The Goths. A fresh peril arose in the maritime raids of the Goths, Heruli, and other tribes who had seized the harbors on the [pg 261]north coast of the Black Sea. With the ships that they thus secured they ravaged the northern coast of Asia Minor as early as 256 A. D. In 262 they forced the passage of the Bosphorus and Hellespont and plundered the shores of the Aegean. Their most noted raid was in 267, when they sacked the chief cities of Greece, including Athens.
No less than eighteen usurpers, for the most part officers who had risen from the ranks, had unsuccessfully challenged the authority of Gallienus in the various provinces. At last, in 268 A. D., one of his leading generals, Aureolus, laid claim to the imperial title. Gallienus defeated him and was besieging him in Milan, when he was killed at the instigation of his officers, who proclaimed as his successor one of their own number, Marcus Aurelius Claudius.
Claudius Gothicus, 268–270 A. D. The rule of Claudius lasted only two years, in which his greatest achievement was the crushing defeat which he inflicted upon the Goths who had again overrun Greece and the adjacent lands (269 A. D.). This victory won him the name of Gothicus. Upon the death of Claudius in 270 A. D., the army chose Lucius Domitius Aurelianus as emperor.
Lucius Domitius Aurelianus, 270–275 A. D. Aurelian’s first task was to clear Italy and the Danubian provinces of barbarian invaders. Two incursions of the Alamanni into Raetia and Italy were repulsed, the latter with great slaughter. But the emperor recognized that the security of Italy could no longer be guaranteed and so he ordered the fortification of the Italian cities. The imposing wall which still marks the boundary of part of ancient Rome was begun by Aurelian. A horde of Vandals were beaten and driven out of Pannonia and a victory was won over the Goths in Moesia. But the exposed position of Dacia, and the fact that it was already in large part occupied by the barbarians, induced Aurelian to abandon it altogether. The rest of the Roman settlers were withdrawn to Moesia, where a new province of Dacia was formed behind the barrier of the Danube.
The overthrow of Palmyra. Aurelian was now ready to attempt his second and greater task, the restoration of imperial unity. And in this the East first claimed his attention. There Vaballathus, the son of Odaenathus, ruled over Palmyra, supported and directed by his mother, Zenobia. At the outset Aurelian had recognized his position but in 271 Vaballathus assumed the title of Augustus and thereby declared his independence of Roman suzerainty. He was [pg 262]able to extend his authority over Egypt and a great part of Asia Minor. In 272 Aurelian set out to bring back the East to its allegiance. He speedily recovered Asia Minor, and entered Syria, where he signally defeated the famous Palmyrene archers and mailed horsemen at Emesa. He then crossed the desert and laid siege to Palmyra itself. Zenobia tried to escape, but was taken, and the city surrendered. The queen and her family were carried off to Rome but Palmyra was at first spared. However, it rebelled again when Aurelian had set out for Rome. Thereupon the emperor returned with all speed and recaptured the city. This time it was utterly destroyed. The authority of Rome was once more firmly reëstablished in the East.
The reconquest of Gaul. Following his conquest of Palmyra, Aurelian proceeded to overthrow the already tottering empire of the Gauls. At the death of Postumus in 268, Spain and Narbonese Gaul had acknowledged the Roman emperor Claudius Gothicus. After several successors of Postumus had been overthrown by the mutinous Gallic soldiery, Publius Esuvius Tetricus was appointed emperor in Gaul and Britain. However, foreseeing the speedy dissolution of his empire, he secretly entered into negotiations with Aurelian. The latter invaded Gaul and met the Gallic army at the plain of Chalons. In the course of the battle, Tetricus went over to Aurelian, who won a complete victory. Britain and Gaul submitted to the conqueror (274 A. D.). Thus the unity of the empire was restored and Aurelian assumed the title of “Restorer of the World” (restitutor orbis).
Dominus et deus natus. Not only was Aurelian one of the greatest of Roman commanders; he also displayed sound judgment in his administration. Here his chief work was the suppression of the debased silver currency and the issuing of a much improved coinage. Aurelian regarded himself as an absolute monarch and employed on his coins the titles dominus et deus natus—“born Lord and God.” He likewise reëstablished in Rome the official cult of the Unconquered Sun God, previously introduced by Elagabalus. One of the characteristics of this cult was the belief that the monarch was the incarnation of the divine spirit, a belief which gave a moral justification to absolutism.
Probus, 276–282 A. D. Aurelian was murdered in 275 A. D., and was succeeded by Tacitus, who met a like fate after a rule of less than two years. He was followed by Marcus Aurelius Probus, an able Illyrian officer. Probus was called upon to repel fresh invasions [pg 263]of Germanic peoples, to subdue the rebellious Isaurians in Asia Minor and suppress a revolt in Egypt. Everywhere he successfully upheld the authority of the empire, but his strict discipline eventually cost him the favor of the soldiers who hailed as Imperator Marcus Aurelius Carus. Probus was put to death (282 A. D.). Like his predecessor, Carus was a general of great ability. He appointed his eldest son Carinus Augustus as his co-ruler, and left him in charge of the West while he embarked on a campaign against the Persians. This was crowned with complete success and terminated with the capture of Ctesiphon. But on his return march he died, probably at the hands of his troops (283 A. D.). His younger son, the Caesar Numerianus, who took command of the army, was assassinated by the praetorian prefect Aper. However, the choice of the army fell upon Gaius Valerius Aurelius Diocletianus, who assumed the imperial title in September, 284 A. D. But Carinus had retained his hold upon the West and advanced to crush Diocletian. In the course of a battle at the river Margus in Moesia he was murdered by his own officers (285 A. D.), and with the victory of Diocletian a new period of Roman history begins.