Alaric Watson - Aurelian and the Third Century (1999).jpg

W. deserves admiration for having squeezed so much interesting material so accessibly into so little space. - Journal of Roman Studies

Aurelian and the Third Century provides a re-evaluation, in the light of recent scholarship, of the difficulties facing the Roman empire in the AD 260s and 270s, concentrating upon the reign of the Emperor Aurelian and his part in summoning them.

With introduction examining the situation in the mid third century, the book is divided into two parts:
- Part 1: deals chronologically with the military and political events of the period from 268 to 276
- Part 2: analyzes the other achievements and events of Aurelian's reign and assesses their importance.

A key supplement to the study of the Roman Empire.

This concise and informative biography deals with Aurelian, Emperor of Rome from 270-275; a man who in many ways revitalized the military and politic fiber of Rome, but whose comparatively brief reign has left him largely forgotten. (Indeed until this biography the usual means of reading about Aurelian - other than through Gibbon - was to go to biographies on Queen Zenobia, the Palmyrian rebel who he famously defeated). In every sense, Aurelian's brief but successful reign presaged Diocletian's lengthy and successful one.

The first half of the book is a narrative of his many achievements (peace in Britain, the Eastern frontier restored, an imperial pretender in Gaul defeated, the Aurelian walls constructed); the second is more of an essay-format discussion of the economic and other social aspects of his reign. My only gripe is that the second half is considerably more academic than the first, and as such does not read as well. Having said that, this is an excellent work. Particularly interesting is Watson's observations about the supposed 3rd century "decline"; as he observes, this is an after-the-fact construct, and Romans of that era did not necessarily view themselves as being in the middle of some giant historic slide.

Table of contents : Preface. List of Abbreviations. List of dates. Maps. 1. Introduction: The Third-Century Crisis.
Part I: 'Restorer of the World' 2. A Divided Empire 3. Aurelian Ascendent 4. Zenobia and the East 5. The Palmyrene Wars 6. War in the West: The Re-unification of the Empire 7. The End of Aurelian
Part II: Internal Politics 8. Economic Reforms 9. Public Works and Administration 10. The Emperor, the Senate and the Armies 11. The Emperor and the Divine Conclusion.
Appendix A: Excursion on Sources. Appendix B: Problems of chronology. Bibliography. Index.