Western Roman Emperors 395 476

Wstern Roman Emperors
395-476
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Contents
Articles
Honorius (emperor)
Stilicho
Constantius III
14
Constantine III (Western Roman Emperor)
18
Priscus Attalus
22
Jovinus
23
Valentinian III
25
Galla Placidia
32
Flavius Aetius
40
Joannes
49
Petronius Maximus
51
Avitus
55
Ricimer
60
Majorian
65
Libius Severus
78
Anthemius
82
Olybrius
89
Glycerius
94
Julius Nepos
97
Romulus Augustulus
102
Orestes (father of Romulus Augustulus)
106
Odoacer
108
References
Article Sources and Contributors
116
Image Sources, Licenses and Contributors
118
Article Licenses
License
120
Honorius (emperor)
Honorius (emperor)
Honorius
Emperor of the Western Roman Empire
Honorius on the consular diptych of Anicius Petronius Probus (406)

Reign
23 January 393 15 August 423
Full name
Flavius Honorius (from birth to

accession);
Flavius Honorius Augustus (as emperor)
Born
9 September 384
Birthplace
Constantinople
Died
15 August 423 (aged38)
Place of death
Ravenna, Italia
Predecessor
Theodosius I
Successor
Valentinian III
Consort to
Maria
Thermantia
Dynasty
Theodosian
Father
Theodosius I
Mother
Aelia Flaccilla
Honorius (Latin: Flavius Honorius Augustus; 9 September 384 15 August 423), was Western Roman Emperor
from 395 to 423. He was the younger son of emperor Theodosius I and his first wife Aelia Flaccilla, and brother of
Arcadius, who was the Byzantine Emperor from 395 until his death in 408.
Even by the standards of the rapidly declining Western Empire, Honorius' reign was precarious and chaotic. His
reign was supported by his principal general, Flavius Stilicho, who was successively Honorius's guardian (during his
childhood) and his father-in-law (after the emperor became an adult). Stilicho's generalship helped preserve some
level of stability, but with his execution, the Western Roman Empire moved closer to collapse.
Honorius (emperor)
Rule
Early reign
After holding the consulate at the age of two, Honorius was declared
Augustus by his father Theodosius I, and thus co-ruler, on 23 January
393 after the death of Valentinian II and the usurpation of Eugenius.[1]
When Theodosius died, in January 395, Honorius and Arcadius divided
the Empire, so that Honorius became Western Roman Emperor at the
age of ten.[2]
During the first part of his reign Honorius depended on the military
leadership of the general Stilicho, who had been appointed by
Theodosius[3] and was of mixed Vandal and Roman ancestry.[4] To
strengthen his bonds with the young emperor, Stilicho married his
daughter Maria to him.[5] The epithalamion written for the occasion by
Stilicho's court poet Claudian survives.[6] Honorius was also greatly
influenced by the Popes of Rome, who sought to extend their influence
through his youth and weak character. So it was that Pope Innocent I
contrived to have Honorius write to his brother, condemning the
deposition of John Chrysostom in 407.[7]
The Western Roman Emperor Honorius,
Jean-Paul Laurens (1880). Honorius became

At first Honorius based his capital in Milan, but when the Visigoths
Augustus on 23 January 393, at the age of eight.
under King Alaric I entered Italy in 401 he moved his capital to the
coastal city of Ravenna, which was protected by a ring of marshes and
strong fortifications.[8] While the new capital was easier to defend, it was poorly situated to allow Roman forces to
protect central Italy from the increasingly regular threat of barbarian incursions. Significant was that the Emperor's
residence remained in Ravenna until the overthrow of the last western Roman Emperor in 476. That was probably
the reason why Ravenna was chosen not only as the capital of the Ostrogothic Kingdom in Italy, but also for the seat
of the Byzantine exarchs as well.[8]
Honorius (emperor)
Stilicho and the defence of Italy

