A few months after the fall of Zenobia, Palmyra revolted again; Aurelian unexpectedly returned, destroyed the city, and this time showed no mercy to the population (spring, 273).
About 274 the emperor Aurelian surrounded it with ramparts.
After its overthrow by Aurelian, Palmyra was partially revived as a military station by Diocletian (end of 3rd century A.D.), as we learn from a Latin inscription found on the site.
After the abandonment of Dacia to the barbarians by Aurelian (270-275) and the transference of its inhabitants to the south of the Danube, the central portion of Moesia took the name of Dacia Aureliani (again divided into Dacia ripensis and interior).
After the successful Aurelian had granted the petition of the embassy, Synesius returned to Cyrene in 400, and spent the next ten years partly in that city, when unavoidable business called him there, but chiefly on an estate in the interior of the province, where in his own words "books and the chase" made up his life.
At an early age he entered the army, where he distinguished himself under the emperors Valerian, Claudius and Aurelian.
At length Aurelian arrived before the walls of Palmyra, which was captured probably in the spring of A.D.
At that time there were two rival political parties at Constantinople, the "Roman" party led by Aurelian (son of Taurus), praetorian prefect, and supported by the empress and a Germanizing and Arianizing party led by Aurelian's brother (possibly Caesarius, praetorian prefect in 400).
Aurelian (270-275) withdrew the troops altogether and settled the Roman colonists on the south of the Danube, in Moesia, where he created the province Dacia Aureliani.
Aurelian (Emperor of Rome, 270-5) had tried to restore currency stability.
Aurelian heard of it just when he had crossed the Hellespont on his way home.
Aurelian instantly took measures; Egypt was recovered for the Empire by Probus (close of 270), and the emperor himself prepared a great expedition into Asia Minor and Syria.
Aurelian is said to have won a victory over them, but the province of Dacia had to be given up. In the time of Constantine the Great Thrace and Moesia were again plundered by the Goths, A.D.
Aurelian now turned his attention to the internal affairs of the empire.
Aurelian overthrew the Palmyran rule; but he was assassinated before he could carry out his intended expedition against Persia, Probus was assassinated before he was able to do anything (or much), and although Carus easily overran Mesopotamia, which became Roman again, and even took Ctesiphon, the Romans retreated on his death (283-4).
Aurelian referred the matter to the bishop of Rome and the bishops of Italy, who gave their award in favour of the Antiochene Church.
Aurelian seized the wealth of the city but spared the inhabitants; to Zenobia he granted life; while her officers and advisers, among whom was the celebrated scholar Longinus, were put to death.
Aurelian well deserved the title of restorer of the empire, and it must be remembered that he lived in an age when severity was absolutely necessary.
Aurelian, the true Augustus, quickly grasped the situation, and took strenuous measures to deal with it.
Aurelian, was called on to reconstitute a Liberal cabinet, with the principal object of calming public opinion by the settlement of this question.
Aurelian, who was at the time in Mesopotamia, hastened thither, and ordered him to be seized and put to death.
Aurelian's policy moreover was in effect a recognition of the Roman bishop's pretension to be arbiter for the whole Church in matters of faith and dogma.
Aurelian's restless spirit was not long able to endure a life of inaction in the city.
Calm was thus restored, but Aurelian and his colleagues were not inclined to hand over their portfolios to Sturdza and his partisans.
From an anecdote of Aurelian, who neither used silk himself nor would allow his wife to possess a single silken garment, we learn that silk was worth its weight in gold.
Gothicus (2 70), Aurelian was proclaimed his successor with the universal approval of the soldiers.
Gregory is believed to have died in the reign of Aurelian, about the year 270, though perhaps an earlier date is more probable.
He served with distinction as a soldier under Aurelian and Probus, and in 293 was designated Caesar along with Constantius Chlorus, receiving in marriage Diocletian's daughter Valeria, and at the same time being entrusted with the care of the Illyrian provinces.
His coins of 270 struck at Alexandria bear the legend v(ir) c(onsularis) R(omanorum) im(perator) d(ux) R(omanorum) and display his head beside that of Aurelian, but the latter alone is styled Augustus.
In the time of Aurelian they invaded Pannonia, and during the reign of Probus we find them fighting in Dacia.
It was not long before all disguises were thrown off; in Egypt Wahab-allath began to issue coins without the head of Aurelian and bearing the imperial title, and Zenobia's coins bear the same.
Of humble origin, he served with high distinction and held important military commands under the emperors Probus and Aurelian, and accompanied Carus to the Persian War.
Paul refused to give way, and in 272 the emperor Aurelian was asked to decide between the rivals.
Six months after the assassination of Aurelian he was chosen by the senate to succeed him, and the choice was cordially ratified by the army.
The actual extent of the city may be reckoned at about 1800 acres, or about two-thirds the size of Rome within Aurelian's Wall.
The Aegyptus sive de providentia is an allegory in which the good Osiris and the evil Typhon, who represent Aurelian and the Goth Gainas (ministers under Arcadius), strive for mastery; and the question of the divine permission of evil is handled.
The chief authority for the events of Aurelian's reign is his life by Vopiscus, one of the writers of the "Augustan History"; it is founded on Greek memoirs and certain journals deposited in the Ulpian library at Rome.
The chronology, however, of Aurelian's reign is very confused, and the abandonment of Dacia is placed by some authorities towards its close.
The judicial authorities requested a rescript from the emperor Aurelian for the decision of the cause.
The nomad Vlachs or Tzintzars of these countries call themselves Arumani or "Romans"; they are a remnant of the native Latinized population which received an increase from the immigration of Daco-Roman refugees, who fled southwards during the 3rd century, after the abandonment of Dacia by Aurelian.
The persecutions under Aurelian and Diocletian almost succeeded in accomplishing the former; the Christian churches were saved by the instability of the existing authorities, by military anarchy and by the incursions of the barbarians.
The queen refused to yield to Aurelian's demand for surrender, and drew up her army at Emesa for the battle which was to decide her fate.
The Roman party recovered its power; Aurelian was again praetorian prefect in 402; and the Germanization which was to befall the western world was averted from the east.
Their sentence, however, did not take effect until late in 272, when the emperor Aurelian, having defeated Zenobia and anxious to impose upon Syria the dogmatic system fashionable in Rome, deposed Paul and allowed the rival 'candidate Domnus to take his place and emoluments.
They were subsequently carried to Rome by Aurelian, and at length presented to Justinian by a lady named Marcia, to be erected in this church " for the salvation of her soul."
Thither Aurelian followed her in spite of the difficulties of transport, and laid siege to the well-fortified and provisioned city.
Up to the 3rd century Autricum (later Carnutes, whence Chartres) was the capital, but in 275 Aurelian changed Cenabum from a vicus into a civitas and named it Aurelianum or Aurelianensis urbs (whence Orleans).
Wahab-allath(5th year)begins to issue coins at Alexandria without the head of Aurelian and bearing the imperial title; and Zenobia's coins bear the same.
We thus find Vopiscus acknowledging that when he began to write the life of Aurelian, he was entirely misinformed respecting the latter's competitor Firmus, and implying that he would not have ventured on Aurelian himself if he had not had access to the MS. of the emperor's own diary in the Ulpian library.
When Aurelian became emperor in 270 he quickly realized that the policy of the Palmyrene queen was endangering the unity of the empire.