Valens and his brother, Valentinian were from an Illyrian family, and while Valentinian had many successful military endeavors prior to becoming emperor, Valens lacked such training. As a result, he was an ideal candidate for being a deferential partner to his brother, who appointed him co-emperor and designated to him the eastern half of the Empire. The two brothers seem to have been rather dissimilar on many fronts, despite this rare solidus’s image of unity on its reverse – Valentinian was ambitious, cunning, and a seasoned soldier; Valens was dependent, suggestible, and inexperienced militarily. Valentinian upheld the Nicene Creed, Valens was an Arian. However, both were excessively antagonistic towards the precarious frontiers of the Empire. After Valentinian died, Valens attempted to secure a more favorable (and less bumbling) legacy for himself by launching what he hoped would be a devastating campaign against the increasingly mobile Goths along the Danube. It was a failed endeavor, however; he was killed in the Battle of Adrianople, and the eastern Empire devastatingly lost two thirds of its army. KHK 2015.