Aureolus was a Roman military commander during the reign of Emperor Gallienus before he attempted to usurp the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ruled the Mediterranean and much of Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. The Roman people, Romans conquered most of this during the Roman Republic, Republic, and it was ruled by emperors following Octavian's assumption of ...

. After turning against Gallienus, Aureolus was killed during the political turmoil that surrounded the Emperor's assassination in a conspiracy orchestrated by his senior officers. Aureolus is known as one of the

Thirty Tyrants The Thirty Tyrants (, ''hoi triákonta týrannoi'') were an oligarchy that briefly ruled Classical Athens, Athens from 404 BC, 404 BCE to 403 BC, 403 BCE. Installed into power by the Sparta, Spartans after the Athenian surrender in the Peloponnesian ...

and is referenced in ancient sources including the ''

Historia Augusta The ''Historia Augusta'' (English: ''Augustan History'') is a late Roman collection of biographies, written in Latin, of the Roman emperors, their junior colleagues, Caesar (title), designated heirs and Roman usurper, usurpers from 117 to 284. S ...

'', Zonaras' epitome and Zosimus' ''Historia Nova''.

Biography

Early life

Aureolus was born in the Roman province of Dacia, north of the

Danube The Danube ( ; see also #Names and etymology, other names) is the List of rivers of Europe#Longest rivers, second-longest river in Europe, after the Volga in Russia. It flows through Central and Southeastern Europe, from the Black Forest sou ...

, and prior to his military career served as a herdsman as well as Master of the Imperial Horses ('Phronistes'). His nomen is often reported as Acilius, while his

praenomen The praenomen (; plural: praenomina) was a first name chosen by the parents of a Ancient Rome, Roman child. It was first bestowed on the ''dies lustricus'' (day of lustration), the eighth day after the birth of a girl, or the ninth day after the ...

is thought to be either '' Marcus'' or '' Manius'', both of which were common praenomina within the Acilia gens. Although some historians such as John Platts, William A'Beckett and Angelo Paredi have thought the 'M' to stand for a second nomen '' Manlius''. It is unclear whether Aurelous came to the attention of the Emperor Gallienus after enlisting in the army, or during his service as a groom. Gallienus was known to promote talent from outside the establishment, and Aureolus was one of the New Men who replaced senators in positions of high command in the army in the course of his reign.

Career

As a former Imperial Horsemaster, Aureolus developed a self-contained cavalry force to increase the effectiveness of the comitatus as a highly mobile field army under the Emperor's direct control. Aureolus was the first commander of this force under the Emperor, and was based at

Mediolanum Mediolanum, the ancient city where Milan now stands, was originally an Insubres, Insubrian city, but afterwards became an important Ancient Rome, Roman city in Northern Italy. The city was settled by a Celts, Celtic tribe belonging to the Ins ...

(

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

). Aureolus' cavalry was principally responsible for the defeat of the usurper Ingenuus at the Battle of Mursa (

Osijek Osijek () is the fourth-largest city in Croatia, with a population of 96,848 in 2021. It is the largest city and the economic and cultural centre of the eastern Croatian region of Slavonia, as well as the administrative centre of Osijek-Baranja ...

) in 258. In 261, he commanded the force which defeated the army of the usurpers Macrianus Major and Macrianus Minor in battle somewhere in the central Balkans. The army of the Macriani, which first supported usurper Ingenuus and then Regalianus, included inmates from garrisons in Danubian provinces and was estimated to be at least 30,000 strong. The success of Aureolus in suppressing the Macriani is thought by some historians to have undermined the achievements of Gallienus. Other historians suggest that at this time Gallienus was attempting to crush the Gallic usurper Postumus, who murdered Gallienus's son Caesar Saloninus, and clear the Juthungi out of the Alpine province of

Raetia Raetia or Rhaetia ( , ) was a province of the Roman Empire named after the Rhaetian people. It bordered on the west with the country of the Helvetii, on the east with Noricum, on the north with Vindelicia, on the south-west with Transalpine ...

where they posed a direct threat to Italy and Rome.

