Wild rumours spread through Rome like wildfire. On top of this an epidemic swept through the Empire around 250, greatly diminishing manpower[35] both for the army and for agriculture. The reason for the assassination was rather mundane As an administrator, Aurelian was ruthless, with an inclination to cruelty. 5. About Aurelian, Roman Emperor. . They could have been due to the return of the barbarians to a territory which was no longer being protected by the Gallic emperors, or to the discontent of the civil population faced by some of the consequences of Aurelians reconquest, such as political retaliation, economic and fiscal sanctions. Instead, the two seem to have conspired so that when the armies met at the Battle of Chlons at Durocatalaunum that autumn, Tetricus simply deserted to the Roman camp and Aurelian easily defeated the Gallic army facing him. However, he decided to abandon the province of Dacia, on the exposed north bank of the Danube, as too difficult and expensive to defend. He was deified by the senate soon after his death. Aurelian (Latin language: Lucius Domitius Aurelianus Augustus; 9 September 214 or 215 - September or October 275), was Roman Emperor from 270 to 275. Moreover, the monetary legends Libertas, Liberalitas and Ubertas (Abundance) cover rather vague concepts; these terms appear to be interchangeable on the reverse of coins. At about the same time, new usurpers rose against him in the empire, the Goths crossed into the Balkans, and Zenobia invaded Asia Minor. Quintillus 270 Assassination or suicide Aurelian 270-75 Assassination Tacitus 275-76 Possible assassination Florianus 276 Assassination Probus 276-82 Assassination Carus 282-83 Assassination Numerian 283-84 Possible assassination Carinus 283-85 Killed in battle Document Questions 1. The additional revenue from the recovered provinces, together with thorough reforms, was used to put the empires treasury back on a sound footing. $17. In early 269, emperor Claudius and Aurelian marched north to meet the Alamanni, defeating them at the Battle of Lake Benacus. This is obvious because there was no immediate successor. Aurelian's reign records the only uprising of mint workers. Besides victories against various invading tribes, he successfully restored the Roman Empire by bringing the breakaway territories of the Gallic Empire and Palmyra back under Roman control . Aurelian was born on 9 September, most likely in 214 AD, although 215 AD is also possible. Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible orders. Afterward, Aurelian defeated the Gallic Emperor Tetricus I in 274. [39] Zenobia had carved out her own empire, encompassing Syria, Palestine, Egypt and large parts of Asia Minor. The donative also included a public distribution of denarii, quinarii and bronze coins, the typology of which is remarkable: Mars Ultor and Victoria Aug allude to the spirit of vengeance that drove Tacitus and his army against the military faction responsible for Aurelians assassination, as well as to an imperial victory already won by Tacitus at the moment when he entered Rome. [26], While still dealing with the defeated enemy, news came from the Balkans reporting large-scale attacks from the Heruli, Goths, Gepids, and Bastarnae. [6], The Historia Augusta describes him both as a Pannonian from Sirmium and as a native of Dacia Ripensis "which he founded so that he would have been a Moesian". He reorganized a new province of Dacia south of the Danube, inside the former Moesia, called Dacia Aureliana, with Serdica as the capital.[38]. Lucius Domitius Aurelianus was born of humble parents at Sirmium sometime between 207 and 215 AD most likely on September 9th, 214 AD. Such momentous decisions behind him, Aurelian continued on eastwards to deal with Zenobia. Historical Map of Europe & the Mediterranean (September 275 - Assassination of Aurelian: Aurelian's victory in Gaul restored unity to the Roman Empire, a feat the Senate acknowledged by granting him the title Restitutor Orbis ("Restorer of the World"). Aurelian did not pursue them, for his presence was more urgently required in Rome.if(typeof ez_ad_units!='undefined'){ez_ad_units.push([[300,250],'roman_empire_net-large-leaderboard-2','ezslot_9',109,'0','0'])};__ez_fad_position('div-gpt-ad-roman_empire_net-large-leaderboard-2-0'); The riots were still going on. Aurelian was an Illyrian like several other emperors of the late 3rd century (Illyrian Emperors) all of whom shared a common military background. He went on to lead the cavalry of the emperor Gallienus, until Gallienus' assassination in 268. This was necessary since the barbaric invasions of Italy were more and more common. Oriens Avg. As emperor, he won an unprecedented series of military victories which reunited the Roman Empire after it had nearly disintegrated under the pressure of barbarian invasions and internal revolts. During this period, Aurelians widow Ulpia Severina seems to have been acknowledged as empress, with coins being minted in her name. With the important exception of Gallienuss wife Salonina, never have we seen an empress so regularly associated with her husband on coin issues, including the Severan dynasty where the Syrian princesses enjoyed considerable political power. It was in this role as cavalry commander that he took part in the siege of Mediolanum (Milan) led by emperor Gallienus. Constantine I (Flavius Valerius Constantinus) was Roman emperor from 306-337 CE and is known to history as Constantine the Great for his conversion to Christianity in 312 CE and his subsequent Christianization of the Roman Empire. During the summer of 275, Aurelian reconstituted an army in Illyricum and went eastwards along the great military road of the Balkans. On the way he drove marauding bands of Goths out of Thrace and then crossed the Danube and crushed the Goths in several large-scale battles. The reference to a military victory by Tacitus before his arrival in Rome and the celebration of his adventus in the capital after his proclamation as emperor, disproves the theory that Tacitus was the old princeps senatus present at Rome when he was elected by his peers, or else a senator who had retired from affairs of state and who was brought back from his countryside retreat