Aurelian Roman Emperor 270-275AD Biography Certified Authentic Ancient
Coins Investment
Authentic Ancient Coin of:
Aurelian - Roman Emperor: 270-275 A.D. -
Silvered Bronze Antoninianus Serdica mint: 279 A.D.
Reference: RIC 279,
IMP AVRELIANVS AVG, radiate, cuirassed bust right
ORIENS AVG Sol standing left between two captives, holding globe, right
hand raised. XXIS in ex.
* Numismatic Note: Pristine state of preservation with full original
silvering.
Sol, the Sun. - This glorious luminary was originally
regarded and worshipped by the Pagans as being the most brilliant and
the most useful object in the universe -- as constituting by his light
and heat the natural source of life and health both to the animal and
vegetable kingdoms, and as imparting his splendor to the other heavenly
bodies, and his glory to the whole firmament. The more deeply
investigations are carried into heathen mythology, the more clearly it
is to be seen that almost all its principal divinities resolve
themselves into an identity with the Sun, to whose predominating
influence over the moon and stars the government and preservation of all
things both in heaven and earth were ascribed. Ancient monuments
represent the Sun under the form of a man, with a youthful face, the
head encircled with rays: sometimes he is mounted on a chariot drawn by
winged horses. A horse was sacrified to him, on account of the great
swiftness of that animal, a usage especially practiced by the
Lacedemonians. The Sun was called Mithras by the Persians;
Osiris by the Egyptians.
Lucius Domitius Aurelianus (September
9,
214 or 215 –September or October
275), known in English as Aurelian,
Roman Emperorr (270–275), was the
second of several highly successful "soldier-emperors" who helped the
Roman Empire regain its power during
the latter part of the third century and the beginning of the fourth.
During his reign, the Empire was reunited in its
entirety, following fifteen years of rebellion, the loss of two-thirds
of its territory to break-away empires (the
Palmyrene Empire in the east and the
Gallic Empire in the west) and
devastating barbarian invasions. His successes started the end of the
empire's
Crisis of the Third Century. Aurelian
was an upwardly-mobile soldier who was eventually appointed commander of
the cavalry by Claudius II. With the aid of a sympathetic army he
revolted against the accession of Quintillus and a civil war was avoided
when the latter committed suicide following the growing popularity of
his rival. Aurelian was then hailed as emperor by the Senate and the
rest of the legions alike. His first mission was to strengthen the army
by the introduction of the strictest reforms and discipline as well as
quelling the various uprisings that had broken out over the last two
decades. He thus spent the next five years until cut down by his own
Praetorian Guard at the height of his glory. It seems Aurelian's
personal secretary, after being reprimanded by the emperor for attempted
extortion, felt an execution would follow. To guard against this
possibility, he concocted a story about Aurelian intending to execute
his personal guard and then rushed to share with them this manufactured
evidence. Naturally, afraid for their lives, they entered the emperor's
quarters and effected a preemptive strike. Somehow or other it was soon
afterward found out that the formerly beloved emperor had no such
motives and his secretary himself was swiftly executed for treason. When
news reached Rome of what had happened Aurelian's wife seems to have
actually been left nominally in power while a new emperor was selected,
a period that may have lasted several months. Although history is a
little hazy in this matter, it would mark the first and only time a
Roman empress explicitly ruled the empire.
Rise to power
Aurelian was born in
Dacia ripensis or
Sirmium (now
Sremska Mitrovica,
Serbia), to an obscure provincial
family; his father was tenant to a senator named Aurelius, who gave his
name to the family. Aurelian served as a general in several wars, and
his success ultimately made him the right-hand man and dux equitum
(cavalry commander) of the army of Emperor
Gallienus. In 268, his cavalry routed
the powerful cavalry force of the
Goths at the
Battle of Naissus and broke the back of
the most fearsome invasion of Roman territory since
Hannibal. According to one source,
Aurelian participated in the assassination of Gallienus (268), and
supported
Claudius II for the purple.
Two years later, when Claudius died his brother
Quintillus seized power with support of
the Senate. With an act typical of the
Crisis of the Third Century, the army
refused to recognize the new emperor, preferring to support one of its
own commanders: Aurelian was proclaimed emperor in September 270 by the
legions in Sirmium. Aurelian defeated
Quintillus' troops, and was recognized emperor by the Senate after
Quintillus' death. The claim that Aurelian was chosen by Claudius on his
death bed can be dismissed as propaganda; later, probably in 272,
Aurelian put his own dies imperii the day of Claudius' death,
thus implicitly considering Quintillus a
usurper.
With his base of power secure, he now turned his
attention to Rome's greatest problems — recovering the vast territories
lost over the previous two decades, and reforming the res publica.
