0:05

AVE and welcome to Emperors of

0:07

Rome, a Roman history podcast from

0:09

La Trobe University. I'm your host

0:12

Matt Smith and with me today is Associate

0:14

Professor Caelan Davenport, head of

0:16

the Centre for Classical Studies at the Australian

0:18

National University.

0:20

This is episode CCXIV,

0:23

Aurelian, Restorer of the Age. Aurelian

0:27

had seen off Vandals, Goths and conquered

0:29

the forces of Zenobia to reclaim the East.

0:32

But to the west lies the Gallic Empire,

0:35

once firm territory of Rome, awaiting

0:37

his attention. Here's Caelan Davenport.

0:41

The Gallic Empire, as we call

0:43

it today, has been going

0:45

strong since 260 when

0:47

it emerged in the aftermath of Valerian's

0:50

capture. So it originally

0:52

encompassed

0:53

Gaul, Britain and Spain.

0:56

At some point, probably in the reign

0:58

of Claudius Gothicus, Spain

1:00

rejoined the Central Empire. We

1:03

don't know the reasons for this, we can only tell

1:05

the change based on inscriptions and

1:07

whether they honour the Emperors of the Gallic Empire

1:10

or the Central Empire. But still,

1:12

controlling Gaul and Britain is a

1:14

major thorn in the side of

1:16

Aurelian. And they are legitimately

1:19

viewing themselves as their own empire,

1:21

their own version of the Roman Empire in their own right,

1:24

aren't they? That's right. They have

1:26

full imperial titles, Imperator

1:29

Caesar Augustus, etc. They

1:32

have consulships that

1:34

are held both by Emperors and by

1:37

Gallic Senators. So they have their own

1:39

Senate as well. They mint coins

1:41

in which the Emperors are depicted, just

1:44

like Emperors in the Central Empire. So

1:47

they're not a breakaway empire

1:50

in the sense that they want to be something completely

1:53

separate. One word that has been used to describe

1:55

them is loyalist, like they still want

1:57

to be Roman, but they want to be Roman on their own.

1:59

Oh okay, you guys aren't Roman enough for

2:02

us? Yes, yes exactly, exactly.

2:04

Okay, so the emperor then at

2:06

the moment of the Western Empire is

2:08

Tetricus. Yes, that's right. So Poshmas

2:10

established the empire but then he

2:13

was murdered and there was a

2:15

bit of a turnover of emperors

2:18

and Victorinus, who ruled

2:20

until 271, was

2:22

murdered by his soldiers but his mother,

2:25

Victorinus' mother, Victoria, took

2:27

action and actually chose the next successor,

2:30

Gaius Piusesusus,

2:33

Tetricus, who was the governor

2:35

of Aquitania, which is a province in

2:38

southern Gaul. So he was already

2:40

part of the regime of the

2:42

Gallic Empire and it's really interesting,

2:44

I wish we had better sources for this period, how

2:48

Victoria played this role in

2:50

actually giving the empire to

2:52

Tetricus but certainly because

2:55

Aurelian was so occupied

2:57

elsewhere, by the time we get to 274,

3:00

Tetricus is still in control of Gaul

3:02

and Britain. He even has a son, Tetricus

3:05

II, who he made Caesar

3:07

in 273, so by

3:09

all accounts they see a long future ahead

3:12

of them. But there is not a long future ahead of him?

