Cyriades

Content sourced from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Cyriades, also known as Mareades, Mariades, or Mariadnes, was a man from Antioch who sided with the Persians against Rome. In the 250s, he betrayed Antioch to Shapur I, the Sasanian king.

Some later writers list him as one of the “Thirty Tyrants” who tried to overthrow Emperor Gallienus, but this comes from the Historia Augusta, a source whose reliability is widely questioned.

According to that account, Cyriades was the son of a rich man who mistreated his father, stole from him, fled to Persia, and helped bring Shapur into the eastern Roman provinces. He aided in the capture of Antioch and Caesarea, then declared himself ruler (possibly as Caesar or Augustus) and was killed by his own followers after a short, brutal reign. The dating varies: the Historia Augusta places it around 259, while Edward Gibbon dated it to after Valerian’s defeat in 260.

Other ancient writers mention a Mareades or Mariades who betrayed Antioch. Ammianus Marcellinus says Mareades brought the Persians to destroy his own people and was burned alive. The Anonymous Continuator of Cassius Dio and John Malalas give similar versions with some differences. Most modern scholars believe Cyriades and Mariades are the same person, but the exact date remains uncertain (mid-250s to 260s).

The name Cyriades may be a Greek rendering of the Aramaic Maryad’a, meaning “My Lord Knows,” which could explain the idea that he could be called both Caesar and Augustus. There is no solid evidence he was ever proclaimed emperor, and coins attributed to him are considered fake.