Balista [SEP] noble family
Balista
Balista or Ballista (died "c." 261), also known in the sources with the name of "Callistus", was one of the Thirty Tyrants of the controversial "Historia Augusta", and supported the rebellion of the Macriani against Emperor Gallienus.
History.
Balista was the praetorian prefect under Valerian. After the Persian Empire defeated and captured that emperor in the Battle of Edessa, a body of Roman troops was rallied by a fiscal officer, Macrianus, and Balista. Joined, in some accounts
268, having surrendered to Emperor Claudius Gothicus after the death of Gallienus, Aureolus was murdered by the Praetorian Guard before Claudius could decide what to do with him.
Uprisings after the defeat of Valerian Usurpers in the East.
- 260–261 – Macrianus Major, Macrianus Minor, Quietus, and Balista, in the East. After Valerian's defeat, Gallienus was the only remaining emperor, but he was in the West. The Eastern army, needing a leader, offered the rule to Macrianus Major, a noble and wealthy man