AURELIANO (LUCIUS DOMITIUS AURELIANUS), IMPERATORE ROMANO

AURELIAN (Lucius Domitius Aurelianus), ROMAN EMPEROR. - Born in Pannonia, he was a valiant soldier and commander; he ascended the throne in 270, at a very sad time for the empire. To defend Rome he had built the grand circuit of walls, much of which still exists. Among his military achievements, the victory over Zenobia (272) stands out; she was an usurper of Syria, Palestine, Egypt and part of Asia Minor, with her capital at Palmyra. He promoted the evolution of the State toward absolutism, restored the finances and was generous to the people. He wished to introduce the cult of the Sun as the protecting deity of the empire and as a common religion even for followers of different cults; he hoped to draw Christians into this belief, and seeing the futility of his efforts, he resorted to persecuting them; but accounts of the martyrs of this time are scarce and unreliable. Very well known is the sentence he issued in the case against Paul of Samosata, bishop of Antioch, who, deposed by a council of bishops held in the same city in 269, refused to leave the episcopal residence; the emperor decided that it should belong to him who was in communication «by letter with the bishops of Italy and of the city of Rome» (Eusebius, Hist. ecc., VII, 30, 19), showing that he was aware of the ecclesiastical organization of the Christian Church. He died at the end of August 275, killed by a private vendetta while marching against the Persians.