Basilianus
prefect of Egypt at the assassination of Caracalla and the elevation of Macrinus, by whom he was nominated to the command of the praetorians. Before setting out to assume his office, he put to death certain messengers despatched by Elagabalus to publish his claims and proclaim his accession; but soon after, upon hearing of the success of the pretender and the overthrow of his patron, he fled to Italy, where he was betrayed by a friend, seized, and sent off to the new emperor, at that time wintering in Nicomedeia. Upon his arrival, he was slain by the orders of the prince, A. D. 213. (Dio Cass. Ixxviii. 35.)
From William Smith (ed.), Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. Text provided under a CC BY-SA license by Perseus Digital Library, http://www.perseus.tufts.edu, with funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities and Tufts University. Data accessed from https://github.com/PerseusDL/canonical-pdlrefwk/ on 17 October 2026.