Emperor
Claudius II Gothicus fights a drawn-out campaign against the Gothic raiders in the Balkans, with setbacks suffered on both sides. Eventually, many Goths die of
plague and others are absorbed into the Roman legions.
Claudius dies of plague in Sirmium while preparing to fight the
Vandals and
Sarmatians, who have invaded
Pannonia. He is succeeded by his brother
Quintillus, who briefly holds power over the
Roman Empire.
Victorinus besieges and sacks the city of
Autun, which had declared allegiance to Claudius.
Lucius Domitius Aurelianus (or Aurelian), the cavalry commander who distinguished himself in the previous year at the
Battle of Naissus (
Serbia), usurps power in Sirmium and marches against Quintillus in Aquileia. Quintillus commits suicide.
Aurelius defeats an incursion by the
Iuthungi into Raetia, defeating them as they attempted to re-cross the Danube.
Asia
Fan Hsiung, aka Pham Hung, comes to power in
Champa and raids the Chinese-occupied territory of
Tonkin.
Battle of Pavia: The Roman army pursues the Alamanni in
Lombardy. Aurelian closes the passes in the
Alps and encircles the invaders near
Pavia. The Alamanni are destroyed and Aurelian receives the title Germanicus Maximus.
Following Aurelian's execution of
Felicissimus, the financial minister of the state treasury, on the charge of corruption, the
mint workers of the city of Rome, with senatorial support, lead an uprising against Aurelian. In bitter street-fighting on the
Caelian Hill the rebels are defeated. The revolt is followed by a purge of Aurelian's senatorial opponents, including
Urbanus.
Around this time, generals loyal to Aurelian defeat the usurpers
Septimius in Dalmatia and
Domitian II in southern Gaul. The Iuthungian invasion may have encouraged the spate of revolts.
Perhaps around this time, Aurelian increases Rome's daily
bread ration to nearly 1.5 pounds and adds
pig fat to the list of foods distributed free to the
populace.
Aurelian defeats a Gothic raid into the Balkans and then invades the Gothic homeland. Here he defeats the Goths again, killing one of their leaders, Cannabas, who may be
Cniva, the Goth who had won the
battle of Abritus, at which Emperor
Decius was killed.
Aurelian withdraws Rome's administrative and military presence from
Dacia (modern
Romania), thereby rationalizing the Danube frontier and freeing resources for the forthcoming campaign against
Zenobia.
Europe
Victorinus, Emperor of the
Gallic Empire, is
assassinated by one of his officers, Attitianus, reportedly for reasons of personal
revenge. He is succeeded by
Tetricus I, who is elevated with the help of Victorinus' mother Victoria.
Near East
Zenobia invades Asia Minor and seizes control of Cilicia and Galatia before being stalled in Bithynia.
Shapur I of the Sasanian Empire dies, and his successor, his son
Hormizd I, leads an army against nomads in Sogdiana, perhaps taking command of a war that had begun under his father. (Note: Some scholars date Shapur's death to 270 or 272)
Aurelian supports the bishops of Italy in deposing the bishop of Antioch,
Paul of Samosata, who had been a supporter of Zenobia. This is the first recorded instance of an imperial intervention in an ecclesiastical dispute.
Battle of Emesa: Aurelian decisively defeats the Palmyrene army.
Aurelian besieges
Palmyra. Zenobia attempts to escape to
Persia but is captured on the
Euphrates. Palmyra surrenders soon after.
Following a series of trials held in Emesa,
Cassius Longinus and other advisors of Zenobia are executed for conspiring against Aurelian.
Emperor
Aurelian defeats an incursion by the
Carpi into Moesia and Thrace.
Aurelian sacks the city of
Palmyra, after putting down a second
revolt.
In bitter street-fighting, Aurelian crushes a rebellion in
Alexandria by
Firmus, a sympathizer of Palmyra. Firmus is strangled to death.
