(Lucius Domitius Aurelianus). Born 214 or 215; died 275. Roman emperor from 270. Illyrian from an undistinguished family in Pannonia; proclaimed emperor by the Danube Legions.
Aurelian restored the boundaries of the Roman Empire, pushing the Goths beyond the Danube, forcing the Alemanni from Rhaetia and Italy (although he lost Dacia), and rejoining to the empire almost all the regions lost earlier. In 272–273 he annexed Palmyra and defeated the usurper Firmus in Egypt, and in 273 he subdued Gaul. Aurelian tried to consolidate the unlimited power of emperor. He was the first to be officially called lord and god (dominus et deus), and he introduced a universal cult of the sun god—“the unconquerable sun.” In 273 he put down a movement among the workers in the Roman mint. In order to protect Rome from barbarians, Aurelian built most of the so-called Aurelian Wall, which was finished by Probius in 279. Aurelian was assassinated by conspirators during preparations for the Parthian campaign.
L. A. EL’NITSKII