and entered Rome as a private citizen. In 293, Diocletian and Maximian appointed junior partners to their tetrarchy, and these partners (Galerius and Constantius) became known as _____. President John F. Kennedy was assassinated on November 22, 1963, at 12:30 p.m. while riding in a motorcade in Dallas during a campaign visit. His intention was to give to all the peoples of the Empire, civilian or soldiers, easterners or westerners, a single god they could believe in without betraying their own gods. The end seemed inevitable. Aurelian continued to harass the enemy, driving them northward into Upper Moesia where emperor Claudius had assembled his main army. Tacitus and Florian Not for the first time in Rome's history, a group of plotters Aurelian, if you will conquer, be merciful! In order to cover more ground and so reap more plunder they split up their huge army into several smaller forces. He ruled only 5 years until his assassination, yet he did much to end the crisis of the third century. The mint of Rome was closed temporarily, and the institution of several other mints caused the main mint of the empire to lose its hegemony. 14, 5). But once he returned back to his base in Sirmium in August AD 270, he laid claim to the throne himself, stating that he, not Quintillus, had been intended for the throne by Claudius II Gothicus. Aurelian is one of the many Champions in Aeon Clash. The traditional reverses for empresses which celebrate their fertility were kept to a bare minimum in Severinas case: Venus Felix on denarii, Iuno Regina on the bronze, coins rarely struck and therefore not widespread. By the time he had risen to the throne, large portions of the empire in the west and east had splintered off into the Gallic Empire and Palmyrene Empire, respectively.. He had left his generals to lead the campaign against the Goths: his praetorian prefect Florian was already in Anatolia. For the rest of year, Aurelian harassed the enemy with his Dalmatian cavalry.[28]. In fact the evidence shows that all eight mints that were active in the autumn of 275 across the Empire were producing issues in the name of Severina alone. [21][22], Aurelian was married to Ulpia Severina, about whom little is known. Only the city of Tyana resisted him (AD 272). Although Domitian, two centuries earlier, was the first emperor who had demanded to be officially hailed as dominus et deus ("master and god"), these titles never occurred in written form on official documents until the reign of Aurelian. The centre of the cult was a new temple, built in 274 and dedicated on December 25[42] of that year in the Campus Agrippae in Rome, with great decorations financed by the spoils of the Palmyrene Empire. Aurelian was clearly a contender for the vacant throne after the assassination, but Claudius Gothicus was the preferred choice. Lactantius argued that Aurelian would have outlawed all the other gods if he had had enough time. These donatives in gold demonstrate that the decision about Aurelians successor was in abeyance and that far from the senatorial circles of Rome: in the headquarters of the various provincial armies. Also see Alaric Watson 1999, p. 215, David S. Potter 2004, p. 266, Herwig Wolfram, The war against the Palmyrene Empire is described in Zosimus, 1,50,11,61,1, and, Learn how and when to remove this template message, "Constantius heros (ILCV 66) An elegiac testimony on the decline of the Late Roman West", "LacusCurtius: Templum Solis (Platner & Ashby, 1929)", "Solving the Mystery of an Ancient Roman Plague", Realencyclopdie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Aurelian&oldid=1142189337, Roman emperors murdered by the Praetorian Guard, Roman emperors to suffer posthumous denigration or damnatio memoriae, Wikipedia articles incorporating a citation from the 1911 Encyclopaedia Britannica with Wikisource reference, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles needing additional references from March 2021, All articles needing additional references, Articles with unsourced statements from September 2013, Articles with unsourced statements from September 2021, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, Imperator Caesar Lucius Domitius Aurelianus Augustus, This page was last edited on 1 March 2023, at 00:41. Ironically, one of the most prolific and capable Roman emperors, the savior of Rome, is nowadays almost forgotten outside academic . Tacituss accession of power is thereby shown in a totally different light. Unknown. In fact, he is credited with having had the idea of raising the alarm at night, which caused the emperor to rise from his tent and which provided the assassins with their opportunity to strike. After Aurelians assassination, Severina as sole regent adopted the reverse Concordia Militum as her principal coin type. It is also noteworthy that his assassination was a hastily carried out plot. Aurelian fell victim to a military coup while still in Europe, at Caenophrurium near Perinthus. To protect the Alps and the access to Gallia Lugdunensis and northern Italy from the barbarians he left some of his army commanders, or vicarii, in the western provinces, among them the future emperor Tacitus, who was to receive the title of Germanicus Maximus shortly after his accession. Aurelian also introduced Sol Invictus in the Roman pantheon (indirectly) paving the way for the rise of Christianity. Rapid successes had followed because the reverse Victoria Gotthi(ca) was already struck at the end of the first issue of aureliani from Ticinum, that is at the end of 275. mater domini n. [] et castrorum et senatus et patriae et universi generis humani). Other sources do not cite Aurelian among those who conjured against Gallienus.] This time, Aurelian allowed his soldiers to sack the city, and Palmyra never recovered. The notarius Mucapor and other high-ranking officers of the Praetorian Guard, fearing punishment from the emperor, murdered him in late September or early October 275, in Caenophrurium, Thrace.[52]. And large parts of Asia Minor he took part in the siege of Mediolanum ( Milan ) led by Gallienus! Mediolanum ( Milan ) led assassination of aurelian emperor Gallienus, until Gallienus & # ;. 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