Persia
King
Hormizd I of
Persia dies after a brief reign in which he has shown tolerance toward the
ascetic, anti-materialist
Manichean faith. He is succeeded by his brother
Bahram I, who has been governing the province of
Atropatene. Bahram proceeds to crush a rebellion by various vassal kings.
Battle of Châlons: The Emperor
Aurelian invades Gaul to campaign against the
Gallic Empire (
Gaul and
Britain). In the Catalaunian Plains, the Romano-Gallic Emperor
Tetricus I surrenders to Aurelian and leaves his army without an emperor. The Gallic army is then crushed by Aurelian in a major battle. With the conquests of the
Palmyrene Empire and the Gallic Empire, the
Roman Empire is united again. However, the heavy losses incurred by the Gallic forces compromises the
Rhine frontier.
Rome greets Aurelian as Restitutor Orbis ("Restorer of the World") and accords him a magnificent
triumph (victory procession), which is graced by his captives
Zenobia, Tetricus I, and his son
Tetricus II.
Aurelian reforms the
Roman currency, replacing the
denarius with a new version of the
antoninianus that has a slightly improved silver-to-copper ratio. This overhaul of the currency system causes
hyper-inflation.
Germanic tribes take advantage of the destroyed Roman forces of the Rhine to raid Gaul.
Emperor
Aurelian puts down unrest in
Gaul, and defeats Germanic incursions into Gaul and
Raetia (these problems had been caused by Aurelian's defeat and overthrow of the
Gallic Empire).
The
Goths begin to raid
Thrace and
Asia Minor. Aurelian begins a campaign against the Goths in Thrace, but he is then assassinated near
Byzantium (
Turkey) by some of his officers. Aurelian had developed a reputation for punishing corruption with severity, and his secretary Eros was under suspicion. As a result, Eros, fearing for his life, had forged a list of high-ranking officers marked for execution. In this way, the secretary tricked the officers into assassinating Aurelian, and they then fled into Asia Minor to avoid the wrath of the soldiers. Unusual for the period, the imperial field army defers to the
Senate to choose a successor.
Emperor
Tacitus doubles the
silver content of the
aurelianianus, and halves its tariffing to 2.5 d.c. They carry the value marks X.I.
Tacitus campaigns successfully against the
Goths who have invaded
Asia Minor, and his half-brother, the praetorian prefect
Marcus Annius Florianus, continues the campaign.
Tacitus' cousin Maximinus administers Syria in a harsh manner, and is assassinated by local men of power, who are joined in the conspiracy by the faction responsible for having assassinated
Aurelian in the previous year.
Tacitus dies in
Tyana,
Cappadocia. He either dies of illness, or is murdered by the faction responsible for having assassinated Aurelian and Maximinus.
Florianus holds power for some weeks and fights indecisively against Probus in
Cilicia, but his soldiers, many of whom are from the colder Rhine and Danube frontiers, suffer from heat and disease. He is overthrown and then
assassinated by his own troops near
Tarsus (
Turkey), in collusion with Probus. Probus, age 44, is proclaimed new Emperor of
Rome.
Probus returns the aurelianianus to the tariffing of
Aurelian.
Probus invites the faction responsible for the murders of Aurelian and Tacitus to a banquet, only to massacre them. He then arrests a surviving conspirator and has him burned alive.
Emperor
Probus travels with his army west across the
Sea of Marmara (
Turkey), and through the provinces of
Thrace,
Moesia, and
Pannonia to defeat the
Goths along the lower
Danube. He acquires from the troops the title of Gothicus.
Probus enters
Rome, to have his position as
Emperor ratified by the
Senate.
Emperor
Probus defeats the
Alamanni, advancing through the
Neckar Valley. He expels the
Franks from
Gaul, and reorganizes the Roman defenses on the
Rhine.
Probus resettles the
Germanic tribes in the devastated provinces of the
Roman Empire. He adopts the titles of Gothicus Maximus and Germanicus Maximus.
