Aurelian, Oct. 270—March, 275.
13. During the reign of L. Domitius Aurelianus, which lasted almost five years, those countries which had been partly or entirely lost to the empire were restored. Having first driven back the Goths and the Alemanni, who had advanced as far as Umbria, he undertook his expedition 271. against the celebrated Zenobia, queen of Palmyra, who at that time possessed Syria, Egypt, and part of Asia Minor. These countries he again brought under the dominion of the empire, after having Zenobia defeated and made prisoner, 271—273. defeated Zenobia and made her prisoner. The western provinces of Gaul, Britain, and Spain, which since the time of Gallienus had been governed by separate rulers, and were now under the dominion of Tetricus, he reduced to their former obedience. Dacia, on the contrary, he willingly abandoned; and as he transported 274. the Roman inhabitants across the Danube into Mœsia, the latter henceforward bore the name of Dacia Aureliani. Hated for his severity, which in a warrior so easily degenerates into cruelty, 275. he was assassinated in Illyria at the instigation of his private secretary Mnestheus.
Flav. Vopisci divus Aurelianus, in Script. Hist. Aug.
Palmyra in the Syrian desert, enriched by the Indian trade, and one of the most ancient cities in the world, became a Roman colony in the time of Trajan. Odenatus, the husband of Zenobia, had acquired so much celebrity by his victories over the Persians, that Gallienus had even named him Augustus with himself. He was murdered, however, by his cousin Mæonius, 267. Zenobia now took possession of the government for her sons Vabalathus, Herennianus, and Timolaus, without, however, being acknowledged at Rome. After this, in the time of Claudius, she added Egypt to her dominions. Aurelian, having first defeated her near Antioch and Emesa, soon afterwards took Palmyra, which, in consequence of a revolt, he destroyed.—Even in its ruins Palmyra is still magnificent.
The Ruins of Palmyra, by R. Wood. London, 1753; and the Ruins of Balbec, otherwise Heliopolis, by the same author, London, 1757, give us clear and certain ideas of the splendour and magnitude of these cities.
A. H. L. Heeren, de Commercio urbis Palmyræ vicinarumque urbium, in Comment. recent. Soc. Gotting. vol. vii. and the Appendix to Heeren's Researches.
Tacitus, Sept. 25, 275—April, 276.
14. An interregnum of six months followed upon the death of Aurelian, till at length the senate, at the repeated solicitations of the army, ventured to fill up the vacant throne. The object of their choice, however, M. Claudius Tacitus, the worthiest of the senators, was unfortunately seventy-five years old, and perished after a short reign of six months, in an expedition against the Goths. Upon this event the army of Syria raised M. Aurelius Probus to the purple; while Florianus the brother of Tacitus, who had already been acknowledged at Rome, was put to death by his own people.
Flav. Vopisci Tacitus; ejusd. Florianus, in Script. Hist. Aug.