AURELIAN 274AD Milan mint ilvered Ancient Roman Coin Nude Sol Sun God i29701

Item: i29701

Authentic Ancient

Coin of:

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

Silvered Bronze Antoninianus 24mm (3.99 grams) Milan mint. 5th emission,
early 274 A.D.
Reference: RIC V 135; BN 546-8.
IMPCAVRELIANVSAVG – Radiate, cuirassed bust right.
SOLIINVICTO Exe: */T – Sol standing facing, head left, raising hand and holding
globe;
at feet to left, captive seated left.

You are bidding on the exact item pictured,

Authenticity. 

Royal/Imperial
symbols of power

Ruling dynasties often exploit pomp and ceremony with the use of
regalia
:
crowns
,

robes,
orb (globe) and sceptres
, some of which are reflections
of formerly practical objects. The use of language mechanisms also support this
differentiation with subjects talking of “the crown” and/or of “the
throne
” rather than referring directly to
personal names and items.

Monarchies
provide the most explicit
demonstration of tools to strengthen the elevation of leaders. Thrones sit high
on daises
leading to subjects lifting their gaze
(if they have permission) to contemplate the ruler. Architecture in general can
set leaders apart: note the symbolism inherent in the very name of the Chinese
imperial
Forbidden City
.

Sol Invictus (“Unconquered Sun”) was the official
sun god
of the later
Roman Empire
and a patron of soldiers. In 274
the Roman emperor

Aurelian
made it an official

cult alongside the traditional Roman cults. Scholars disagree whether
the new deity was a refoundation of the ancient
Latin
cult of
Sol
,
a revival of the cult of
Elagabalus
or completely new.The god was
favored by emperors after Aurelian and appeared on their coins until
Constantine
.The last inscription referring to Sol Invictus dates to 387 AD
and there were enough devotees in the 5th century that
Augustine
found it necessary to preach against
them.
It is commonly claimed that the date of 25 December for
Christmas
was selected in order to correspond
with the Roman festival of Dies Natalis Solis Invicti, or “Birthday of
the Unconquered Sun”, but this view is challenged

Invictus as
epithet

Invictus
(“Unconquered, Invincible”) was an
epithet
for
several deities
of
classical Roman religion
, including the supreme
deity
Jupiter
, the war god
Mars
,
Hercules
,
Apollo
and
Silvanus
.^[8]
Invictus was in use from the 3rd century BC,
and was well-established as a
cult
title when applied to
Mithras
from the 2nd century onwards. It has a
clear association^[vague]
with solar deities and solar monism; as such, it became the preferred epithet of
Rome’s traditional
Sol
and the novel, short-lived Roman state cult
to
Elagabalus
, an
Emesan
solar deity who headed Rome’s official
pantheon under his
namesake emperor
.

The earliest dated use of Sol invictus is in a dedication from Rome,
AD 158.
Another, stylistically dated to the 2nd century AD, is inscribed on a Roman
phalera
: “inventori lucis soli invicto
augusto” (to the contriver of light, sol invictus augustus ).
Here “augustus” is most likely a further epithet of Sol as “august” (an elevated
being, divine or close to divinity), though the association of Sol with the
Imperial house would have been unmistakable and was already established in
iconography and stoic monism.
These are the earliest attested examples of Sol as invictus, but in AD
102 a certain Anicetus
restored a shrine of Sol; Hijmans
(2009, 486, n. 22) is tempted “to link Anicetus’ predilection for Sol with his
name, the
Latinized
form of the Greek word ἀνίκητος,
which means invictus“.

Elagabalus

The first sun god consistently termed invictus was the
provincial Syrian
god
Elagabalus
. According to the
Historia Augusta
, the
teenaged Severan heir
adopted the name of his
deity and brought his cult image from Emesa to Rome. Once installed as emperor,
he neglected Rome’s traditional State deities and promoted his own as Rome’s
most powerful deity. This ended with his murder in 222.

The Historia Augusta refers to the deity Elagabalus as “also called
Jupiter and Sol” (fuit autem Heliogabali vel Iovis vel Solis).This has been seen as an abortive attempt to impose the Syrian sun god on
Rome;
but because it is now clear that the Roman cult of Sol remained firmly
established in Rome throughout the Roman period,this Syrian
Sol Elagabalus
has become no more relevant to
our understanding of the Roman
Sol
than, for example, the Syrian
Jupiter Dolichenus
is for our understanding of
the Roman Jupiter.