Conqueror and reformer
In 248, Emperor
Philipp had celebrated the millennium
of the city of Rome with great and expensive ceremonies and games, and
the empire had given a tremendous proof of self-confidence. In the
following years, however, the empire had to face a huge pressure from
external enemies, while, at the same time, dangerous civil wars
threatened the empire from within, with a large number of usurpers
weakening the strength of the state. Also the economical substrate of
the state, the agriculture and the commerce, suffered from the
disruption caused by the instability. On top of this an epidemic swept
through the Empire around 250, greatly diminishing manpower both for the
army and for agriculture. The end result was that the empire could not
endure the blow of the capture of Emperor
Valerian in 260: the eastern provinces
found their protectors in the rulers of the city of
Palmyra, in
Syria Palmyrene Empire, a separate
entity from the Roman Empire, successful against the Persian threat; the
western provinces, those facing the
limes of the
Rhine seceded, forming a third,
autonomous state within the territories of the Roman Empire, which is
now known as
Gallic Empire; the emperor, in Rome,
was occupied with the internal menaces to his power and with the defence
of
Italia and the Balkans. This was the
situation faced by Gallienus and Claudius, and the problems Aurelian had
to deal with at the beginning of his rule.
Reunification of the
empire
The first actions of the new emperor were aimed at
strengthening his own position in his territories. Late in 270, Aurelian
campaigned in northern
Italia against the
Vandals,
Juthungi, and
Sarmatians, expelling them from Roman
territory. To celebrate these victories, Aurelian was granted the title
of Germanicus Maximus. The authority of the emperor was
challenged by several
usurpers —
Septimius,
Urbanus,
Domitianus, and the rebellion of
Felicissimus — who tried to exploit the
sense of insecurity of the empire and the overwhelming influence of the
armies in Roman politics. Aurelian, being an experienced commander, was
aware of the importance of the army, and his propaganda, known through
his coinage, shows he wanted the support of the legions.
Defeat of the Alamanni
The burden of the northern barbarians was not yet
over, however. In 271, the
Alamanni moved towards Italia, entering
the Po plain and sacking the villages; they passed the
Po River, occupied
Placentia and moved towards
Fano. Aurelian, who was in Pannonia to
control
Vandals' withdrawal, quickly entered
Italia, but his army was defeated in an
ambush near Placentia (January 271).
When the news of the defeat arrived in Rome, it caused great fear for
the arrival of the barbarians. But Aurelian attacked the Alamanni
camping near the
Metaurus River, defeating them in the
Battle of Fano, and forcing them to
re-cross the Po river; Aurelian finally routed them at
Pavia. For this, he received the title
Germanicus Maximus. However, the menace of the German people
remained high as perceived by the Romans, so Aurelian resolved to build
the walls that became known as the
Aurelian Walls around
Rome.
The emperor led his legions to the Balkans, where
he defeated and routed the Goths beyond the Danube, killing the Gothic
leader
Cannabaudes, and assuming the title of
Gothicus Maximus. 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 reorganised a new
province of Dacia south of the Danube, inside the former
Moesia, called Dacia Ripensis,
with
Serdica as the capital.
Conquest of the Palmyrene
Empire
In 272, Aurelian turned his attention to the lost
eastern provinces of the empire, the so-called "Palmyrene
Empire" ruled by Queen
Zenobia from the city of
Palmyra. Zenobia had carved out her own
empire, encompassing
Syria,
Palestine,
Egypt and large parts of
Asia Minor. In the beginning, Aurelian
had been recognized as emperor, while
Vaballathus, the son of Zenobia, hold
the title of rex and imperator ("king" and "supreme
military commander"), but Aurelian decided to invade the eastern
provinces as soon as he felt strong enough.
Asia Minor was recovered easily; every city but
ByzantiumTyana surrendered to him with
little resistance. The fall of Tyana lent itself to a legend; Aurelian
to that point had destroyed every city that resisted him, but he spared
Tyana after having a vision of the great 1st century philosopher
Apollonius of Tyana, whom he respected
greatly, in a dream. Apollonius implored him, stating: "Aurelian, if you
desire to rule, abstain from the blood of the innocent! Aurelian, if you
will conquer, be merciful!" Whatever the reason, Aurelian spared Tyana.
It paid off; many more cities submitted to him upon seeing that the
emperor would not exact revenge upon them. Within six months, his armies
stood at the gates of Palmyra, which surrendered when Zenobia tried to
flee to the
Sassanid Empire. The "Palmyrene Empire"
was no more. Eventually Zenobia and her son were captured and forced to
walk on the streets of Rome in his triumph. After a brief clash with the
Persians and another in Egypt against usurper
Firmus, he was forced to return to
Palmyra in 273 when that city rebelled once more. This time, Aurelian
allowed his soldiers to sack the city, and Palmyra never recovered from
this. More honors came his way; he was now known as Parthicus Maximus
and Restitutor Orientis ("Restorer of the East").