3:15

No, no, because Aurelian has other

3:17

plans. So Aurelian is back

3:19

in Rome in the winter of 273-274, again this is the

3:21

northern hemisphere winter,

3:25

so December-January, and

3:27

Tetricus and defeating the Gallic

3:29

Empire is the next cab off the

3:31

rank really, because then he can genuinely

3:34

claim to have restored the world. He may

3:36

have taken comfort from the fact that

3:39

all was not well in the Gallic Empire, a

3:42

certain Faustinus, who was

3:44

governor of Belgica, staged

3:47

a rebellion against Tetricus in Trier, which

3:49

was a major city, you know, had a mint,

3:52

so there was uncertainty

3:54

and upheaval which he could take advantage of. So

3:57

where does he move troops? So this happens in 275-07. Yes,

4:00

so in the spring, you know, you can notice that he always

4:03

waits out the winter and then goes in the spring. Yes,

4:05

yes, very sensible. Crosses

4:07

the Alps, he retakes Lugdunum,

4:10

modern-day Leon, and then moves

4:12

north to Trier where Tetricus

4:14

is based. And the forces

4:17

of Aurelian Tetricus meet in battle

4:19

at the Catalanian Fields. This

4:22

is northern Gaul, now near the modern

4:24

town of Chillon-sur-Chapin.

4:27

What happened next, or what happened

4:29

in the course of the battle, is

4:32

the subject of different

4:34

accounts. As always, we're

4:37

having to unpick different

4:39

traditions here.

4:41

So one story is

4:43

that Tetricus actually betrayed

4:45

his troops and handed himself over

4:48

to Aurelian before the battle.

4:50

So this is the version

4:53

in the Histor Augustus' life of Aurelian,

4:55

but it's not unique to the Histor Augustus. So

4:58

Eutropius, who's writing in the late

5:00

4th century, Book 9, Chapter 13,

5:03

has the same story.

5:06

And Eutropius says, and I quote, Tetricus

5:08

himself indeed betraying

5:10

his own army, whose constant

5:13

mutinies he was unable to

5:15

bear, had even by

5:18

secret letters entreated Aurelian

5:20

to

5:20

march against him, using,

5:23

amongst other solicitations, the

5:25

verse of Virgil. Unconquered

5:27

hero free me from

5:29

these ills.

5:31

The idea that there's

5:34

military instability in Gaul

5:36

is certainly plausible. The

5:39

idea, however, that Tetricus

5:42

betrayed his troops

5:45

and actually invited Aurelian

5:47

to invade Gaul is uncertain.

5:50

So the line of Virgil comes from

5:52

Book 6 of the Aeneid. It's spoken

5:55

by Pala Nouris, who was

5:57

Aeneas' helmsman, as they sailed

5:59

to Italy. but then died during the journey.

6:02

So his sort of sacrifice was seen

6:04

to be necessary for Aeneas to

6:06

make it to Italy and in book six

6:09

Palanuris meets Aeneas again

6:11

in the underworld and plaws

6:13

Aeneas to save him, to rescue

6:15

him, calls him Inwickday,

6:17

so Unconquered One and Inwickdus

6:19

is a title that is given to Roman

6:22

emperors. So I'm not sure how far

6:24

we can actually believe that Tetrachos invited

6:27

Aurelian into Italy.

6:29

In another version from Aurelius

6:32

Victor

6:32

on the Caesars chapter 35, Tetrachos

6:36

approaches Aurelian directly before

6:38

the battle and surrenders.

6:40

But the battle

6:42

still took place which makes

6:45

it I think unlikely that

6:47

Tetrachos did hand himself over because

6:50

why would there be need for a battle? One

6:52

in which you're essentially massacring Romans?

6:55

Yes, you're massacring your own troops, you're massacring Roman citizens

6:58

on the side. You're depleting potential soldiers

7:00

from your side. Yes, exactly and

7:03

it doesn't necessarily make Aurelian look that

7:05

good to you know just slaughter

7:07

these soldiers to make a point. It's

7:09

really difficult to work out what really

7:11

happened. It may be you know a blackening

7:14

of Tetrachos' character later by making

7:16

him a weak-willed leader

7:19

in comparison with the Valley into Aurelian, we

7:21

don't know. But you know Tetrachos

7:24

does survive, goes on to have

7:26

a life of retirement much like Zenobia.

7:28

So maybe this was the price he had to pay.

