ABSTRACT
Now that the Herculean feat of reuniting the empire was completed, Aurelian returned to Italy to celebrate his spectacular triumph in the late autumn of 274. A year later his outstanding career, crowned with military successes, was tragically brought to an abrupt and bloody end through ignominy, ignorance and treason. For at least a short period thereafter, the Roman world seemed to hold its breath while a successor was chosen. But it was only the following summer, with the elevation of Probus, that stability was once again restored. The history of Aurelian’s final year is much less well documented than the foregoing period. What little evidence there is confirms what the nature of the times and our understanding of Aurelian’s character would lead us to expect: that he had neither the leisure nor the inclination to rest for long on his hard-earned laurels.
