Dashed left edge = started before this timeline ·
Dashed right edge = still ongoing
Events in the 260s 1
260Emperor Valerian captured by PersiaIn 260 AD, Emperor Valerian is captured by the Sassanid Persian king Shapur I at the Battle of Edessa — the only Roman emperor ever taken prisoner by a foreign enemy. He dies in captivity, probably in 264 AD. Shapur commemorates the victory with rock-cut reliefs at Naqsh-e Rostam showing Valerian kneeling before him — images that will shock the Mediterranean world for centuries. The catastrophe triggers the final fragmentation of the empire into three competing states.