Honorius' reign was plagued by almost constant barbarian
incursions into Gaul, Italy and Hispania. At the same time, a host
of usurpers rose up due to the apparent inability of the Emperor to
see to the Empire's defences.
The first crisis faced by Honorius was a revolt led by Gildo, the
Comes Africae and Magister utriusque militiae per Africam, in
Northern Africa, which lasted for two years (397398).[9] It was
eventually subdued by Stilicho, under the local command of
Mascezel, the brother of Gildo.[10]
The next crisis was the Visigoth invasion of Italy in 402 under the
formidable command of their king, Alaric. Stilicho was absent in
Raetia in the latter months of 401, when Alaric, who was also the
eastern empire's magister militum in Illyricum, suddenly marched
with a large army to the Julian Alps and entered Italy.[11]
Stilicho hurried back to protect Honorius and the legions of Gaul
and Britain were summoned to defend Italy. Honorius, slumbering
Inscription honouring Honorius, as florentissimo
at Milan was caught unaware and quickly fled to Asti, only to be
invictissimoque, the most excellent and invincible,
pursued by Alaric, who marched into Liguria. Stilicho defeated
417418, Forum Romanum
Alaric at Pollentia, on the river Tanarus on Easter Day (6 April
402) Alaric retreated to Verona, where Stilicho attacked him again. The Visigoths, weakened, were allowed to retreat
back to Illyricum.[12] In 405 Stilicho met an invasion of Italy led across the Danube by Radagaisus. They brought
devastation to the heart of the Empire, until Stilicho defeated them in 406 and recruited most of them into his
forces.[8] Then, in 405/6, an enormous barbarian horde, composed of Ostrogoths, Alans, Vandals and Quadi, crossed
the frozen Rhine and invaded Gaul.
The situation in Britain was even more difficult. The British provinces were isolated, lacking support from the
Empire, and the soldiers supported the revolts of Marcus (406407), Gratian (407), and Constantine III. Constantine
invaded Gaul in 407, occupying Arles, and while Constantine was in Gaul, his son Constans ruled over Britain.[13]
By 410, Britain was effectively told to look after its own affairs and expect no aid from Rome.[14]
There was good reason for this as the western empire was effectively overstretched due to the massive invasion of
Alans, Suebi and Vandals who although they had been repulsed from Italy in 406, moved into Gaul on 31 December
406,[13] and arrived in Hispania in 409. In early 408, Stilicho attempted to strengthen his position at court by
marrying his second daughter, Thermantia, to Honorius after the death of the empress Maria in 407[15] Another
invasion by Alaric was prevented in 408 by Stilicho when he forced the Roman Senate to pay 4,000 pounds of gold
to persuade the Goths to leave Italy.[16]
Honorius, in the meantime, was at Bononia, on his way from Ravenna to Ticinum, when the news reached him of his
brother's death in May 408. He at first was planning to go to Constantinople to help set up the court in the wake of
the accession of Theodosius II.[17] Summoning Stilicho from Ravenna for advice, Stilicho advised Honorius not to
go, and proceeded to go himself. In Stilichos absence, a minister named Olympius gained the confidence of
Honorius. He convinced the emperor that his Arian father-in-law was conspiring with the barbarians to overthrow
Honorius.[18]
On his return to Ravenna, Honorius ordered the arrest and execution of Stilicho. With Stilichos fall, Olympius
moved against all of his former father-in-laws allies, killing and torturing key individuals and ordering the
confiscation of the property of anyone who had borne any office while Stilicho was in command. Honorius's wife
Thermantia, daughter of Stilicho, was taken from the imperial throne and given over to her mother; Eucherius, the
Honorius (emperor)
son of Stilicho, was put to death.[19] The conspiracy also massacred the families of Stilicho's federate troops, and the
troops defected en masse to Alaric.
In 409, Alaric returned to Italy, finding little effective opposition in the field. With the agreement of the Senate he
supported the usurpation of Priscus Attalus. In 410, the Eastern Roman Empire sent six Legions (6,000 men; due to
changes in tactics, legions of this period were about 1000 soldiers, down from the 6000-soldier legions of the
Republic and early Empire periods)[20] to aid Honorius. To counter Attalus, Honorius tried to negotiate with Alaric.
Alaric withdrew his support for Attalus in 410, but the negotiations with Honorius broke down. Alaric again entered
Italy in 410 and sacked Rome.
Constantius and the erosion of the Western Empire

