Caesar CXXXVII Posted April 14, 2009 Report Share Posted April 14, 2009 The record of Aurelianus is well known . He was a very able emperor and achieved so much in 5 years . Have read about him a lot, there seems to be a big lacuna here . Any detail and opinion about the murderers, their reasons, the acale of the conspiracy etc' ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pompieus Posted April 14, 2009 Report Share Posted April 14, 2009 (edited) According to Zosimus (1,61) and Historia Augusta (Aurel, 36), a confidential secretary named Eros (or Mnsestius) incurred his masters' wrath thru some misfeasance, and to save his skin forged a list of prominent officers who were (along with himself) marked for execution, and showed it to the supposed victims. Knowing Aurelians reputation for merciless severity they murdered him and discovered the deception only after the deed had been done. Edited April 14, 2009 by Pompieus Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sylla Posted April 16, 2009 Report Share Posted April 16, 2009 The record of Aurelianus is well known . He was a very able emperor and achieved so much in 5 years . Have read about him a lot, there seems to be a big lacuna here . Any detail and opinion about the murderers, their reasons, the acale of the conspiracy etc' ? Most of the sources were remote and quite unreliable for this period, particularly the infamous Historia Augusta; the chronology is a real mess. Regardless the details, the Restitutor Orbis was killed by his Praetorian guard, as usual for the period; the material killer was identified as Mucapor (Thracian?). The story of a non-political conspiracy by a civilian notarius of low social status (named Eros by most sources except the HA, which called him "Mnestheus" probably because of the Greek word for notarius) might very well have been true, but it seems suspiciously convenient for the Praetorians, as both Tacitus and Probus (Aurelian's succesors) take the purported conspirators to trial and even executed at least some of them Ad Bestias, in the best Imperial tradition. Suspects? Countless; the Senate (or at least a significant fraction) would be my first bet, mainly because: -Aurelian had executed many senators. -From numismatic evidence, it's possible that a damnatio memoriae might have initially been decreed. -Aurelian's immediate succesor was a senator (the former consul Tacitus), an atypical fact for this period. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caesar CXXXVII Posted April 16, 2009 Author Report Share Posted April 16, 2009 Indeed . The sources are a mess . Can't accept the story of HA and Zosimus, it is just too simple . One can't kill a mighty emperor as Aurelianus just like that (see other assassinations) . I believe it was a huge conspiracy . Alas, we will never know the details but can speculate . Maybe some unsatisfied officers in the army (we don't hear any of that between 270-274 ?) or in the praetorian guard, some bitter senators... There is a modern biography (2004) about Aurelianus by Alaric (what a name !) Watson, forgat his assumption . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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