Aurelian Aurelian ( ; 9 September 214 or 215 – September or October 275 ) , was Roman Emperor from 270 to 275 . During his reign , he defeated the Alamanni after a devastating war . He also defeated the Goths , Vandals , Juthungi , Sarmatians , and Carpi . Aurelian restored the Empire ' s eastern provinces after his conquest of the Palmyrene Empire in 273 . The following year he conquered the Gallic Empire in the west , reuniting the Empire in its entirety . He was also responsible for the construction of the Aurelian Walls in Rome , and the abandonment of the province of Dacia . His successes effectively ended the Roman Empire ' s Crisis of the Third Century , earning him the title " Restitutor Orbis " or ' Restorer of the World ' . Although Domitian 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 . Early life and rise to power . Aurelian was born in Serdica ( today Sofia in Bulgaria ) in Moesia or what was later called Dacia Ripensis to an obscure provincial family ; his father was tenant to a senator named Aurelius , who gave his name to the family . Aurelian probably joined the army in 235 at around age twenty . He distinguished himself in several wars during the tumultuous mid - century ; his successes as a cavalry commander ultimately made him a member of emperor Gallienus ' entourage . In 268 , Aurelian and his cavalry participated in general Claudius ' victory over the Goths at the Battle of Naissus . Later that year Gallienus traveled to Italy and fought Aureolus , his former general and now usurper for the throne . Driving Aureolus back into Mediolanum , Gallienus promptly besieged his adversary in the city . However , while the siege was ongoing the Emperor was assassinated . One source says Aurelian , who was present at the siege , participated and supported general Claudius for the purple – which is plausible . Aurelian was married to Ulpia Severina , about whom little is known . Like Aurelian she was from Dacia . They are known to have had a daughter together . Service under Claudius . Claudius was acclaimed Emperor by the soldiers outside Mediolanum . The new Emperor immediately ordered the senate to deify Gallienus . Next , he began to distance himself from those responsible for his predecessor ' s assassination , ordering the execution of those directly involved . Aureolus was still besieged in Mediolanum and sought reconciliation with the new emperor , but Claudius had no sympathy for a potential rival . The emperor had Aureolus killed and one source implicates Aurelian in the deed , perhaps even signing the warrant for his death himself . During the reign of Claudius , Aurelian was promoted rapidly : he was given command of the elite Dalmatian cavalry , and was soon promoted to overall Master of Horse , effectively the head of the army after the Emperor – the Emperor ' s position before his acclamation . The war against Aureolus and the concentration of forces in Italy allowed the Alamanni to break through the Rhaetian limes along the upper Danube . Marching through Raetia and the Alps unhindered , they entered northern Italy and began pillaging the area . In early 269 , emperor Claudius and Aurelian marched north to meet the Alamanni , defeating them decisively at the Battle of Lake Benacus . While still dealing with the defeated enemy , news came from the Balkans reporting large - scale attacks from the Heruli , Goths , Gepids , and Bastarnae . Claudius immediately dispatched Aurelian to the Balkans to contain the invasion as best he could until Claudius could arrive with his main army . The Goths were besieging Thessalonica when they heard of emperor Claudius ' approach , causing them to abandon the siege and pillage north - eastern Macedonia . Aurelian intercepted the Goths with his Dalmatian cavalry and defeated them in a series of minor skirmishes , killing as many as three thousand of the enemy . Aurelian continued to harass the enemy , driving them northward into Upper Moesia where emperor Claudius had assembled his main army . The ensuing battle was indecisive : the northward advance of the Goths was halted but Roman losses were heavy . Claudius could not afford another pitched battle , so he instead laid a successful ambush , killing thousands . However , the majority of the Goths escaped and began retreating south the way they had come . For the rest of year , Aurelian harassed the enemy with his Dalmatian cavalry . Now stranded in Roman territory , the Goths ' lack of provisions began to take its toll . Aurelian , sensing his enemies ' desperation , attacked them with the full force of his cavalry , killing many and driving the remainder westward into Thrace . As winter set in , the Goths retreated into the Haemus Mountains , only to find themselves trapped and surrounded . The harsh conditions now exacerbated their shortage of food . However , the Romans underestimated the Goths and let their guard down , allowing the enemy to break through their lines and escape . Apparently emperor Claudius ignored advice , perhaps from Aurelian , and withheld the cavalry and sent in only the infantry to stop their break - out . The determined Goths killed many of the oncoming infantry and were only prevented from slaughtering them all when Aurelian finally charged in with his Dalmatian cavalry . The Goths still managed to escape and continued their march through Thrace . The Roman army continued to follow the Goths during the spring and summer of 270 . Meanwhile , a devastating plague swept through the Balkans , killing many soldiers in both armies . Emperor Claudius fell ill on the march to the battle and returned to his regional headquarters in Sirmium , leaving Aurelian in charge of operations against the Goths . Aurelian used his cavalry to great effect , breaking the Goths into smaller groups which were easier to deal with . By late summer the Goths were defeated : any survivors were stripped of their animals and booty and were levied into the army or settled as farmers in frontier regions . Aurelian had no time to relish his victories ; in late August news arrived from Sirmium that emperor Claudius was dead . Opposition to Quintillus . 