The revolt of Constantine III in the west continued through this period.
In 409, Gerontius, Constantine III's general in Hispania, rebelled
against him, proclaimed Maximus Emperor, and besieged Constantine
at Arles.[21] Honorius now found himself an able commander,
Constantius, who defeated Maximus and Gerontius, and then
Constantine, in 411.
Gaul was again a source of troubles for Honorius: just after
Constantius' troops had returned to Italy, Jovinus revolted in northern
Gaul, with the support of Alans, Burgundians, and the Gallic
nobility.[22] Jovinus tried to negotiate with the invading Goths of
Ataulf (412), but his proclamation of his brother Sebastianus as
Augustus made Ataulf seek alliance with Honorius. Honorius had
Ataulf defeat and execute Jovinus in 413.[23] At the same time,
Heraclianus raised the standard of revolt in North Africa, but failed to
launch an invasion of Italy. Defeated he fled back to Carthage and was
killed.[23]
In 414, Constantius attacked Ataulf, who proclaimed Priscus Attalus
emperor again. Constantius drove Ataulf into Hispania, and Attalus,
having again lost Visigoth support, was captured and deposed. In the
eleventh consulship of Honorius and the second of Constantius, the
Emperor entered Rome in triumph, with Attalus at the wheels of his
chariot. Honorius punished Attalus by cutting off his right finger and
thumb, inflicting the same fate that Attalus threatened Honorius with.
Remembering how Attalus had suggested that Honorius should retire
to some small island, he returned the favor by banishing Attalus to the
island of Lipara.[24]
Christian pendant of Empress Maria, daughter of

Stilicho, and wife of Honorius. Muse du Louvre.
The pendant reads, around a central cross
(clockwise):
HONORI
MARIA
SERINA
VIVATIS
STELICHO.
The letters form a Christogram
Northeastern Gaul became subject to even greater Frankish influence,

