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.<="" a="">
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<="" a="">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
Byzantium
Tyana
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. Marcus Aurelius Claudius (May
10 , 213
- January, 270), often referred to as Claudius Gothicus or Claudius II ,
was a Roman Emperor
. He ruled the
Roman
Empire
for less than two years (268 - 270), but during that brief time he
managed to obtain some successes. He was later given divine status.
//
Life
Origin
and rise to power
Claudius' origin is uncertain. He was either from
Sirmium
(Syrmia;
in Pannonia
Inferior) or from Naissus
Dardania
(in
Moesia Superior
); both areas are located in
Serbia
.
Claudius was the commander of the Roman army that decisively defeated the
Goths
at the
Battle of Naissus
in September 268; in the same month, he attained the
throne, amid charges, never proven, that he murdered his predecessor
Gallienus
.
However, he soon proved to be less than bloodthirsty, as he asked the
Roman
Senate
to spare the lives of Gallienus' family and supporters. He was less
magnanimous toward Rome's enemies, however, and it was to this that he owed his
popularity.
Claudius, like
Maximinus Thrax
before him, was of barbarian birth. After an interlude of
failed aristocratic Roman emperors since Maximinus's death, Claudius was the
first in a series of tough soldier-emperors who would eventually restore the
Empire from the
Crisis of the third century
.
Claudius
as emperor
At the time of his accession, the Roman Empire was in serious danger from
several incursions, both within and outside its borders. The most pressing of
these was an invasion of Illyricum and
Pannonia
by
the Goths
. Not
long after being named emperor (or just prior to Gallienus' death, depending on
the source), he won his greatest victory, and one of the greatest in the history
of Roman arms.
The Roman Empire in 268 A.D
At the
Battle of Naissus
, Claudius and his legions routed a huge Gothic army.
Together with his cavalry commander, the future Emperor
Aurelian
,
the Romans took thousands of prisoners, destroyed the Gothic cavalry as a force
and stormed their laager (a circular alignment of wagons long favored by the
Goths). The victory earned Claudius his surname of "Gothicus" (conqueror of the
Goths), and that is how he is known to this day. More importantly, the Goths
were soon driven back across the
Danube River
, and a century passed before they again posed a serious threat
to the empire.
While this was going on, the Germanic tribe known as the
Alamanni
had crossed the Alps
and attacked the empire. Claudius responded quickly, routing the Alamanni at the
Battle of Lake Benacus
in the late fall of 268, a few months after the
battle of Naissus. He then turned on the
Gallic Empire
, ruled by a pretender for the past fifteen years and
encompassing
Britain
, Gaul
,
and the
Iberian Peninsula
. He won several victories and soon regained control of
Spain and the Rhone river valley of Gaul. This set the stage for the ultimate
destruction of the Gallic Empire under Aurelian.
However, Claudius did not live long enough to fulfill his goal of reuniting
all the lost territories of the empire. Late in 269 he was preparing to go to
war against the Vandals
, who were raiding in
Pannonia
.
However, he fell victim to the
Plague of Cyprian
(possibly
smallpox
),
and died early in January 270. Before his death, he is thought to have named
Aurelian as his successor, although Claudius' brother
Quintillus
briefly seized power.
The Senate
immediately deified Claudius as "Divus Claudius Gothicus".
Links
to
Constantinian dynasty
The
Historia Augusta
reports Claudius and Quintillus having another brother
named Crispus and through him a niece. Said niece Claudia reportedly married
Eutropius and was mother to
Constantius Chlorus
. Historians however suspect this account to be a
genealogical
fabrication intended to link
Constantine I
's family to that of a well-respected emperor.
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