During the reign of Gallienus the empire reached its rock-bottom and historians have generally taken a very negative view of his reign. It began with his father’s defeat and capture by the Persians, after his death, his captures stuffed his corpse and continued to use him as horse mount. In the west, his young son Saloninus was murdered by the rebellious Rhine legions who proclaimed a separate Gallic Empire in the region. Further rebellions elsewhere in the empire followed and he finally victim to a coup from those near to him.