Valens is one of the Thirty Tyrants

Thirty Tyrants (Roman)

The Thirty Tyrants were a series of thirty rulers that appear in the Historia Augusta as having ostensibly been pretenders to the throne of the Roman Empire during the reign of the emperor Gallienus....

, a list of Roman usurpers compiled by the author(s) of the Historia Augusta.

According to Historia, this Valens was the uncle or great-uncle of another usurper, Valens Thessalonicus, who revolted against Emperor Gallienus

Gallienus

Gallienus was Roman Emperor with his father Valerian from 253 to 260, and alone from 260 to 268. He took control of the Empire at a time when it was undergoing great crisis...

. Valens senior would have revolted in Illyria against an earlier emperor, and would have been killed by his own soldiers after few days, as happened to his nephew.

It is possible that this Valens was Iulius Valens Licinianus, who usurped the purple in Rome

Rome

Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...

 during the absence of the Emperor Decius

Decius

Trajan Decius , was Roman Emperor from 249 to 251. In the last year of his reign, he co-ruled with his son Herennius Etruscus until they were both killed in the Battle of Abrittus.-Early life and rise to power:...

in the war against the Goths (250), and who was quickly executed.