M. Aurelius Cotta, consul 74 BC with L. Licinius Lucullus, governor of Bithynia, where he was defeated by Mithridates at the start of the Third Mithridatic War but later captured Heraclea Pontica (71 BC). Brother of the consuls of 75 and 65, of the same Aurelia gens as Caesar's mother (Verr. 2.5.34; Ad Att. 12.22).