while a treaty signed in 418 granted to the Visigoths southwestern
Gaul, the former Gallia Aquitania. Under the influence of Constantius,
Honorius issued the Edict of 418, which was designed to enable the
Empire to retain a hold on the lands which were to be surrendered to the Goths.[25] This edict relaxed the
administrative bonds that connected all the Seven Provinces (The Maritime Alps, Narbonensis Prima, Narbonensis
Secunda, Novempopulania, Aquitania Prima, Aquitania Secunda and Viennensis) with the central government. It
removed the imperial governors and allowed the inhabitants, as a dependent federation, to conduct their own affairs,
for which purpose representatives of all the towns were to meet every year in Arles.[26]
Honorius (emperor)
In 417, Constantius married Honorius' sister, Galla Placidia, much against her will.[24] In 421, Honorius recognized
him as co-emperor Constantius III;[27] however, when the announcement of his elevation was sent to Constantinople,
Theodosius refused to recognise him. Constantius, enraged, began preparations for a military conflict with the
eastern empire but before he could commence the planned intervention, he died early in 422.[28]
In 420422, another Maximus (or perhaps the same) gained and lost power in Hispania. By the time of Honoriuss
death in 423, Britain, Spain and large parts of Gaul had effectively passed into barbarian control.[29] In his final
years, Honorius reportedly developed a physical attraction to his half sister, and in order to escape his unwelcome
attentions, Galla Placidia and her children, the future emperor Valentinian III and his sister, Honoria, fled to
Constantinople.[30]
Death
Honorius died of edema on 15 August 423, leaving no heir.[15] In the subsequent interregnum Joannes was
nominated Emperor. The following year, however, the Eastern Emperor Theodosius II elected his cousin Valentinian
III, son of Galla Placidia and Constantius III, as Emperor.
Sack of Rome
The most notable event of his reign was the
assault and Sack of Rome on 24 August 410
by the Visigoths under Alaric.
The city had been under Visigothic siege
since shortly after Stilicho's deposition and
execution in the summer of 408. Lacking a
strong general to control the by-now mostly
barbarian Roman Army, Honorius could do
little to attack Alaric's forces directly, and
apparently adopted the only strategy he
could in the situation: wait passively for the
The Favorites of the Emperor Honorius, by John William Waterhouse, 1883.
Visigoths to grow weary and spend the time
marshalling what forces he could.
Unfortunately, this course of action appeared to be the product of Honorius' indecisive character and he suffered
much criticism for it both from contemporaries and later historians.
Whether this plan could have worked is perhaps debatable. In any case it was overtaken by events. Stricken by
starvation, somebody opened Rome's defenses to Alaric and the Goths poured in. The city had not been under the
control of a foreign force since an invasion of Gauls some eight centuries before. The sack itself was notably mild as
sacks go; Churches and religious statuary went unharmed for example. The psychological blow to the Romans was
considerably more painful. The shock of this event reverberated from Britain to Jerusalem, and inspired Augustine to
write his magnum opus, The City of God.
The year 410 also saw Honorius reply to a British plea for assistance against local barbarian incursions, called the
Rescript of Honorius. Preoccupied with the Visigoths, Honorius lacked any military capability to assist the distant
province. According to the sixth century Byzantine scholar Zosimus, "Honorius wrote letters to the cities in Britain,
bidding them to guard themselves."[31] This sentence is located randomly in the middle of a discussion of southern
Italy; no further mention of Britain is made, which has led some, though not all, modern academics to suggest that
the rescript does not apply to Britain, but to Bruttium in Italy.[32][33][34]
Honorius (emperor)
Judgments on Honorius
In his History of the Wars, Procopius mentions a story
(which Gibbon disbelieved) where, on hearing the news
that Rome had "perished", Honorius was initially
shocked; thinking the news was in reference to a
