Valentinian

comparative more Valentinian · superlative most Valentinian

1. Of or relating to Valentinus, a 2nd-century Egyptian gnostic.

   We have seen already that this Gospel was a favourite authority with the Valentininan sect. Here we ascend to Valentinus himself. He was born about 100. After teaching in Egypt and Cyprus he came to Rome, about 140, and died some twenty years later.

   1875, The Dublin Review, page 396

2. Of or relating to Valentinian I.

   the Valentinian dynasty

   Synonyms: Valentinianic

plural Valentinians

1. historicalA follower of Valentinus, a 2nd-century Egyptian gnostic.
2. historicalA member of the Valentinian dynasty of Roman emperors.

   Since 363, the Roman Empire had been ruled by only two imperial houses, those of the Valentinians and Theodosians, which had been intertwined by both collegiate rule and marriage.

   2023, The Roman Imperial Court in the Principate and Late Antiquity, page 198

1. a Roman cognomen
2. historicalValentinian, three Roman emperors.