The Restorers of the Empire

While he concentrates on the lives and times of the emperors Aurelian (r., AD 270-275) and Probus (r., 276-282), Prof. Syvänne, author of Caracalla: A Military Biography and many other ground-breaking works, deals more broadly with the “the Crisis of the Third Century”, during which the empire nearly collapsed, only to make a remarkable recovery.

Syvänne sets the stage with a critique of the sources, particularly the notorious Historia Augusta, and then outlines the state of the empire in 268, after some 30 years of being plagued by Barbarians, usurpers, and the virtual secession of both the westernmost and the easternmost provinces. Then, after a look at the early lives of Aurelian and Probus, professional soldiers from the Balkans, Syvänne plunges into the events from 268 through 285, which culminated in the unity of the empire being restored.

While Syvänne naturally devotes most of his coverage to the careers of the two soldier-emperors, particularly Aurelian, he covers several other emperors who reigned, however briefly, in the period, particularly Gallienus (r. 253-268) and Claudius II Gothicus (r., 268-270). A critical work, Syvänne shows how in later years the record was edited, so that the admittedly able Claudius II was often credited with actions taken by his successors, largely because he was fraudulently claimed as an ancestor of the later Emperor Constantine the Great.

Aurelian and Probus is a very good look at a very confusing period in Roman history.

---///---

Note: Aurelian and Probus is also available in several e-editions.

StrategyPage reviews are published in cooperation with The New York Military Affairs Symposium