Rebellion

After the Macriani were defeated and the Danubian garrison forces who had supported them were pacified, Aureolus and the Emperor united to defeat Postumus and his Gallic Empire. It may have been as a result of this campaign that the province of

was recovered from the Gallic Empire and Postumus's inscription on the Augsburg Altar was erased. However, Postumus managed to evade complete defeat, which some historians blame on the alleged 'carelessness' of Aureolus. Other historians have suggested that Aureolus deliberately allowed the Gallic usurper to evade destruction to see Gallienus displaced as Emperor. Zosimus reported that Aureolus and two other officers conspired against Gallienus, but that all of them were punished and submitted, except Aureolus, who retained his anger against the emperor. The reasons for this are unknown, though it is speculated that as a Dacian Aureolus resented Gallienus for using the Dacian garrison to reinforce his field army for the defence of Italy, compounding the problems of barbarian incursions into Dacia. Despite his failure to destroy Postumus in Gaul, Aureolus was given sole responsibility for the campaign against the Macriani. However, when the

Goths The Goths were a Germanic people who played a major role in the fall of the Western Roman Empire and the emergence of medieval Europe. They were first reported by Graeco-Roman authors in the 3rd century AD, living north of the Danube in what is ...

and

Heruls The Heruli (also Eluri, Eruli, Herules, Herulians) were one of the smaller Germanic peoples of Late Antiquity, known from records in the third to sixth centuries AD. The best recorded group of Heruli established a kingdom north of the Middle Danu ...

invaded the Danubian provinces with an enormous force in 268, Aureolus was not even a senior officer of the Imperial ''comitatus'' that accompanied the Emperor against the marauders. He was instead made commander of the Raetian garrison while his cavalry went east with the Emperor under the command of Claudius (later the Emperor

Claudius Gothicus Marcus Aurelius Claudius "Gothicus" (10 May 214 – August/September 270), also known as Claudius II, was Roman emperor from 268 to 270. During his reign he fought successfully against the Alemanni and decisively defeated the Goths at the Batt ...

) or

Aurelian Aurelian (; ; 9 September ) was a Roman emperor who reigned from 270 to 275 AD during the Crisis of the Third Century. As emperor, he won an unprecedented series of military victories which reunited the Roman Empire after it had nearly disinte ...

, who also became Emperor in due course. Losing command of the elite cavalry is thought to have been a humiliating demotion for Aureolus, who deserted his Alpine command and invaded Italy and took his old base at Mediolanum. This

treason Treason is the crime of attacking a state (polity), state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to Coup d'état, overthrow its government, spy ...

caused Gallienus to break off his campaign against the Goths in the Balkans at a most critical moment to return to Italy to deal with Aureolus. Historians believe the longer-term consequences of Aureolus' rebellion opened Raetia to further invasion by the

Alamanni The Alemanni or Alamanni were a confederation of Germanic tribes * * * on the Upper Rhine River during the first millennium. First mentioned by Cassius Dio in the context of the campaign of Roman emperor Caracalla of 213 CE, the Alemanni c ...

who then went on to raid Italy itself in the early months of the reign of

. It may have been at this time that the Agri Decumates, the Roman lands north-east of the upper Rhine, were lost to the Empire. From Mediolanum, Aureolus invited Postumus to challenge Gallienus for the Empire with his support. Using the Imperial mint in Mediolanum, Aureolus had coins struck bearing Postumus's image as Emperor with appeals to the faith of his former comrades of the cavalry on the reverse. Postumus ignored his invitation and Aureolus, unsupported by the Gallic usurper, was defeated by Gallienus in a battle on the river Adda east of Milan at a place known for centuries as Pontirolo (from Latin ''Pons Aureoli'' i.e. 'The Bridge of Aureolus'). He was then besieged in Mediolanum by Gallienus' military ''comitatus,'' including the cavalry which Aureolus had created.

Death

Following the conspiracy by the Praetorian Prefect, together with Aurelius Heraclianus,

Claudius Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus ( ; ; 1 August 10 BC – 13 October AD 54), or Claudius, was a Roman emperor, ruling from AD 41 to 54. A member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, Claudius was born to Nero Claudius Drusus, Drusus and Ant ...

and

which saw Gallienus murdered, Aureolus as one of the

is thought to have attempted to take power himself. Aureolus surrendered to Claudius Gothicus, who succeeded Gallienus as Emperor. Before Claudius could decide his sentence, Aureolus was murdered by Claudius'

Praetorian Guard The Praetorian Guard (Latin language, Latin: ''cohortes praetoriae'') was the imperial guard of the Imperial Roman army that served various roles for the Roman emperor including being a bodyguard unit, counterintelligence, crowd control and ga ...

as revenge for his rebellion against Gallienus.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Aureolus 268 deaths 3rd-century Romans Acilii Gallienus usurpers Thirty Tyrants (Roman) Ancient Roman generals 3rd-century births Equestrian commanders of vexillationes Generals of Gallienus