favorite chicken he had named "Roma".
"At that time they say that the Emperor Honorius
in Ravenna received the message from one of the
eunuchs, evidently a keeper of the poultry, that
Solidus of emperor Honorius minted at Ravenna.
Rome had perished. And he cried out and said,
'And yet it has just eaten from my hands!' For he
had a very large cock, Rome by name; and the eunuch comprehending his words said that it was the city of
Rome which had perished at the hands of Alaric, and the emperor with a sigh of relief answered quickly: 'But I
thought that my fowl Rome had perished.' So great, they say, was the folly with which this emperor was
possessed."
Procopius, The Vandalic War (III.2.2526)
Summarizing his account of Honorius' reign, the historian J.B. Bury wrote, "His name would be forgotten among the
obscurest occupants of the Imperial throne were it not that his reign coincided with the fatal period in which it was
decided that western Europe was to pass from the Roman to the Teuton." After listing the disasters of those 28 years,
Bury concludes that Honorius "himself did nothing of note against the enemies who infested his realm, but
personally he was extraordinarily fortunate in occupying the throne till he died a natural death and witnessing the
destruction of the multitude of tyrants who rose up against him."[35]
Honorius issued a decree during his reign, prohibiting men from wearing trousers in Rome [Codex Theodosianus
14.10.23, tr. C. Pharr, "The Theodosian Code," p.415]. The last known gladiatorial fight took place during the
reign of Honorius.
Notes
[1] Williams, Stephen and Gerard Friell, Theodosius: The Empire at Bay, Yale University Press, 1994, pg. 129
[2] Victor, 48:19
[3] Zosimus, 4:59:1
[4] Canduci, pg. 149
[5] Zosimus, 5:3:1
[6] Bury, pg. 77
[7] Bury, pg. 105
[8] Bury, pg. 110
[9] Bury, pg. 76
[10] Zosimus, Book 5
[11] Bury, pg. 108
[12] Bury, pg. 109
[13] Bury, pg. 111
[14] Zosimus, 10:2
[15] Jones, pg. 442
[16] J. Norwich, Byzantium: The Early Centuries, 131
[17] Bury, pg. 112
[18] Bury, pg. 113
[19] Zosimus, 5:44
[20] J. Norwich, Byzantium: The Early Centuries, 136
[21] Bury, pg. 142
[22] Bury, pg. 145
[23] Bury, pg. 146
Honorius (emperor)
[24] Bury, pg. 150
[25] Bury, pg. 153
[26] Bury, pg. 154
[27] Bury, pg. 151
[28] Bury, pg. 155
[30] Bury, pg. 156
[31] Zosimus, vi.10.2
[32] Birley, Anthony Richard The Roman Government of Britain OUP Oxford (29 September 2005) ISBN 978-0-19-925237-4 pp.461463{http:/
/ books. google. co. uk/ books?id=izIMUEgzjm0C& pg=PA461& dq=bruttium+ honorius& num=100& as_brr=3& cd=2#v=onepage&
q=bruttium%20honorius& f=false}
[33] Halsall, Guy Barbarian migrations and the Roman West, 376568 Cambridge University Press; illustrated edition (20 December 2007)
ISBN 978-0-521-43491-1 pp.217218
[34] Discussion in Martin Millett, The Romanization of Britain, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990) and in Philip Bartholomew
'Fifth-Century Facts' Britannia vol. 13, 1982 p. 260
[35] John Bagnall Bury, History of the Later Roman Empire, 1923 (http:/ / penelope. uchicago. edu/ Thayer/ E/ Roman/ Texts/ secondary/
BURLAT/ 6*. html#5) (New York: Dover, 1958), p. 213
References
Primary sources
Aurelius Victor, "Epitome de Caesaribus", English version of Epitome de Caesaribus (http://www.
roman-emperors.org/epitome.htm)
Zosimus, "Historia Nova", Books 46 Historia Nova (http://www.tertullian.org/fathers/zosimus05_book5.
htm)
Secondary sources
Mathisen, Ralph, "Honorius (395423 A.D.)", De Imperatoribus Romanis (http://www.roman-emperors.org/
honorius.htm)
Jones, A.H.M., Martindale, J.R. The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire, Vol. I: AD260-395, Cambridge
University Press, 1971
Canduci, Alexander (2010), Triumph & Tragedy: The Rise and Fall of Rome's Immortal Emperors, Pier 9,
ISBN978-1-74196-598-8
Bury, J. B., A History of the Later Roman Empire from Arcadius to Irene, Vol. I (1889)
Gibbon. Edward Decline & Fall of the Roman Empire (1888)
External links
This list of Roman laws of the fourth century (http://www.fourthcentury.com/index.php/
imperial-laws-chart-364) shows laws passed by Honorius relating to Christianity.
Media related to Flavius Augustus Honorius at Wikimedia Commons
Honorius (emperor)
Regnal titles
Precededby
Theodosius I
Western Roman Emperor

