In 275, Aurelian marched towards Asia Minor, preparing another campaign against the Sassanids: the deaths of Kings
Shapur I (272) and
Hormizd I (273) in quick succession, and the rise to power of a weakened ruler (
Bahram I), set the possibility to attack the Sassanid Empire. On his way, the Emperor suppressed a revolt in Gaul — possibly against Faustinus, an officer or usurper of Tetricus — and defeated barbarian marauders in
Vindelicia (Germany). However, Aurelian never reached Persia, as he was murdered while waiting in Thrace to cross into Asia Minor. As an administrator, Aurelian had been very strict and handed out severe punishments to corrupt officials or soldiers. A secretary of Aurelian (called Eros by
Zosimus) had told a lie on a minor issue. In fear of what the Emperor might do, he forged a document listing the names of high officials marked by the emperor for execution, and showed it to collaborators. The
notarius Mucapor and other high-ranking officers of the
Praetorian Guard, fearing punishment from the Emperor, murdered him in September 275, in
Caenophrurium, Thrace (modern Turkey). Aurelian's enemies in the Senate briefly succeeded in passing
damnatio memoriae on the Emperor, but this was reversed before the end of the year and Aurelian, like his predecessor Claudius II, was deified as
Divus Aurelianus. There is substantial evidence that Aurelian's wife
Ulpia Severina, who had been declared
Augusta in 274, may have ruled the Empire by her own power for some time after his death
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aurelian#cite_note-watson-17http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aurelian#cite_note-re-18. The sources indicate that there was an
interregnum between Aurelian's death and the election of
Marcus Claudius Tacitus as his successor. Additionally, some of Ulpia's coins appear to have been minted after Aurelian's death.
But what if Aurelian's secretary is caught in his lie and punished by Aurelian before he can be assassinated? How much longer could he reign? Could Diocletian and/or the ascendence of Christianity be butterflied away, as bonus? Can we see Sol Invictus on the ascendent instead?