The Ante-Nicene Church · AD 180–313 · External witness
Aemilianus
prefect AD 257; usurped and executed c. AD 262 · Deputy-prefect of Egypt · Persecutor · Usurper · Alexandria
External witness
Who Aemilianus was
The deputy-prefect who tried Dionysius in 257 and exiled him with his clergy. Dionysius quoted the transcript of the hearing verbatim in his answer to Germanus, so Aemilianus is one of the few Roman officials of the persecutions whose actual courtroom words survive. Five years later he seized the purple in Egypt against Gallienus and was put down and executed. External.
Named once in Eusebius’ Ecclesiastical History; no other ancient source names him.
Also listed in non-christian witnesses.
Common questions
When did Aemilianus live?
Aemilianus is dated prefect AD 257; usurped and executed c. AD 262 in the archive, which places Aemilianus in the Ante-Nicene Church (AD 180–313). The dating is traditional and approximate; the archive marks it as uncertain rather than fixing a year the sources do not give.
Which early sources mention Aemilianus?
Aemilianus is named in 1 primary-source passage catalogued here, drawn from Dionysius of Alexandria. Every passage is quoted from a named public-domain translation, earliest first.
Where was Aemilianus from?
The archive associates Aemilianus with Alexandria.
Who were Aemilianus’ contemporaries?
The archive links Aemilianus to 4 other figures, including Dionysius the Great, Germanus, Faustus the Deacon and Emperor Gallienus. Each connection is drawn from a source that places them together, not from inference.
Primary-source mentions (1)
Every passage below is quoted from a named public-domain translation, earliest first.
Letter to Germanus / Letter to Domitius and Didymus, VII.11.6–9 — transmitted in Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History (c. 325)
c. AD 257Aemilianus, deputy-governor, said: ‘But who hinders you from worshipping this god also, if he be a god, together with the natural gods? For you have been commanded to reverence the gods, and the gods whom all know.’Dionysius of Alexandria · Ecclesiastical History VII.11.6–9 · source text
Connected in the archive
People
Named alongside Aemilianus in the sources
This figure is placed with Aemilianus by the record — in a council roll, a martyr-act, a letter or a history — without Aemilianus naming them in return.
Events in this lifetime
- AD 202 · Perpetua and Felicity martyred, AD 202
- AD 235 · Maximinus Thrax targets the clergy, AD 235
- AD 250 · The Decian persecution, AD 250
- AD 251 · The Novatianist schism, AD 251
- AD 257 · The Valerian persecution, AD 257
- AD 260 · Gallienus’ edict of toleration, AD 260
Place
Places served
The one place the sources put Aemilianus.