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In the summer of 260, Emperor Valerian confronts a Persian army in Syria that is attacking his eastern frontier, He is defeated and captured-the first Roman emperor to suffer this humiliation in Rome's thousand-year history. His army is destroyed. A number of generals and senators are killed or taken captive. Local successes against the Persians by several surviving Roman generals prompts one of them to revolt. That fall, the governor of Germania also revolts. When Gallienus learns of these disasters, which leave him sole ruler of a seriously weakened empire, he makes two unusual and controversial alliances. He entrusts defense of the eastern provinces to the king of Palmyra, a Roman citizen and effective opponent of Persian aggression in his own territory. In the west, Gallienus concludes a treaty with the chieftain of a powerful Germanic tribe, and marries his daughter. He resettles that tribe inside Rome's northern border in land vacated by plague and previous barbarian invasions. But Gallienus is already married. Roman law forbids more than one spouse. After his father's defeat, two revolts, and invasions from hostile tribes, he risks losing support of the Senate, who now questions his moral as well as his military judgement. Additional barbarian invasions and further betrayals threaten to overwhelm Gallienus as he struggles to overcome these challenges to his reign.