7:31

So Tetrachos is taken in battle and

7:34

this is the

7:37

very brief war which constituted

7:39

reconquering the West. Yes, it all

7:41

seems to come down to one battle essentially. Obviously

7:44

Aurelian did take ludonum and things like that but

7:46

the way in which our sources presented it is like

7:49

this is the moment and presumably you know fighting

7:52

in Britain and breaking Britain just goes over

7:54

as well when Tetrachos surrenders. There's

7:57

a slight chance that Britain didn't realise that anything had

7:59

changed.

7:59

Yes, yes, yes, that

8:02

is a possibility as well. I mean,

8:04

one thing that did change interestingly, so we

8:06

know that in the Gallic Empire, senators

8:09

were still pointed to command armies where that

8:11

had stopped in the central empire under Gallienus.

8:14

So it is now only with

8:17

the recovery of Britain and Gaul

8:19

that once again, senators lose

8:21

the right to command troops there and replaced by equestrians.

8:24

So that is one change they would have

8:26

noticed, at least in the upper echelons of the administration.

8:29

So what happens

8:29

to Tetricus then? Is this somebody

8:32

that Aurelian treats as a foreign

8:34

enemy? Is this triumph worthy? It

8:36

is triumph worthy, but like

8:38

Zenobia, he escapes with his life.

8:40

So the way the historian Augusta puts

8:43

it is that there's a joint triumph in 274

8:47

over Palmyra and over the

8:49

Gauls. Considering how much he had to do

8:51

and how long it takes to plan a triumph, that wouldn't surprise

8:53

me. It is actually plausible that

8:55

it happened together. I do actually agree with that rather

8:58

than the triumph was in Obian 273

8:59

and then Tetricus in 274. I

9:02

think it's plausible it was a double event. And

9:04

the way the historian Augusta describes it, as

9:07

the reuniting of both East and West is

9:10

convincing. So in the historian

9:12

Augusta life of Aurelian 32.4

9:15

says, and so Aurelian, now ruler

9:18

over the entire world, having subdued

9:20

both the East and the Gauls, Victor

9:23

in all lands turned his march towards

9:25

Rome, so that he might present the gaze

9:27

of the Rome and the triumph over both Zenobia

9:29

and Tetricus that is over both

9:32

the East and the West. Yeah,

9:35

interesting how much the triumph has changed.

9:37

It's no longer about conquering the enemy. In

9:40

this instance, it's reunifying the

9:42

Roman territory. Yes, there is a

9:44

change. So for example, you know, when Augustus

9:48

defeated both Marc Antony and Cleopatra,

9:51

it had to be presented as a victory over Egypt.

9:53

That was a foreign queen that had seduced

9:55

a Roman citizen. A shift we now

9:58

find from the third century of

9:59

onwards, and then particularly in the fourth,

10:02

is it becomes acceptable to stage

10:05

triumphs over civil war enemies.

10:07

Yeah. Yeah. And

10:10

that's perfectly fine. But despite that, I'm getting the impression that what

10:12

we do know about the triumph, what we're told

10:14

about the triumph is that Tetrarchus was presented

10:17

as a foreigner. Yes. So

10:19

well, according to the historian Augusta, he was

10:21

paraded in a scarlet cloak, yellow

10:23

tunic and gallic trousers. So

10:26

you know, only barbarians wear trousers, Romans

10:28

wear tunics and togas.

10:29

Sure. Okay. Definitely

10:32

foreign garb. A fashion faux pas. Yes, exactly.

10:35

But it marked me out as strange. That was very important.

10:38

And both were pardoned by Tetrarchus and his

10:40

son. Tetrarchus was made governor

10:42

of Leucania, a region of southern Italy.

10:44

So not just pardoned, but given a position. Exactly.

10:47

Exactly. And this is, you know, in several sources, so it's completely

10:49

believable. In the epitome Jocas

10:52

Arabus, the epitome on the lives of the Caesars,

10:54

Aurelian jokes that it was actually better

10:56

to govern part of Italy than to rule beyond

10:58

the Alps. Yeah, sure. I'm

11:02

sure they would have loved that beyond the Alps. Yes. Yes.