395423
with Constantius III (AD 421)
Succeededby
Valentinian III
Political offices
Precededby
Arcadius,
Flavius Bauto
Consul of the Roman Empire

386
with Flavius Euodius
Succeededby
Valentinian II,
Eutropius
Precededby
Theodosius I,
Eugenius,
Abundatius

394
with Virius Nicomachus Flavianus and Arcadius
Succeededby
Anicius Hermogenianus
Olybrius,
Anicius Probinus
Precededby
Anicius Hermogenianus
Olybrius,
Anicius Probinus

396
with Arcadius
Succeededby
Caesarius,
Nonius Atticus
Precededby
Caesarius,
Nonius Atticus

398
with Eutychianus
Succeededby
Eutropius,
Mallius Theodorus
Precededby
Fravitta,
Flavius Vincentius

402
with Arcadius
Succeededby
Theodosius II,
Flavius Rumoridus
Precededby
Theodosius II,
Flavius Rumoridus

404
with Aristaenetus
Succeededby
Stilicho,
Anthemius
Precededby
Arcadius,
Anicius Petronius Probus

407
with Theodosius II
Succeededby
Anicius Auchenius Bassus,
Flavius Philippus
Precededby
Flavius Philippus

409
with Theodosius II and Constantine III
Succeededby
Varanes,
Tertullus
Precededby
Theodosius II without colleague

412
with Theodosius II
Succeededby
Heraclianus,
Lucius
Precededby
Constantius III,
Constans

415
with Theodosius II
Succeededby
Theodosius II,
Iunius Quartus Palladius
Precededby
Theodosius II,
Iunius Quartus Palladius

417418
with Constantius III and Theodosius II
Succeededby
Monaxius,
Plinta
Precededby
Agricola,
Eustathius

422
with Theodosius II
Succeededby
Avitus Marinianus,
Flavius Asclepiodotus
Stilicho
Stilicho
Flavius Stilicho (occasionally written as Stilico) (ca. 359408) was a
high-ranking general (magister militum) who was, for a time, the
most powerful man in the Western Roman Empire.[1] Half Vandal
and married to the niece of the Emperor Theodosius, Stilichos
regency for the underage Honorius marked the high point of German
advancement in the service of Rome.[2] After many years of victories
against a number of enemies, both barbarian and Roman, a series of
political and military disasters finally allowed his enemies in the
court of Honorius to remove him from power, culminating in his
arrest and subsequent execution in 408.[3] Known for his military
successes and sense of duty, Stilicho was, in the words of historian
Edward Gibbon, the last of the Roman generals. [4]
Origins and rise to power
The ivory diptych of Stilicho (right) with his wife

Serena and son Eucherius, ca. 395 (Monza
Cathedral )
Stilicho was the son of a Roman soldier of Vandal birth and a provincial Roman woman. Despite his father's origins
there is little to suggest that Stilicho considered himself anything other than a Roman, and his high rank within the
Empire suggests that he was probably not Arian like many Germanic Christians but rather a Nicene Christian like his
patron Theodosius I, who declared Nicene Christianity the official religion of the Empire.
Stilicho joined the Roman army and rose through the ranks during the reign of Theodosius I, who ruled the Eastern
half of the Roman Empire from Constantinople, and who was to become the last Emperor to rule both the Eastern
and Western halves of the Empire jointly. In 383, Theodosius sent him as an envoy to the court of the Persian king
Shapur III in Ctesiphon to negotiate a peace settlement relating to the partition of Armenia.[5] Upon his return to
Constantinople at the successful conclusion of peace talks, Stilicho was promoted to comes stabuli and later to
general (magister militum). The Emperor recognized that Stilicho could be a valuable ally, and to form a blood tie
with him, Theodosius married his adopted niece Serena to Stilicho. The marriage took place around the time of
Stilicho's mission to Persia, and ultimately Serena gave birth to a son, who was named Eucherius, and two daughters,
Maria and Thermantia.
After the death of the Western Emperor Valentinian II in 392, Stilicho helped raise the army that Theodosius would
lead to victory at the Battle of the Frigidus, and was one of the Eastern leaders in that battle. One of his comrades
during the campaign was the Visigothic warlord Alaric, who commanded a substantial number of Gothic auxiliaries.
Alaric would go on to become Stilicho's chief adversary during his later career as the head of the Western Roman
armies. Stilicho distinguished himself at the Frigidus, and Theodosius, exhausted by the campaign, saw him as a man
worthy of responsibility for the future safety of the Empire. The last emperor of a united Rome appointed Stilicho
guardian of his son, Honorius shortly before his death in 395.
Honorius becomes Emperor

