, Lucius Flavius Aper rebelled against him in August 277. Pinianus defeated Aper by July 278. In fact Aper, realizing that his defeat was inevitable, disappeared and left his senior staff to surrender for him. Then in December 278, Pinianus led a campaign to retake Pannonia. This effort was largely unsuccessful. In June 279, Publius Aelius Aelianus used Pinianus' failure to retake Pannonia as an excuse to rebel. Pinianus quickly abandoned Pannonia in order to face Aelianus, but he was not able to defeat him. His reign and candidacy came to an end on November 10, 279, when he surrenderred to Aelianus in exchange for being allowed to peacefully retire.

In spite of being at war with various parties for most of his rule over the Balkans and Anatolia, he managed to devote more time to administering the provinces that recognized him as Emperor than Probus, Asclepiodotus, and Antiochianus — the other individuals vying for the throne during Pinianus' tenure — did in their dominions. He is remembered to have been relatively successful with regard to his domestic policies.