The Roman emperor who was captured by the Persians.

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It was a time of turmoil and utter instability for the Roman Empire. There were barbarian invasions on all fronts, there were countless usurpers and civil wars, there were plagues and economic instability, runaway inflation, and in the midst of all this, a father and son reigned the empire, Valerian and his son Gallienus. The empire needed a victory, and the eternal enemy in the east should be decisively defeated once and for all. So Valerian fought the Persians under their great king Shapur I, at the city of Edessa on the very eastern fringes of the Roman Empire in 260 AD. But instead of defeating the Persians, Valerian suffered a humiliating defeat, and even worse, he was captured by the Persians, the first ever roman emperor to become a prisoner of war. You can imagine the shock waves that this sent through the roman empire, in a time where the empire would have needed a success. Valerian spent the rest of his life in Persian captivity, but some stories of his demise are greatly exaggerated, mostly by christian authors, because Valerian was a devout Pagan under whose rule there were anti-Christian persecutions. Non surprisingly the stories of his violent execution all come from early Christian authors. But in reality, it is very likely that he lived out his life on an estate worthy of a prisoner of war of his rank. But nonetheless, this was humiliating for the Roman Empire, and it would take over 20 years until the Romans would dare to attack the Persians again.