Sunday, February 28, 2010

Autobiography: Emperor Aurelian

By Andrew Scott



I was born on September 9, 214 A.D. in Sirmium to an obscure family.  My father was a tenant to a senator in Rome named Aurelius whom I was named after.  After I left home I entered into the army and was eventually made general.  I had great success in many different wars, therefore in 268, I was named dux equitum of the army of Emperor Gallienus.  I later participated in his assassination, making Claudius the ruler of Rome.  After two years, Claudius died and Quintillius was named emperor.  This did not sit well the Roman Legions as they rejected him as emperor and proclaimed me to be the sole ruler of Rome.  I then defeated Quintillius in battle and was made emperor of Rome.

When I first took control of the Empire in 270 there was much to be done.  Many far-off territories were under attack from outside forces, civil wars were beginning to start and the economy was in chaos.  I began by defeating the barbarians in the northern parts of Italy and securing our northern territories.  My authority was then questioned several usurpers, but I quickly defeated them.  In 271 the Almani invaded Italy attacking and sacking towns and villages along the way.  Since I was near the invaders I decided to attack their army at Placentia but was ambushed and forced to retreat to Rome.  I then chose to attack them again at the Metaurus River.  They were defeated and ran back across the Po river where I cut them off at Pavia in 271.  I was then given the title Germanicus Maximus.  Since the threat of barbarian invaders was so great, I had an enormous wall built around the city of Rome.  The walls were thirteen miles long and were designed to protect the city from invaders since the Servian wall had long been outdated.  In 272 I focused my attention more towards the lost provinces in the Palmyrene Empire.  The conquering of this empire was very swift and easy for all but two cities surrendered to me.  The city of Tyana I spared because in one of my dreams, I envisioned Apollonius telling me to spare the city which helped me conquer the rest of the empire.  In 274 I moved on to conquer the Gallic Empire in the West.  Through diplomacy I persuaded the emperor to give up his empire in exchange for a high-ranking job in Italy.  With this victory, I had officially secured the borders of Rome and provided a stable setting for the empire for the next 200 years.

As I returned to Rome after my great victories, I went about making changes that had to be done.  First I began by reforming the religious system in Rome.  I believed that it would be accepted for one to worship only one of the gods without offending all of the others.  I pushed for the sun god to have a greater importance in the religious system and built a temple after the god to be the center of the new cult in 275.  Next I went on to try and change the minting industry due to the lack of accountability and robbery.  I the old practice, the workers would steal the silver and produce coins of lesser value.  The man in charge of this operation was named Felicissimus, and I wanted to put him on trial.  But he incited a revolt and mass mobs appeared in the streets.  So I sent guards to contain and attack the mobs, and on the Caelian Hill they were defeated.  After I was finished reforming situations in Rome I went on to try and conquer Persia.  But I never made it.  I was waiting in Caenophrurium, Thrace when I was killed by several high-officials who were mistakenly placed on the execution list.  Later I was deified by the senate as Divus Aurelianus.

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