Aurelian  – Roman Emperor: 270-275 A.D.
 Silvered Bronze Antoninianus 22mm (4.69 grams) Struck at the mint of Siscia 274-275 A.D.
Reference: RIC 244f, C 60
IMPCAVRELIANVSAVG – Radiate, cuirassed bust right.
CONCORDIAMILITVM Exe: XXIS – Aurelian standing right on left, shaking hands
with Concordia to right. 

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In ancient Roman religion, Concordia is the goddess who embodies agreement in marriage and society. Her Greek equivalent is usually regarded as Harmonia, with musical harmony a metaphor for an ideal of social concord or entente in the political discourse of the Republican era. She was thus often associated with Pax (“Peace”) in representing a stable society. As such, she is more closely related to the Greek concept of homonoia (likemindedness), which was also represented by a goddess.

Concordia Augusta was cultivated in the context of Imperial cult. Dedicatory inscriptions to her, on behalf of emperors and members of the imperial family, were common.

In art

In art, Concordia was depicted sitting, wearing a long cloak and holding onto a patera (sacrificial bowl), a cornucopia (symbol of prosperity), or a caduceus (symbol of peace). She was often shown in between two other figures, such as standing between two members of the Imperial family shaking hands. She was associated with a pair of female deities, such as Pax and Salus, or Securitas and Fortuna. Paired “Security and Luck” could also be represented by Hercules and Mercury.

Temples

The oldest Temple of Concord, built in 367 BC by Marcus Furius Camillus, stood on the Roman Forum. Other temples and shrines in Rome dedicated to Concordia were largely geographically related to the main temple, and included (in date order):

• a bronze shrine (aedicula) of Concord erected by the aedile Gnaeus Flavius in 304 BC “in Graecostasis” and “in area Volcani” (placing it on the Graecostasis, close to the main temple of Concord). He vowed it in the hope of reconciling the nobility who had been outraged by his publication of the calendar, but the senate would vote no money for its construction and this thus had to be financed out of the fines of condemned usurers. It must have been destroyed when the main temple was enlarged by Opimius in 121 BC.
• one built on the arx (probably on the east side, overlooked the main temple of Concord below). It was probably vowed by the praetor Lucius Manlius in 218 BC after quelling a mutiny among his troops in Cisalpine Gaul, with building work commencing in 217 and dedication occurring on 5 February 216.
• a temple to Concordia Nova, marking the end Julius Caesar had brought to civil war. It was voted by the senate in 44 BC. but was possibly never built.
• a temple built by Livia according to Ovid’s Fasti VI.637‑638 (“te quoque magnifica, Concordia, dedicat aede Livia quam caro praestitit ipsa viro” – the only literary reference to this temple). The description of the Porticus Liviae follows immediately, and it is probable therefore that the temple was close to or within the porticus, but the small rectangular structure marked on the Marble Plan (frg. 10) can hardly have been a temple deserving of the epithet “magnifica” (HJ 316).

In Pompeii, the high priestess Eumachia dedicated a building to Concordia Augusta.

Modern religion

Harmonians and some Discordians equate Concordia with Aneris. Her opposite is thus Discordia, or the Greek Eris.

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

Husband of Severina

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.

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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.