 

Sol Invictus

Aurelian

The Roman gens
Aurelian was associated with the cult
of Sol.
After his victories in the East, the Emperor
Aurelian
thoroughly reformed the Roman cult of
Sol, elevating the sun-god to one of the premier divinities of the Empire. Where
previously priests of Sol had been simply
sacerdotes
and tended to belong to lower
ranks of Roman society,
they were now pontifices and members of the new
college of pontifices
instituted by
Aurelian.
Every pontifex of Sol was a member of the senatorial elite, indicating
that the
priesthood of Sol was now highly prestigious. Almost all these senators
held
other priesthoods as well, however, and some of these other priesthoods
take
precedence in the inscriptions in which they are listed, suggesting that
they
were considered more prestigious than the priesthood of Sol.Aurelian
also built a new temple for Sol, bringing the total number of temples
for the god in Rome to (at least) four^[21]
He also instituted games in honor of the sun god, held every four years from AD
274 onwards.

The identity of Aurelian’s Sol Invictus has long been a subject of scholarly
debate. Based on the
Historia Augusta
, some scholars have argued
that it was based on
Sol Elagablus
(or Elagabla) of
Emesa
. Others, basing their argument on
Zosimus
, suggest that it was based on the
Helios
, the solar god of
Palmyra
on the grounds that Aurelian placed and
consecrated a cult statue of Helios looted from Palmyra in the temple of Sol
Invictus. Professor Gary Forsythe discusses these arguments and add a third more
recent one based on the work of Steven Hijmans. Hijmans argues that Aurelian’s
solar deity was simply the traditional Greco-Roman Sol Invictus.

Constantine

Emperors portrayed Sol Invictus on their official coinage, with a wide range
of legends, only a few of which incorporated the epithet invictus, such
as the legend SOLI INVICTO COMITI, claiming the Unconquered Sun
as a companion to the Emperor, used with particular frequency by Constantine.
Statuettes of Sol Invictus, carried by the standard-bearers, appear in three
places in reliefs on the
Arch of Constantine
. Constantine’s official
coinage continues to bear images of Sol until 325/6. A
solidus
of Constantine as well as a gold
medallion from his reign depict the Emperor’s bust in profile twinned (“jugate”)
with Sol Invictus, with the legend INVICTUS CONSTANTINUS

Constantine decreed (March 7, 321) dies Solis—day of the sun, “Sunday“—as
the Roman day of rest [CJ3.12.2]:

On the venerable day of the Sun let the magistrates and people residing
in cities rest, and let all workshops be closed. In the country however
persons engaged in agriculture may freely and lawfully continue their
pursuits because it often happens that another day is not suitable for
grain-sowing or vine planting; lest by neglecting the proper moment for such
operations the bounty of heaven should be lost.

Constantine’s triumphal arch was carefully positioned to align with the
colossal statue of Sol
by the
Colosseum
, so that Sol formed the dominant
backdrop when seen from the direction of the main approach towards the arch.^[26]

Sol and the
other Roman Emperors

Berrens
deals with coin-evidence of Imperial connection to the Solar cult. Sol is
depicted sporadically on imperial coins in the 1st and 2nd centuries AD, then
more frequently from
Septimius Severus
onwards until AD 325/6.
Sol invictus appears on coin legends from AD 261, well before the reign of
Aurelian.
Connections between the imperial radiate crown and the cult of Sol are
postulated. Augustus
was posthumously depicted with radiate
crown, as were living emperors from

Nero (after AD 65) to
Constantine
. Some modern scholarship interprets
the imperial radiate crown as a divine, solar association rather than an overt
symbol of Sol; Bergmann calls it a pseudo-object designed to disguise the divine
and solar connotations that would otherwise be politically controversial
 but there is broad agreement that coin-images showing the imperial radiate crown
are stylistically distinct from those of the solar crown of rays; the imperial
radiate crown is depicted as a real object rather than as symbolic light.
Hijmans argues that the Imperial radiate crown represents the honorary wreath
awarded to Augustus
, perhaps posthumously, to commemorate
his victory at the
battle of Actium
; he points out that
henceforth, living emperors were depicted with radiate crowns, but state divi
were not. To Hijmans this implies the radiate crown of living emperors as a link
to Augustus. His successors automatically inherited (or sometimes acquired) the
same offices and honours due to Octavian as “saviour of the Republic” through
his victory at Actium, piously attributed to Apollo-Helios. Wreaths awarded to
victors at the Actian Games were radiate.

