Aurelian is the midwit choice. You should be thanking Gallienus for the foundation he built considering he survived 15 years during the Crisis of the Third Century, helped establish the cavalry base of the military Claudius Gothicus and Aurelian would use, and kept the army intact despite plague, usurpers, hyperinflation, and barbarian invasion.
Aurelian gets the credit because he finished the job. No doubt though that he wouldn't have been able to without what Gallienus and Claudius Gothicus did before his rise.
Meanwhile Aurelian started many of the things men like Diocletian and mighty Constantine became famous for (building walls, trying to unify through religion, killing corrupt Bankers). Don't forget Aurelian was known basically as Hand on Sword, he was there fighting with men like Claudius II contributing to his victories and sharing in the glory. Such was the nature of a barracks emperor. The reason Aurelian is even known at all is because he was a very skilled man who accomplished much in spite of his short tenure, he actually "did it". The more you research the man the more he displays qualities of the best emperors combined into one, brutal in battle but bizarrely merciful considering the times in which he lived. He clearly had much tact and intellect, delving into everything from coinage reform to Christian theological arbitration.
In the modern age (considering what has become of academia) maybe Aurelian is forgotten because he had a badass manly Triumph and displayed the "girlboss queen" Xenobia off like a display piece. Reading Gibbon's description of it warms my heart every single time...
"Since the foundation of Rome, no general had more nobly deserved a triumph than Aurelian; nor was a triumph ever celebrated with superior pride and magnificence. The pomp was opened by twenty elephants, four royal tigers, and above two hundred of the most curious animals from every climate of the North, the East, and the South. They were followed by sixteen hundred gladiators, devoted to the cruel amusement of the amphitheatre. The wealth of Asia, the arms and ensigns of so many conquered nations, and the magnificent plate and wardrobe of the Syrian queen, were disposed in exact symmetry or artful disorder. The ambassadors of the most remote parts of the earth, of Æthiopia, Arabia, Persia, Bactriana, India, and China, all remarkable by their rich or singular dresses, displayed the fame and power of the Roman emperor, who exposed likewise to the public view the presents that he had received, and particularly a great number of crowns of gold, the offerings of grateful cities.
The victories of Aurelian were attested by the long train of captives who reluctantly attended his triumph, Goths, Vandals, Sarmatians, Alemanni, Franks, Gauls, Syrians, and Egyptians. Each people was distinguished by its peculiar inscription, and the title of Amazons was bestowed on ten martial heroines of the Gothic nation who had been taken in arms. But every eye, disregarding the crowd of captives, was fixed on the emperor Tetricus and the queen of the East. The former, as well as his son, whom he had created Augustus, was dressed in Gallic trousers, a saffron tunic, and a robe of purple. The beauteous figure of Zenobia was confined by fetters of gold; a slave supported the gold chain which encircled her neck, and she almost fainted under the intolerable weight of jewels. She preceded on foot the magnificent chariot, in which she once hoped to enter the gates of Rome. It was followed by two other chariots, still more sumptuous, of Odenathus and of the Persian monarch. The triumphal car of Aurelian (it had formerly been used by a Gothic king) was drawn, on this memorable occasion, either by four stags or by four elephants. The most illustrious of the senate, the people, and the army, closed the solemn procession. Unfeigned joy, wonder, and gratitude, swelled the acclamations of the multitude; but the satisfaction of the senate was clouded by the appearance of Tetricus; nor could they suppress a rising murmur, that the haughty emperor should thus expose to public ignominy the person of a Roman and a magistrate.
But however, in the treatment of his unfortunate rivals, Aurelian might indulge his pride, he behaved towards them with a generous clemency, which was seldom exercised by the ancient conquerors. Princes who, without success, had defended their throne or freedom, were frequently strangled in prison, as soon as the triumphal pomp ascended the Capitol. These usurpers, whom their defeat had convicted of the crime of treason, were permitted to spend their lives in affluence and honorable repose."
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THE GREATEST ROMAN EMPEROR WAS ἹΩΆΝΝΗΣ II ΚΟΜΝΗΝΌΣ ΚΑΛΟΪΩΆΝΝΗΣ YOU MOHAMMEDAN SWINE
He's a handsome guy with a cute and orthodox Barbarian wife.
