Arve, and welcome to Emperors of Rome, a Roman history podcast from Latrobe University.

I'm your host, Matt Smith, and with me today is a so-shoe professor, Kaelin Davenport,

headed the Centre for Classical Studies at the Australian National University.

This is episode C-C-X-I-I, Aurelian, the Restorer of the World.

Australian became Emperor of a fractured Roman Empire.

To the west, the Gallic Empire had been established 10 years earlier, the Eastern provinces were

now controlled by Zenovia, and there were threats from the vandals in the north.

To unite an empire, this will be the first priority.

Here's Kaelin Davenport.

Aurelian was a military officer who became Emperor in September of 270.

So his full Roman name was Lucius Domicius Aurelianus, he's probably in his mid-to-late 50s

by now, and it had a military career, and the Roman army had been a cavalry commander

under Claudia Scothicus.

He probably came from the area around Sumium himself, so he was another of these denubian

soldiers who became Emperor, and he does have a wife about whom virtually nothing is known

beyond her name, Alpia Severina.

We're not sure when they married, probably before he became Emperor.

We know nothing about children as well, that's a big mystery.

Okay, but what we do know about this Emperor is quite a lot of his immediate background,

because he's been closely associated with the campaigns of the previous two emperors.

Yes, so...

So we're up to previous two, where we just go back further than that.

...