11:07

That's quite merciful of him. Yeah. Well,

11:09

it seems to be what he wanted to do with both

11:11

Zenobia and Tetrarchus was to display

11:14

them in the parade, but then

11:16

not to kill them because normally at the end of a triumph, you kill

11:18

the foreign enemy. Yes. That they're sacrificed

11:21

to Jupiter. So not to do this,

11:23

you know, is a sign of mercy

11:25

for an emperor who does have, you know, reputation

11:27

for being unmerciful. Yeah. It's

11:29

also not

11:29

making a martyr out of them. Yes, that

11:32

is true. Yes. Which you don't want to give,

11:34

you know, the Palmyraans another excuse

11:36

to kick off. No, nor the Gauls either.

11:38

Yeah.

11:39

So we don't really know a lot about the process

11:41

of reintegration then. You

11:44

said that the change of who's commanding when you're in

11:46

senator or just a general,

11:48

but beyond that reintegration

11:51

just happened quite smoothly.

11:54

Well, we can only tell from inscriptions,

11:56

inscriptional evidence, and of course that

11:59

presents

11:59

a rather artificial version

12:02

because it just tells us what happened rather

12:04

than people's reactions to it. So

12:06

for example we know there were milestones

12:08

in Gaul, in Gallia and Arbonensis

12:11

that hail Aurelian as the

12:13

restorer of the Gallic provinces

12:16

but this of course could be set up by

12:18

members of his own administration. We

12:20

do know that some officials who had served

12:23

in the Gallic administration now continued

12:26

to serve in the reunited

12:28

empire. So there's

12:29

an acephalus career inscription

12:32

from Rome and that certainly doesn't have a head, we don't

12:34

know the name of the person but they

12:36

do seem to have been procurator

12:38

of the mint in Trier before

12:40

going on to Rome and this is quite

12:43

important because the mint of Trier only operates

12:45

in the third century under the Gallic Empire

12:47

and then it's closed and

12:49

the minting takes place at Lugdunum.

12:52

So there is a mint again later in Late Hand Equity

12:54

but this inscription dates in the third century. So

12:56

not only do you get the acknowledgement of the previous

12:59

career path

12:59

but you get a reintegration

13:02

into the normal Roman career release.

13:05

That's right, that's right. One other interesting

13:08

thing we're looking at the Gallic Empire is that

13:11

inscriptions for equestrian commanders,

13:13

so command of cavalry units or auxiliaries,

13:16

their names suggest local Gallic

13:19

or British origin so rather

13:21

than people being drawn

13:24

from across the empire to serve

13:26

in these posts they're actually promoted from local

13:28

regions and that kind of locality

13:32

is a really interesting twist on

13:35

career paths in this period. Yeah.

13:38

I mean the other thing in terms of the impact

13:40

of the Gallic Empire is that there's

13:43

a sense from the third century onwards

13:46

that

13:48

there needs to be an emperor in

13:50

Gaul. There's a fourth

13:52

century text, it's anonymous,

13:54

it's called on the description of the entire world

13:57

and when it goes through Gaul it says Gaul

13:59

always...

13:59

always needs an emperor. And

14:02

so really from

14:04

the late third century

14:06

onwards, so from the

14:09

late 280s, for

14:11

about a hundred years, the late fourth century,

14:14

there is always a Caesar Augustus

14:16

based in Gaul, and particularly

14:18

close to the Rhine frontier. And

14:21

this

14:23

reflects an expectation

14:26

by the Gallic people that

14:28

there be an emperor based there

14:30

to protect their frontiers. And

14:32

then this also stops them from raising

14:35

their own in opposition to a central

14:37

emperor. Timeline wise, we're not far away from

14:39

that. They're 274 now. So yeah, in

14:41

about 15 years, there is basically going

14:43

to be an Augustus and or

14:45

Caesar based in Gaul for the next 100 years.

