Aurelian

Assassinated in 275 CE in Thrace by officers of his own guard deceived by a forged document; the conqueror who reunited the empire did not live to enjoy it.

Overview

Aurelian, a Balkan soldier emperor, in five years reunified the fractured Roman Empire, defeating Palmyra under Zenobia and recovering the Gallic Empire, earning the title restorer of the world. On campaign against Persia a dispute with his secretary Eros led the frightened official to forge a list of officers marked for execution; believing the document genuine, a group of officers killed the emperor in his tent to save themselves. The army, discovering the fraud too late, mourned him, and his widow Ulpia Severina may briefly have held power in his name. His death opened another round of soldier emperors until Diocletian stabilized the state a decade later. Aurelian is among antiquity great what-if deaths, occurring just as full restoration seemed within reach.