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 legion s in Sirmium . Aurelian defeated Quintillus ' troops , and was recognized as 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 Philip the Arab 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 usurpers weakening the strength of the state . Also , the economical substrate of the state , agriculture and 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 , whose autonomy grew until the formation of the Palmyrene Empire , which was more successful against the Persian threat . The western provinces , those facing the " limes " of the Rhine , seceded to form a third , autonomous state within the territories of the Roman Empire , which is now known as the Gallic Empire . In Rome , the Emperor 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 Aureliana " , 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 . The Syrian queen cut off Rome ' s shipments of grain , and in a matter of weeks , the Romans started running low on bread . 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 his army to be strong enough . Asia Minor was recovered easily ; every city but Byzantium and 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 made to walk on the streets of Rome in his triumph . With the grain stores once again shipped to Rome , Aurelian ' s soldiers handed out free bread to the citizens of the city , and the Emperor was hailed a hero by his subjects . After a brief clash with the Persians and another in Egypt against usurper Firmus , Aurelian was obliged 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 . More honors came his way ; he was now known as " Parthicus Maximus " and " Restitutor Orientis " ( " Restorer of the East " ) . The rich province Egypt was also recovered by Aurelian . The Brucheion ( Royal Quarter ) in Alexandria was burned to the ground . This section of the city once contained the Library of Alexandria , although it is not known if the Library still existed in Aurelian ' s time . ( It had already been damaged by fire during the visit of Julius Caesar to Alexandria . ) Conquest of the Gallic Empire . In 274 , the victorious emperor turned his attention to the west , and the " Gallic Empire " which had already been reduced in size by Claudius II . Aurelian won this campaign largely through diplomacy ; the " Gallic Emperor " Tetricus 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 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 274 in the " 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 . He appears with the title " deus et dominus natus " ( " God and born ruler " ) on some of his coins , a style also later adopted by Diocletian . Lactantius argued that Aurelian would have outlawed all the other gods if he had had enough time ; he was recorded by Christian historians as having organized persecutions . Felicissimus ' rebellion and coinage reform . Aurelian ' s reign records the only uprising of mint workers . The " rationalis " Felicissimus , a senior public financial official whose responsibilities included supervision of the mint 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 for the coins and producing coins of inferior quality . Aurelian wanted to eliminate this , 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 , presumably executed . The Palmyrene 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 . His monetary reformation included in the introduction of " antoninianii " containing 5 % silver . They bore the mark ( or its Greek numerals form ) , 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 in 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 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 officers of the Praetorian Guard , fearing punishment from the Emperor , murdered him in September 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 " . There is substantial evidence that Aurelian ' s wife Ulpia Severina , who had been declared " Augusta " in 274 , may have ruled the Empire by her own power for some time after his death . The sources indicate that there was an interregnum between Aurelian ' s death and the election of Marcus Claudius Tacitus as his successor . Additionally , some of Ulpia ' s coins appear to have been minted after Aurelian ' s death . Legacy . Aurelian ' s short reign reunited a fragmented Empire while saving Rome from barbarian invasions that had reached Italy itself . His death prevented a full restoration of political stability and a lasting dynasty that could end the cycle of assassination of Emperors and civil war that marked this period . Even so , he brought the Empire through a very critical period in its history , and without Aurelian it never would have survived the invasions and fragmentation of the decade in which he reigned . Twenty years later the reign of Diocletian would fully restore stability and end the Crisis of the third century . The Western half would survive another two hundred years , while the East would last another millennium . The city of Orléans in France is named after Aurelian . Originally named Cenabum , Aurelian rebuilt and named it " Aurelianum " or " Aureliana Civitas " ( " city of Aurelian " , " cité d ' Aurélien " ) , which evolved into " Orléans " .