Sol
Invictus and Christianity and Judaism

Mosaic of Christ as
Sol
or
Apollo-Helios
in Mausoleum M in the
pre-4th-century necropolis beneath^[33]
St. Peter’s in the Vatican
, which
many interpret as representing Christ

The
Philocalian calendar
of AD 354 gives a festival
of “Natalis Invicti” on 25 December. There is limited evidence that this
festival was celebrated before the mid-4th century.
The idea that Christians chose to celebrate the birth of Jesus on 25 December
because this was the date of an already existing festival of the Sol Invictus
was expressed in an annotation to a manuscript of a work by 12th-century Syrian
bishop
Jacob Bar-Salibi
. The scribe who added it
wrote: “It was a custom of the Pagans to celebrate on the same 25 December the
birthday of the Sun, at which they kindled lights in token of festivity. In
these solemnities and revelries the Christians also took part. Accordingly when
the doctors of the Church perceived that the Christians had a leaning to this
festival, they took counsel and resolved that the true Nativity should be
solemnised on that day.”

This idea became popular especially in the 18th and 19th centuries
 and is still widely accepted.

In the judgement of the Church of England Liturgical Commission, this view
has been seriously challenged
 by a view based on an old tradition, according to which the date of Christmas
was fixed at nine months after 25 March, the date of the vernal equinox, on
which the
Annunciation
was celebrated.
 The Jewish calendar date of 14 Nisan was believed to be that of the beginning of
creation, as well as of the Exodus and so of Passover, and Christians held that
the new creation, both the death of Jesus and the beginning of his human life,
occurred on the same date, which some put at 25 March in the Julian calendar.^[40][42][43]
It was a traditional Jewish belief that great men lived a whole number of years,
without fractions, so that Jesus was considered to have been conceived on 25
March, as he died on 25 March, which was calculated to have coincided with 14
Nisan.^[44]
Sextus Julius Africanus
(c.160 – c.240) gave 25
March as the day of creation and of the conception of Jesus.
 The tractate De solstitia et aequinoctia conceptionis et nativitatis Domini
nostri Iesu Christi et Iohannis Baptistae falsely attributed to
John Chrysostom
also argued that Jesus was
conceived and crucified on the same day of the year and calculated this as 25
March.
A passage of the Commentary on the prophet Daniel by
Hippolytus of Rome
, written in about 204, has
also been appealed to.

Among those who have put forward this view are Louis Duchesne,Thomas J. Talley,
David J. Rothenberg,
J. Neil Alexander, and Hugh Wybrew.

Not all scholars who view the celebration of the birth of Jesus on 25
December as motivated by the choice of the winter solstice rather than
calculated on the basis of the belief that he was conceived and died on 25 March
agree that it constituted a deliberate Christianization of a festival of the
Birthday of the Unconquered Sun. Michael Alan Anderson writes:

Both the sun and Christ were said to be born anew on December 25. But
while the solar associations with the birth of Christ created powerful
metaphors, the surviving evidence does not support such a direct association
with the Roman solar festivals. The earliest documentary evidence for the
feast of Christmas makes no mention of the coincidence with the winter
solstice. Thomas Talley has shown that, although the Emperor Aurelian’s
dedication of a temple to the sun god in the Campus Martius (C.E. 274)
probably took place on the ‘Birthday of the Invincible Sun’ on December 25,
the cult of the sun in pagan Rome ironically did not celebrate the winter
solstice nor any of the other quarter-tense days, as one might expect. The
origins of Christmas, then, may not be expressly rooted in the Roman
festival.

