I Just learned that the word Orleans derives from it's old name Roman Aurelianum.

Named in honour of Aurelian, so after all he was not lost to history as an yet another crisis emperor, and his legacy is still living with us somehow!
Aurelian denarius with Victory

Post your Aurelians.

 

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Nice coin, @JayAg47 .

OH! I thought it was named for the Group:



My Aurelianus...


RI Aurelian 270-275 CE AE Ant receiving Globe from Jupiter

 

How about a Palmyra type with Aurelian and Vaballathus?

Roman and Palmyrene Empires
Billon Antoninianus, 20mm, 3.7g
Antioch mint, 5th officina, AD 270-271

Obverse: IMP C AVRELIANVS AVG
Reverse: VABALATHVS V C R IM D R

Radiate and cuirassed bust of Aurelian right
Laureate diademed, draped and cuirassed bust of Vabalathus right

 

How about an ORIENS from Aurelian?


Aurelian AD 270-275.
Roman silvered billon Antoninianus, 3.60 gm; 21.7 mm, 6 h.
Rome mint, officina 9, issue 11, early – September AD 275.
Obv: IMP AVRELIANVS AVG, radiate, cuirassed bust, right.
Rev: ORIE-N-S AVG, Sol walking r., holding olive branch in r. hand and bow in l. hand, l. foot resting on a captive in oriental dress kneeling on the ground to r., head turned l., r. hand raised; * in left field, XXIR in exergue.
Refs: RIC 64; MER/RIC temp 1834; RCV 11569; Hunter 23; Cohen 159; La Venera 1321-32.

 

Oh my...that reverse is a stunner! Great coin.

 

Aurelian AE Antoninianus with silvering. Rome, 272-274 AD.

Obverse: IMP AVRELIANVS AVG, radiate, cuirassed bust right

Reverse: IOVI CONSER, Aurelian standing right, holding short sceptre, receiving globe from Jupiter standing left

(The coin has since been freed from its slab)

 

Orleans comes from Orléans which comes from civitas Aurelianorum


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aurelia_gens

 

Here are my three favorite Aurelians.

This has a bit of silvering in tact.


This is on a massively oversized flan. I', not sure why there is that pinkish color poking out.

And finally a gloriously well-detailed denarius.

 

Aurelian, silvered AE Antoninianus, 274-75 AD, Cyzicus Mint. Obv. Radiate cuirassed bust right, IMP C AVRELIANVS AVG/ Rev. woman stdg. right presents wreath to Aurelian standing left, RESTITVTOR ORBIS. In exergue: A C (Officina 1). RIC V-1 368, Cohen 210, Sear RCV III 11592. 24.15 mm., 3.68 g.



Vabalathus with Aurelian, billon Antoninianus, 270-272 AD, Antioch Mint. Obv. Radiate, draped, and cuirassed bust of Vabalathus right, VABALATHVS V C R IM D R [Vir Clarissimus, Rex, Imperator, Dux Romanorum ] / Rev. Radiate and cuirassed bust of Aurelian right, Γ [gamma] (Antioch, Officina 3) below, IMP C AVRELIANVS AVG. RIC V-1 Aurelian 381, Sear RCV III 11718, Cohen 1. 21 mm., 3.43 g.


(In my description -- although it's not reflected in the dealers's photo -- I have adopted the viewpoint that Vabalathus is on the obverse and Aurelian on the reverse, because the side with Aurelian is the one with the mintmark in the exergue.)

 

AURELIANUS and VABALATHUS


RI Vabalathus 271-272 CE and Aurelian

 

I checked a number of references and it seems both Aurelianum and Civitas Aurelianorum are attested in ancient sources. Orléans was the Celtic Cenabum which was destroyed by Caesar in the Gallic Wars. The emperor Aurelian rebuilt the city on the old ruins and named it after himself, as emperors do.

 

I like Aurelian.

 

I am very much in agreement with Donna's viewpoint on this matter. At Alexandria, the two each have a date reflecting the fact that Vabalathus had been in power a few years before Aurelian came along. Year four is on the obverse and year one is the reverse. I do not have the E/B version.


I'm not overly fond of the reverse varieties of the antoniniani in my collection but there is more originality in the obverses.
Big chest

Long neck left


My favorite Aurelian has a lion in exergue pushing the XXI into the left field.


While my criticisms of RIC are many, this has to be one of the greatest. RIC 62, volume V page 272 includes ten officinae with letters in exergue, ten with XXI in exergue and officinae in right field, seven officinae with the letter before XXI in exergue, and seven with XXI in left field, officinae in right field and lion in exergue. That means a complete set of RIC 62 would require 34 coins. I don't expect RIC to list each officina separately but ignoring my lion is simply not acceptable. Yes, there is an online update to half of RIC V but the book version is IMHO the volume most in need of revision. Come to think of it, most volumes seriously show their age and the recent updates seem to cover only part of their volume making a complete set of the latest versions available is many more books that the advertised ten volumes. I suspect no one now alive will see the update of each volume which means that the books issued today will be a century old when the last volume is issued. The era of books on paper may be over.

 

I agree that Vabalathus was likely the obverse and Aurelian the reverse, though as I recall the dealer had it the other way around. The fact that the mark was placed on the Aurelian side seems to indicate this.

 

...Sorry if this is stepping over a line, but it demonstrates how the locals were perpetuating the origin of Orleans as late as the 10th century CE. Carolingian Francia. Raoul (/Rudolph), 923-936. Denier of Orleans.
Obv. Raoul monogram; (from 9 o'clock: ) +C[/'G']RATIA D-I REX
Rev. +AVRELANIS CIVITA. (Depeyrot, 3rd ed., 2008, no. 733.)
...It's almost as if, once in a blue moon, medieval Latin was good for something.

 

Medieval Latin was somehow preserved. I guess we have to give Jerome and the Vulgate version of the Bible a lot of credit. Certainly the barbarians (and their kingdoms) didn't know koine Greek.

We can also somehow connect New Orleans (tenuously) to Aurelian.

 

Indeed. And I agree that the connection between the Emperor Aurelian and the city of New Orleans and Orleans Parish (both occupy the same physical boundaries) is direct. And my native city, New Orleans, was named after Phillipe II, the Duke of Orleans, who was the Regent of France at the time the city was founded, in 1718. Some of my ancestors accompanied Iberville or Iberville, when they discovered the area where the Orleans is now. And the old City Hall, which still exists, was completed in 1845, and in a neo-Classical style. It's called Gallier Hall now, named after the architect who designed it. And, in my opinion, this building with it's neo-Classical style of architecture, is another direct link to ancient Greek and Roman architecture. Many other buildings of neo-Clasical style were built in the city in the 1800's, some do survive, but unfortunate, many have not. New Orleans even minted coins (so this makes it further germaine to a coin talk thread) with an 'O' mintmark, minted in a neo- classical building, whose architect, William Strickland, who build neo-Classical buildings, Greek Revival throughout the USA. And, of course, much of Roman architecture, like Roman temples, was based on Greek temples.

 

@Gregory Johnston, Big Welcome to the forum! And thanks for your copious, commensurately valuable historical context about New Orleans.
...Never been. If people like you can still live there (as I'm hoping you do), it's got to still be on the bucket list.

 

What a nice bit of history! I'm glad I made this post. Here is my only coin minted in New Orleans!