Gannys was a Roman general and eunuch who commanded the troops of Elagabalus against Emperor Macrinus in the Battle of Antioch. According to Edward Gibbon in his Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire: "... Antoninus himself, who in the rest of his life never acted like a man, in this important crisis of his fate approved himself a hero, mounted his horse, and, at the head of his rallied troops, charged sword in hand among the thickest enemies; whilst the eunuch Gannys, whose occupation had been confined to female cares and the soft luxury of Asia, displayed the talents of an able and experienced general." (I, vi)