Short answers, pulled from the story.
Aurelian was a Roman emperor who ruled from 270 to 275. He earned the title Restitutor Orbis, Restorer of the World, after reuniting the Roman Empire, which had fractured into three separate states during the Crisis of the Third Century.
Aurelian was born around 214, most likely in the region of Moesia Superior. His father was a tenant farmer who worked the lands of a senator named Aurelius. Aurelian joined the Roman army around 235 and rose through the ranks to command the cavalry of Emperor Gallienus.
The Palmyrene Empire was a breakaway eastern state ruled by Queen Zenobia from the city of Palmyra in Syria, encompassing Syria, Palestine, Egypt, and parts of Asia Minor. In 272, Aurelian invaded, crossed Asia Minor with minimal resistance, and captured Zenobia after she attempted to flee to the Sassanid Empire. She was later paraded through Rome in golden chains.
Aurelian ordered the construction of the walls after repeated barbarian incursions into Italy, including an Alamanni advance in 271 that reached as far as Placentia and Fano. The breaches demonstrated that Rome itself was vulnerable and needed permanent fortifications.
Aurelian introduced a new antoninianus coin containing five percent silver, marked XXI to indicate its relation to the old silver denarius. He also converted Rome's grain dole into a bread dole and added olive oil, salt, and pork to the goods distributed to citizens, while increasing bread loaf size without raising prices.
Aurelian was murdered in Caenophrurium, Thrace, shortly after October 275 while preparing to campaign against the Sassanids. A secretary named Eros forged a document listing high officials supposedly marked for death. Officers of the Praetorian Guard, led by the notarius Mucapor, believed the forgery and killed the emperor to protect themselves.