Following the death of Theodosius, Honorius became emperor of the Western Roman Empire while his brother
Arcadius was placed on the Eastern throne in Constantinople. As both were underage, Theodosius had appointed
Stilicho as the caretaker for Honorius until he came of age.[6] He would claim to have been given a similar role in
regards to Arcadius, although no independent verification of this exists.[7] Neither proved to be effective emperors,
and Stilicho came to be the de facto commander-in-chief of the Roman armies in the West while his rival Rufinus
became the power behind the throne in the East. In his role in the West, Stilicho proved his abilities energetically,
Stilicho
although political maneuverings by agents of the two imperial courts would hinder him throughout his career.
His first brush with such court politics came in 395. The Visigoths living in Lower Moesia had recently elected
Alaric as their king. Alaric broke his treaty with Rome and led his people on a raid into Thrace. The army that had
been victorious at the Frigidus was still assembled, and Stilicho led it toward Alaric's forces. The armies of the
eastern Empire were occupied with Hunnic incursions in Asia Minor and Syria so Rufinus attempted to negotiate
with Alaric in person. The only results were suspicions in Constantinople that Rufinus was in league with the Goths.
Stilicho now marched east against Alaric. According to Claudian, Stilicho was in a position to destroy the Goths,
when he was ordered by Arcadius to leave Illyricum. Soon after Rufinus was hacked to death by his own soldiers.
Two years later, in 397, Stilicho defeated Alaric's forces in Macedonia, although Alaric himself escaped into the
surrounding mountains. Edward Gibbon, drawing on Zosimus, criticizes Stilicho for being overconfident in victory
and indulging in luxury and women, allowing Alaric to escape.[8] Contemporary scholarship disagrees, and finds a
variety of possible explanations, including an order from Arcadius ordering him to evacuate the Eastern Empire [9]
the unreliability of his mostly barbarian troops,[10] the revolt of Gildo in Africa,[11] or the possibility that he simply
was never as close to Alaric as Claudian suggests.[12]
Later that year, Gildo, a Roman general in Africa, led a revolt in which he tried to place the African provinces, the
critical source of Romes grain supply, under the control of the Eastern Empire. Stilicho sent Mascezel, the brother of
Gildo, into Africa with an army, which quickly suppressed the rebellion. However, upon his return to Italy, Mascezel
was drowned under questionable circumstances, perhaps on the orders of a jealous Stilicho.[13] The year 400 also
saw Stilicho accorded the highest honour within the Roman state by being appointed Consul.[14]
Stilicho also fought a war in Britain in this time period, likely in the year 398, though a critical analysis of Claudian
strongly suggests that it went badly.[15]
Around this time, Alaric moved to invade Italy with his Visigoths and established positions around Milan, where
Honorius lay trapped. Stilicho hastened forward with a selected vanguard in advance of his main body of 30,000
troops, breaking the siege of Milan and rescuing the besieged emperor . Alaric had to raise the siege of the city. One
of his chieftains implored him to retreat, but Alaric refused.
In a surprise attack on Easter Sunday in 402, Stilicho defeated Alaric at the Battle of Pollentia, capturing his camp
and his wife. Alaric managed to escape with most of his men. This battle was the last victory celebrated in a
triumphal march in Rome, which was saved for the time being. In 403 at Verona, Stilicho again bested Alaric, who
as Gibbon said only escaped by the speed of his horse.[16] A truce was made and Alaric went to Illyricum. In late
406, Stilicho demanded the return of the eastern half of Illyricum ( which had been transferred to the administrative
control of Constantinople by Theodosius), threatening war if the Eastern Roman Empire resisted. The exact reasons
for this are unclear, but it is possible that Stilicho planned to employ Alaric and his battle-hardened troops as allies
