Aemilianus or Aemilian (c. 207–253) was Roman emperor for eighty-eight days in 253 AD.^[1]

Aemilianus was born around 207 or around 214. The Epitome de Caesaribus (a Latin history) and Zonaras (a Greek historian) say that Aemilianus was born at this time and at Djerba, an island in the Mediterranean Sea near Africa, part of the Roman Empire.^[1]

Aemilianus was not from the nobility, and may have been from among the Moorish people.^[1]

Aemilianus was a senator and was a Roman consul, either in 252 or 253. He was also governor (Latin: legatus Augusti pro praetore) for the Roman province of Moesia Superior.^[1]

The Roman army made Aemilianus emperor in Moesia in July or August 253. The Roman Senate agreed that Aemilianus was emperor after the emperor Trebonianus Gallus died in August 253.^[1]

After defeating the Goths (a barbarian tribe) in modern-day Bulgaria, his soldiers proclaimed him as an emperor instead of Trebonianus Gallus, the emperor at the time. After defeating Gallus in battle at Interamna (Northern Italy), he captured the capital city of the empire, Rome.^[source?]

When the governor of Roman Germany, Valerianus, arrived in Italy bringing troops to help Trebonianus Gallus, Aemilianus's own troops killed Aemilianus. They did not want a civil war and Valerian had a bigger army than Aemilianus.^[source?]

Soldiers in Aemilianus's army killed Aemilianus at Spoletum in the Italian Peninsula (Spoleto, Italy).^[1]

Aemilianus's wife was Cornelia Supera. She became augusta (empress) in around August 253. Cornelia Supera may have died in September or October 253, at which time the soldiers killed Aemilianus.^[1]