Emperor
Claudius II Gothicus fights a drawn-out campaign against the Gothic raiders in the Balkans, with setbacks suffered on both sides. Eventually, many Goths die of
plague and others are absorbed into the Roman legions.
Claudius dies of plague in Sirmium while preparing to fight the
Vandals and
Sarmatians, who have invaded
Pannonia. He is succeeded by his brother
Quintillus, who briefly holds power over the
Roman Empire.
Victorinus besieges and sacks the city of
Autun, which had declared allegiance to Claudius.
Lucius Domitius Aurelianus (or Aurelian), the cavalry commander who distinguished himself in the previous year at the
Battle of Naissus (
Serbia), usurps power in Sirmium and marches against Quintillus in Aquileia. Quintillus commits suicide.
Aurelius defeats an incursion by the
Iuthungi into Raetia, defeating them as they attempted to re-cross the Danube.
Asia
Fan Hsiung, aka Pham Hung, comes to power in
Champa and raids the Chinese-occupied territory of
Tonkin.
Battle of Pavia: The Roman army pursues the Alamanni in
Lombardy. Aurelian closes the passes in the
Alps and encircles the invaders near
Pavia. The Alamanni are destroyed and Aurelian receives the title Germanicus Maximus.
Following Aurelian's execution of
Felicissimus, the financial minister of the state treasury, on the charge of corruption, the
mint workers of the city of Rome, with senatorial support, lead an uprising against Aurelian. In bitter street-fighting on the
Caelian Hill the rebels are defeated. The revolt is followed by a purge of Aurelian's senatorial opponents, including
Urbanus.
Around this time, generals loyal to Aurelian defeat the usurpers
Septimius in Dalmatia and
Domitian II in southern Gaul. The Iuthungian invasion may have encouraged the spate of revolts.
Perhaps around this time, Aurelian increases Rome's daily
bread ration to nearly 1.5 pounds and adds
pig fat to the list of foods distributed free to the
populace.
Aurelian defeats a Gothic raid into the Balkans and then invades the Gothic homeland. Here he defeats the Goths again, killing one of their leaders, Cannabas, who may be
Cniva, the Goth who had won the
battle of Abritus, at which Emperor
Decius was killed.
Aurelian withdraws Rome's administrative and military presence from
Dacia (modern
Romania), thereby rationalizing the Danube frontier and freeing resources for the forthcoming campaign against
Zenobia.
Europe
Victorinus, Emperor of the
Gallic Empire, is
assassinated by one of his officers, Attitianus, reportedly for reasons of personal
revenge. He is succeeded by
Tetricus I, who is elevated with the help of Victorinus' mother Victoria.
Near East
Zenobia invades Asia Minor and seizes control of Cilicia and Galatia before being stalled in Bithynia.
Shapur I of the Sasanian Empire dies, and his successor, his son
Hormizd I, leads an army against nomads in Sogdiana, perhaps taking command of a war that had begun under his father. (Note: Some scholars date Shapur's death to 270 or 272)
Aurelian supports the bishops of Italy in deposing the bishop of Antioch,
Paul of Samosata, who had been a supporter of Zenobia. This is the first recorded instance of an imperial intervention in an ecclesiastical dispute.
Battle of Emesa: Aurelian decisively defeats the Palmyrene army.
Aurelian besieges
Palmyra. Zenobia attempts to escape to
Persia but is captured on the
Euphrates. Palmyra surrenders soon after.
Following a series of trials held in Emesa,
Cassius Longinus and other advisors of Zenobia are executed for conspiring against Aurelian.
Emperor
Aurelian defeats an incursion by the
Carpi into Moesia and Thrace.
Aurelian sacks the city of
Palmyra, after putting down a second
revolt.
In bitter street-fighting, Aurelian crushes a rebellion in
Alexandria by
Firmus, a sympathizer of Palmyra. Firmus is strangled to death.