The same point is made by Hijmans: “It is cosmic symbolism…which inspired
the Church leadership in Rome to elect the southern solstice, December 25, as
the birthday of Christ … While they were aware that pagans called this day the
‘birthday’ of Sol Invictus, this did not concern them and it did not play any
role in their choice of date for Christmas.”
He also states that, “while the winter solstice on or around December 25 was
well established in the Roman imperial calendar, there is no evidence that a
religious celebration of Sol on that day antedated the celebration of
Christmas”.

The Oxford Companion to Christian Thought also remarks on the
uncertainty about the order of precedence between the celebrations of the
Birthday of the Unconquered Sun and the birthday of Jesus: “This ‘calculations’
hypothesis potentially establishes 25 December as a Christian festival before
Aurelian’s decree, which, when promulgated, might have provided for the
Christian feast both opportunity and challenge.”

Susan K. Roll also calls “most extreme” the unproven hypothesis that “would
call Christmas point-blank a ‘christianization’ of Natalis Solis Invicti, a
direct conscious appropriation of the pre-Christian feast, arbitrarily placed on
the same calendar date, assimilating and adapting some of its cosmic symbolism
and abruptly usurping any lingering habitual loyalty that newly-converted
Christians might feel to the feasts of the state gods”.
The comparison of Christ with the astronomical
Sun
is common in ancient Christian writings.
 In the 5th century,
Pope Leo I
(the Great) spoke in several sermons
on the Feast of the Nativity of how the celebration of Christ’s birth coincided
with increase of the sun’s position in the sky. An example is: “But this
Nativity which is to be adored in heaven and on earth is suggested to us by no
day more than this when, with the early light still shedding its rays on nature,
there is borne in upon our senses the brightness of this wondrous mystery.

Mosaic in the
Beth Alpha
synagogue, with the sun
in the centre, surrounded by the twelve zodiac constellations and
with the four seasons associated inaccurately with the
constellations

A study of
Augustine of Hippo
remarks that his exhortation
in a Christmas sermon, “Let us celebrate this day as a feast not for the sake of
this sun, which is beheld by believers as much as by ourselves, but for the sake
of him who created the sun”, shows that he was aware of the coincidence of the
celebration of Christmas and the Birthday of the Unconquered Sun, although this
pagan festival was celebrated at only a few places and was originally a
peculiarity of the Roman city calendar. It adds: “He also believes, however,
that there is a reliable tradition which gives 25 December as the actual date of
the birth of our Lord.”
By “the sun of righteousness” in
Malachi 4:2
“the
fathers
, from
Justin
downward, and nearly all the earlier
commentators understand Christ, who is supposed to be described as the
rising sun”.
 The New Testament
itself contains a hymn fragment:
“Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”

Clement of Alexandria
wrote of “the Sun of the
Resurrection, he who was born before the dawn, whose beams give light”.

Christians adopted the image of the Sun (Helios
or Sol Invictus) to represent Christ. In this portrayal he is a beardless figure
with a flowing cloak in a chariot drawn by four white horses, as in the mosaic
in Mausoleum M discovered under
Saint Peter’s Basilica
and in an
early-4th-century catacomb fresco.
 Clement of Alexandria had spoken of Christ driving his chariot in this way
across the sky.
The nimbus of the figure under Saint Peter’s Basilica is described by some as
rayed,
as in traditional pre-Christian representations, but another has said: “Only the
cross-shaped nimbus makes the Christian significance apparent” (emphasis
added).
Yet another has interpreted the figure as a representation of the sun with no
explicit religious reference whatever, pagan or Christian.

The traditional image of the sun is used also in Jewish art. A mosaic floor
in Hamat Tiberias
presents
David
as Helios surrounded by a ring with the
signs of the zodiac
.As well as in Hamat Tiberias, figures of Helios or Sol Invictus also appear in
several of the very few surviving schemes of decoration surviving from Late
Antique synagogues
, including
Beth Alpha
,
Husefah
(Husefa) and
Naaran
, all now in
Israel
. He is shown in floor mosaics, with the
usual radiate halo, and sometimes in a
quadriga
, in the central roundel of a circular
representation of the zodiac or the seasons. These combinations “may have
represented to an agricultural Jewish community the perpetuation of the annual
cycle of the universe or … the central part of a calendar”.

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.