AURELIAN 274AD Authentuc Ancient Roman Coin Fortuna Luck Cult i40864

Item: i40864

Authentic Ancient

Coin of:

Aurelian
 –
Roman Emperor
: 270-275 A.D.

Bronze Antoninianus 22mm (3.42 grams) Struck at the mint of Mediolanum
274-275 A.D.
Reference:
RIC 128f, C 95
 IMPAVRELIANVSAVG – Radiate, cuirassed bust
right.
 FORTVNAREDVX Exe: *Q – Fortuna seated left, holding rudder and cornucopia;
wheel under chair.

 You are bidding on the exact item pictured,

Authenticity.

The cornucopia (from Latin cornu copiae) or horn of plenty
is a symbol of abundance and nourishment, commonly a large horn-shaped container
overflowing with produce, flowers, nuts, other edibles, or wealth in some form.
Originating in
classical antiquity
, it has continued as a
symbol in
Western art
, and it is particularly associated
with the
Thanksgiving
holiday in
North America
.

Allegorical
depiction of the Roman
goddess
Abundantia
with a cornucopia, by
Rubens
(ca. 1630)

In Mythology

Mythology
offers multiple
explanations of the origin
of the cornucopia.
One of the best-known involves the birth and nurturance of the infant

Zeus, who had to be hidden from his devouring father
Cronus
. In a cave on
Mount Ida
on the island of
Crete
, baby Zeus was cared for and protected by
a number of divine attendants, including the goat
Amalthea
(“Nourishing Goddess”), who fed him
with her milk. The suckling future king of the gods had unusual abilities and
strength, and in playing with his nursemaid accidentally broke off one of her
horns
, which then had the divine power to
provide unending nourishment, as the foster mother had to the god.

In another myth, the cornucopia was created when
Heracles
(Roman
Hercules
) wrestled with the river god
Achelous
and wrenched off one of his horns;
river gods were sometimes depicted as horned. This version is represented in the

Achelous and Hercules

mural painting
by the
American Regionalist
artist
Thomas Hart Benton
.

The cornucopia became the attribute of several
Greek
and
Roman deities
, particularly those associated
with the harvest, prosperity, or spiritual abundance, such as personifications
of Earth (Gaia
or
Terra
); the child
Plutus
, god of riches and son of the grain
goddess Demeter
; the
nymph

Maia
; and
Fortuna
, the goddess of luck, who had the power
to grant prosperity. In
Roman Imperial cult
, abstract Roman deities who
fostered peace (pax
Romana) and prosperity were also depicted with a cornucopia,
including Abundantia
, “Abundance” personified, and
Annona
, goddess of the
grain supply to the city of Rome
.
Pluto
, the classical ruler of the underworld in
the
mystery religions
, was a giver of agricultural,
mineral and spiritual wealth, and in art often holds a cornucopia to distinguish
him from the gloomier Hades
, who holds a
drinking horn
instead.

Modern depictions

In modern depictions, the cornucopia is typically a hollow, horn-shaped
wicker basket filled with various kinds of festive
fruit
and
vegetables
. In North America, the cornucopia
has come to be associated with
Thanksgiving
and the harvest. Cornucopia is
also the name of the annual November Wine and Food celebration in
Whistler
, British Columbia, Canada. Two
cornucopias are seen in the
flag
and
state seal
of
Idaho
. The Great
Seal
of
North Carolina
depicts Liberty standing and
Plenty holding a cornucopia. The coat of arms of
Colombia
,
Panama
,

Peru and
Venezuela
, and the Coat of Arms of the State of
Victoria, Australia
, also feature the
cornucopia, symbolising prosperity.

The horn of plenty is used on body art and at Halloween, as it is a symbol of
fertility, fortune and abundance.

• 
  

  Base of a statue of
  Louis XV of France

Fortuna (Latin:
Fortūna, equivalent to the
Greek
goddess
Tyche
) was the goddess of fortune and
personification
of

luck in
Roman religion
. She might bring good luck or
bad: she could be represented as veiled and blind, as in modern depictions of
Justice
, and came to represent life’s
capriciousness. She was also a goddess of
fate
: as Atrox Fortuna, she claimed the
young lives of the
princeps

Augustus
‘ grandsons
Gaius
and
Lucius
, prospective heirs to the Empire.

Her father was said to be Jupiter and like him, she could also be bountiful .
As
Annonaria
she protected grain supplies.
June 11 was sacred to her: on June 24 she was given cult at the festival of
Fors Fortuna
.

Cult

Fortuna and Pontos

Fortuna’s Roman cult was variously attributed to
Servius Tullius
– whose exceptional good
fortune suggested their sexual intimacy – and to
Ancus Marcius
. The two earliest temples
mentioned in Roman Calendars were outside the city, on the right bank of the
Tiber (in Italian
Trastevere
). The first temple dedicated to Fors
was attributed to the Etruscan Servius Tullius, while the second is known to
have been built in 293 BC as the fulfilment of a Roman promise made during later
Etruscan wars
The date of dedication of her
temples was 24 June, or Midsummer’s Day, when celebrants from Rome annually
floated to the temples downstream from the city. After undisclosed rituals they
then rowed back, garlanded and inebriated. Also Fortuna had a temple at the
Forum Boarium
. Here Fortuna was twinned with
the cult of
Mater Matuta
(the goddesses shared a festival
on 11 June), and the paired temples have been revealed in the excavation beside
the church of
Sant’Omobono
: the cults are indeed archaic in
date. Fortuna Primigenia of
Praeneste
was adopted by Romans at the end of
3rd BC in an important cult of Fortuna Publica Populi Romani (the
Official Good Luck of the Roman People) on the
Quirinalis
outside the
Porta Collina
. No temple at Rome, however,
rivalled the magnificence of the Praenestine sanctuary.

Fortuna’s identity as personification of chance events was closely tied to
virtus
(strength of character). Public
officials who lacked virtues invited ill-fortune on themselves and Rome:
Sallust
uses the infamous
Catiline
as illustration – “Truly, when in the
place of work, idleness, in place of the
spirit of measure and equity
, caprice and pride
invade, fortune is changed just as with morality”.

An oracle
at the
Temple of Fortuna Primigena
in
Praeneste
used a form of divination in which a
small boy picked out one of various futures that were written on
oak
rods. Cults to Fortuna in her many forms are attested throughout the Roman
world. Dedications have been found to Fortuna Dubia (doubtful fortune),
Fortuna Brevis (fickle or wayward fortune) and Fortuna Mala (bad
fortune).

She is found in a variety of domestic and personal contexts. During the early
Empire, an amulet from the
House of Menander
in
Pompeii
links her to the Egyptian goddess

Isis, as Isis-Fortuna.^[11]
She is functionally related to the God
Bonus Eventus
, who is often represented as her
counterpart: both appear on
amulets
and intaglio
engraved gems
across the Roman world.

Her name seems to derive from Vortumna (she who revolves the year).

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

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

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.