Conquest of the Gallic
Empire
In 274, the victorious emperor turned his attention
to the west, and the "Gallic
EmpireeTetricus was willing to abandon his throne and allow
Gaul and Britain to return to the empire, but could not openly submit to
Aurelian. Instead, the two seem to have conspired so that when the
armies met at
Châlons-en-Champagne that autumn,
Tetricus simply deserted to the Roman camp and Aurelian easily defeated
the Gallic army facing him. Tetricus was rewarded for his part in the
conspiracy with a high-ranking position in Italy itself.
Aurelian returned to Rome and won his last honorific
from the Senate — Restitutor Orbis ("Restorer of the World"). In
four years, he had secured the frontiers of the empire and reunified it,
effectively giving the empire a new lease on life that lasted 200 years.
Reformations
Aurelian was a reformer, and settled many important
functions of the imperial apparatus, including the economy and the
religion. He also restored many public buildings, re-organized the
management of the food reserves, set fixed prices for the most important
goods, and prosecuted misconduct by the public officers.
Religious reform
Aurelian strengthened the position of the Sun god,
Sol (invictus)
or Oriens, as the main divinity of the Roman pantheon. 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 center of the cult was a new temple, built
in 271 in
Campus Agrippae in Rome, with great
decorations financed by the spoils of the Palmyrene Empire. Aurelian did
not persecute other religions. However, during his short rule, he seemed
to follow the principle of "one god, one empire", that was later adopted
to a full extent by
Constantine. On some coins, he appears
with the title deus et dominus natus ("God and born ruler"), also
later adopted by Diocletian.
Lactantius argued that Aurelian would
have outlawed all the other gods if he had had enough time.
Felicissimus' rebellion
and coinage reform
Aurelian's reign records the only uprising of mint
workers. The
rationalis
Felicissimus, mintmaster at Rome,
revolted against Aurelian. The revolt seems to have been caused by the
fact that the mint workers, and Felicissimus first, were accustomed to
stealing the silver used for the coins and producing coins of inferior
quality. Aurelian wanted to erase this practice, and put Felicissimus
under trial. The rationalis incited the mintworkers to revolt:
the rebellion spread in the streets, even if it seems that Felicissimus
was killed immediately, possibly executed. The Palmirene rebellion in
Egypt had probably reduced the
grain supply to Rome, thus disaffecting
the population with respect to the emperor. This rebellion also had the
support of some senators, probably those who had supported the election
of
Quintillus, and thus had something to
fear from Aurelian. Aurelian ordered the urban cohorts, reinforced by
some regular troops of the imperial army, to attack the rebelling mob:
the resulting battle, fought on the
Caelian hill, marked the end of the
revolt, even if at a high price (some sources give the figure, probably
exaggerated, of 7,000 casualties). Many of the rebels were executed;
also some of the rebelling senators were put to death. 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.
antoninianii containing 5% silver. They
bore the mark XXI (or its Greek numerals form KA),
which meant that twenty of such coins would contain the same silver
quantity of an old silver
denarius. Considering that this was
an improvement over the previous situation gives an idea of the severity
of the economic situation Aurelian faced. The emperor struggled to
introduce the new "good" coin by recalling all the old "bad" coins prior
to their introduction.
Death
In 275, Aurelian marched towards Asia Minor,
preparing another campaign against the Sassanids: the deaths of Kings
Shapur I (272) and
Hormizd I (273) in quick succession,
and the rise to power of a weakened ruler (Bahram
I), set the possibility to attack the Sassanid Empire.
On his way, the emperor suppressed a revolt in Gaul —
possibly against Faustinus, an officer or usurper of Tetricus — and
defeated barbarian marauders at
Vindelicia (Germany).
However, Aurelian never reached Persia, as he was
murdered while waiting in Thrace to cross into Asia Minor. As an
administrator, Aurelian had been very strict and handed out severe
punishments to corrupt officials or soldiers. A secretary of Aurelian
(called Eros by y
Zosimus) had told a lie on a minor
issue. In fear of what the emperor might do, he forged a document
listing the names of high officials marked by the emperor for execution,
and showed it to collaborators. The notarius Mucapor and other
high-ranking officiers of the
Praetorian Guard, fearing punishment
from the Emperor, murdered him in September of 275, in
Caenophrurium, Thrace (modern Turkey).
Aurelian's enemies in the Senate briefly succeeded in
passing
damnatio memoriae on the emperor,
but this was reversed before the end of the year and Aurelian, like his
predecessor Claudius II, was deified as Divus Aurelianus.
Ulpia Severina, wife of Aurelian and
Augusta since 274, is said to have
held the imperial role during the short interregnum before the election
of
Marcus Claudius Tacitus to the purple.
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