14:48

So I think that is a really important impact

14:51

and local elites become accustomed

14:53

to having an emperor close by their accustomed

14:55

to foreign parties court, they're accustomed

14:57

to holding office in Gaul

15:00

or Britain without having to travel across

15:02

the empire. Again, this is a feature

15:05

of the later Roman Empire, but you

15:07

do get these sort of provincial clusters

15:09

that become really important because there's an emperor in

15:11

the region. So we've spoken

15:13

about Aurelian in the terms of

15:15

him being a restorer. How

15:18

important was that to his propaganda

15:20

that he's now he's restored

15:22

the Roman Empire, and he's now ruling

15:25

over an empire that hasn't been

15:27

seen for years for decades,

15:30

really, with the slight footnote

15:32

that he's gotten rid of one Dacian province.

15:34

Yeah, he's got rid of Dacia across the Danube and

15:36

recreated it on the other side. Yes, so this

15:39

is clearly a moment of triumph

15:42

for Aurelian. So in 274,

15:45

his wife, Olpia Severina is

15:47

given the title of Augusta as she appears on

15:49

coins. This is a milestone

15:51

because we know very little about her.

15:53

But the fact that she's given this title

15:55

then suggests it was part of the celebrations.

15:58

We know

15:59

that speeches of praise,

16:02

Panangerics were given in

16:04

honor of Aurelian. So Kalinicus of Petra,

16:07

who might remember was at Zenobia's court,

16:09

writes a Panangeric entitled on

16:11

the restoration of the world. Someone

16:14

else got spared. Yes, yeah, no, he,

16:16

yes, exactly, you know, he was the historian

16:18

of Alexandria. He also wrote

16:21

a Panangeric on the great king, which

16:24

we think was written about Aurelian because

16:26

it contained no reference to the emperor's

16:28

family background because he was of such

16:31

obscure birth. So

16:33

this is something we find from this period

16:35

onwards because we have emperors rising

16:38

from the ranks of the soldiers. You know, they're

16:40

usually not equestrians by birth.

16:43

They gain equestrian rank in the course

16:45

of their career. They don't

16:47

have, you know, illustrious lineage

16:50

to refer to. So instead,

16:52

Aurelian's public

16:55

image concentrates on how he restored

16:57

the empire, but also his

16:59

association with the gods

17:02

because of that.

17:03

So coins produced

17:06

at the mint of Seridica have

17:08

the legend imp Deo

17:12

et Domino. So

17:14

this would be to the

17:16

emperor, god and lord.

17:19

And one has imp Deo

17:22

et Domino natto Aureliano.

17:26

So two emperor

17:28

Aurelian born, lord

17:31

and god. So just think of the,

17:33

you know, furore when Domitian wanted

17:35

to be called Dominoes et Deos back

17:37

in the first century AD. Here

17:40

we find Aurelian's coinage

17:42

proclaiming that he was born

17:44

to this. This was his destiny. And

17:46

this was a way to overcome their humble

17:49

background, to say really it's their innate

17:51

virtues that have them chosen

17:54

by the gods. We have

17:56

an anecdote which we don't know

17:58

the time of the year.

17:59

period of it, so we can't place it

18:02

precisely, but it does shed light

18:04

on this attitude of Aurelian. And

18:06

this comes from our good old friend the anonymous

18:08

continuity of Cassius Dio, fragment 10.6.

18:11

And

18:14

in this it says, Aurelian

18:16

once learned of a military mutiny and

18:18

said that the troops were mistaken if they suppose

18:20

that the fates of the emperors were in their hands.

18:23

For he said that God had bestowed the purple,

18:26

and this he displayed in his right hand and

18:29

had totally determined the duration of

18:31

his reign. And he did not depart

18:34

before he had punished about 50 instigators

18:36

of the revolt. So you can't do

18:38

anything to me because I've received this from

18:41

the gods. Yes,

18:43

interesting as well that they've determined the duration

18:46

of his reign. Yes, yes.