Persia
King
Hormizd I of
Persia dies after a brief reign in which he has shown tolerance toward the
ascetic, anti-materialist
Manichean faith. He is succeeded by his brother
Bahram I, who has been governing the province of
Atropatene. Bahram proceeds to crush a rebellion by various vassal kings.
Battle of Châlons: The Emperor
Aurelian invades Gaul to campaign against the
Gallic Empire (
Gaul and
Britain). In the Catalaunian Plains, the Romano-Gallic Emperor
Tetricus I surrenders to Aurelian and leaves his army without an emperor. The Gallic army is then crushed by Aurelian in a major battle. With the conquests of the
Palmyrene Empire and the Gallic Empire, the
Roman Empire is united again. However, the heavy losses incurred by the Gallic forces compromises the
Rhine frontier.
Rome greets Aurelian as Restitutor Orbis ("Restorer of the World") and accords him a magnificent
triumph (victory procession), which is graced by his captives
Zenobia, Tetricus I, and his son
Tetricus II.
Aurelian reforms the
Roman currency, replacing the
denarius with a new version of the
antoninianus that has a slightly improved silver-to-copper ratio. This overhaul of the currency system causes
hyper-inflation.
Germanic tribes take advantage of the destroyed Roman forces of the Rhine to raid Gaul.
Emperor
Aurelian puts down unrest in
Gaul, and defeats Germanic incursions into Gaul and
Raetia (these problems had been caused by Aurelian's defeat and overthrow of the
Gallic Empire).
The
Goths begin to raid
Thrace and
Asia Minor. Aurelian begins a campaign against the Goths in Thrace, but he is then assassinated near
Byzantium (
Turkey) by some of his officers. Aurelian had developed a reputation for punishing corruption with severity, and his secretary Eros was under suspicion. As a result, Eros, fearing for his life, had forged a list of high-ranking officers marked for execution. In this way, the secretary tricked the officers into assassinating Aurelian, and they then fled into Asia Minor to avoid the wrath of the soldiers. Unusual for the period, the imperial field army defers to the
Senate to choose a successor.
Emperor
Tacitus doubles the
silver content of the
aurelianianus, and halves its tariffing to 2.5 d.c. They carry the value marks X.I.
Tacitus campaigns successfully against the
Goths who have invaded
Asia Minor, and his half-brother, the praetorian prefect
Marcus Annius Florianus, continues the campaign.
Tacitus' cousin Maximinus administers Syria in a harsh manner, and is assassinated by local men of power, who are joined in the conspiracy by the faction responsible for having assassinated
Aurelian in the previous year.
Tacitus dies in
Tyana,
Cappadocia. He either dies of illness, or is murdered by the faction responsible for having assassinated Aurelian and Maximinus.
Florianus holds power for some weeks and fights indecisively against Probus in
Cilicia, but his soldiers, many of whom are from the colder Rhine and Danube frontiers, suffer from heat and disease. He is overthrown and then
assassinated by his own troops near
Tarsus (
Turkey), in collusion with Probus. Probus, age 44, is proclaimed new Emperor of
Rome.
Probus returns the aurelianianus to the tariffing of
Aurelian.
Probus invites the faction responsible for the murders of Aurelian and Tacitus to a banquet, only to massacre them. He then arrests a surviving conspirator and has him burned alive.
Emperor
Probus travels with his army west across the
Sea of Marmara (
Turkey), and through the provinces of
Thrace,
Moesia, and
Pannonia to defeat the
Goths along the lower
Danube. He acquires from the troops the title of Gothicus.
Probus enters
Rome, to have his position as
Emperor ratified by the
Senate.
Emperor
Probus defeats the
Alamanni, advancing through the
Neckar Valley. He expels the
Franks from
Gaul, and reorganizes the Roman defenses on the
Rhine.
Probus resettles the
Germanic tribes in the devastated provinces of the
Roman Empire. He adopts the titles of Gothicus Maximus and Germanicus Maximus.