18:48

So however long I reign is in the lap of

18:50

the gods.

18:52

His coins also promote ideas

18:55

of restoration and pacification.

18:58

They feature legends such as Picata Orbis,

19:00

the pacifier of the world, Residue

19:03

to Orbis, the restorer of the world, and

19:05

Restitutor Cyclae, the restorer

19:08

of the age. Now what's

19:10

really interesting is this excessive

19:13

extravagant language is also found in inscriptions.

19:16

Now some of these inscriptions are erected by

19:19

members of the Imperial Administration. Some

19:22

of them are

19:22

by provincial communities. But

19:25

what we do find throughout all these texts

19:28

is an extravagant inflated

19:30

language which reflects

19:33

that they're honouring Aurelian for his

19:36

achievements. So

19:39

in 274 the urban prefect of Rome,

19:41

Vereus Orphatus, erected a statue

19:43

of Aurelian in the city that said

19:46

he was restorer of the world, the

19:48

strongest and most victorious

19:51

prenkaps.

19:52

So this gives him epithets

19:56

fortissimus and victoriosissimus.

19:59

really flowery

20:02

superlative language there. We

20:06

find a governor in Moisia

20:08

describing Aurelian's Restorer of the Fatherland,

20:12

whereas the community of Brixia in North Italy

20:14

said he was the mighty Augustus,

20:17

greatest prince, most valiant emperor,

20:19

preserver of the world. And

20:22

sometimes these epithets

20:24

are built up one after another,

20:27

so in North Africa in milestones

20:29

there he's eternal, most

20:31

victorious, most indulgent.

20:34

And we also find other new epithets

20:36

like Packartissimus, the most

20:39

pacifying emperor.

20:42

So these are results of

20:44

individuals and state

20:46

officials wanting to reflect this extravagant

20:49

language. Eternal imporato,

20:51

perpetual imporato is found throughout

20:54

the Empire as well as part of this explosion

20:58

of flattery. And the historian David

21:00

Porter has suggested that this language

21:02

has parallel with that which we commonly find

21:04

in panegyrics, so it could

21:07

have been inspired by speeches in praise

21:09

for Aurelian that were delivered throughout

21:11

the Empire.

21:12

So I wonder how

21:14

he's going to live up to his own

21:16

propaganda at this point. If

21:19

you've done this in you know five short years

21:21

of rain, what's going to be done for the rest of

21:23

your life?

21:25

Well that does pose a challenge, yes exactly.

21:28

One story we do find is

21:30

that he was perhaps

21:31

planning a Persian campaign at the end of his life

21:34

because you know that would outstrip his achievements about

21:36

Palmyra. The evidence is uncertain

21:38

but we know you know there are further campaigns to

21:41

protect the frontiers, but yes certainly

21:43

once you've restored the world where do you go from there?

21:46

But this as well it's important to

21:48

keep in mind is all happening

21:50

within 274. You're essentially got all this propaganda

21:54

coming out as a connection to this one

21:56

great achievement that you've had, one great

21:58

achievement in a few parts sure. But

22:00

this can just be all seen as part of

22:02

the triumph, the celebration, the veneration

22:05

that you've got a united Roman Empire

22:08

again.

22:09

Yes, exactly. We're all together, we're all restored,

22:11

we're united under this most victorious

22:13

emperor. That was Associate

22:16

Professor Caelan Davenport, head of the

22:18

Centre for Classical Studies at the Australian

22:20

National University, and you've been listening

22:22

to Emperors of Rome. If you like

22:24

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22:36

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22:38

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22:39

send Emperors of Rome an email. We're

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at emperorspodcast at gmail.com.

22:44

This podcast has been produced at La Trobe University

22:46

in Melbourne, Australia, on the traditional

22:48

lands of the Wurundjeri people. So

22:50

until the next episode, I'm Matt Smith, you've

22:53

been fantastic, and thanks for listening.