against the bands of Alans, Vandals and Sueves that were threatening to invade the West. To do so, Stilicho may
have needed to legitimize Alaric's control of Illyricum.[17]
In 405 there was a major invasion of Italy by those Alans, Sueves, and Vandals under the command of Radagaisus,
disrupting Stilichos plans to re-take Illyria from the Eastern Empire with the help of Alaric. Stilicho, scraping
together thirty legions (roughly 30,000 troops - legions during the Late Roman Empire had around 1,000 soldiers)
through a variety of desperate methods, including efforts to enroll slaves in the army in exchange for their freedom,
led a coalition of Romans, Alans, and Huns to defeat Radagasius at Ticinum in 406.[18][19][20]
In 405, according to Rutilius Namatianus, De Reditu [21] 5160, Stilicho ordered the destruction of the Sibylline
Books. The reasons for this are unknown, and the story cannot be verified.
10
Stilicho
Downfall
The Rhine frontier having been depleted of forces in order to defend Italy, leaving it defended by only the faith of
the Germans and the ancient terror of the Roman name, as Gibbon put it, a massive number of Vandals, Alans, and
Suevi from central Europe crossed the frozen-over and poorly-defended Rhine on 31 December 406.[22] These new
migrants proceeded to devastate the provinces of Gaul, as well as triggering military revolts in Britannia and Gaul.
Stilichos reputation would never recover from this disaster.[23]
The destruction that occurred in Gaul and the lack of an effective response from the court in Ravenna lent support to
the rebellion of Constantine III in Britain, which Stilicho proved unable to deal with. As Constantine moved his
forces into Gaul, Stilicho sent his subordinate Sarus to deal with him. Sarus had some initial success, winning a
major victory and killing both of Constantines magister militum but a relief force drove him back and saved the
rebellion. Sarus withdrew and Stilicho decided to seal off the Alps to prevent Constantine from threatening Italy.[24]
Meanwhile, Constantines rebellion having broken off the negotiations between Alaric and Stilicho for the joint
attack on Illyria, Alaric demanded the payment he was owed, threatening to attack Italy again if he was not given a
large amount of gold. The senate, inspired by the courage, rather than the wisdom, of their predecessors,[25] as
Gibbon put it, was in favor of war with Alaric until Stilicho persuaded them to give into Alarics demands. They
were angry at Stilicho for this, and one of the most outspoken of them, Lampadius, said Non est ista pax, sed pactio
servitutis (This is not a treaty of peace, but of servitude).[26]
His unsuccessful attempts to deal with Constantine, rumors that he had earlier planned the assassination of Rufinus
and that he planned to place his son on the Byzantine throne following the death of Emperor Arcadius in 408 caused
a revolt. The Roman army at Ticinum mutinied on August 13, killing at least seven senior imperial officers (Zosimus
5.32). This was followed by events which John Matthews observed "have every appearance of a thoroughly
co-ordinated coup d'tat organized by Stilicho's political opponents."[27] Stilicho retired to Ravenna, where he was
taken into captivity. Although it was within his ability to contest the charges [citation needed], Stilicho did not resist,
either because of loyalty to Rome or for fear of the consequences to the already precarious state of the Western
Empire[citation needed]. He was decapitated on August 22, 408. His son Eucherius was murdered in Rome shortly
afterwards.
Aftermath
In the disturbances which followed the downfall and execution of Stilicho, the wives and children of barbarian
foederati throughout Italy were slain by the local Romans. The natural consequence was that these men (estimates
describe their numbers as perhaps 30,000 strong) flocked to the protection of Alaric, clamoring to be led against their
enemies. The Visigothic warlord accordingly crossed the Julian Alps and began a campaign through the heart of
Italy. By September 408, the barbarians stood before the walls of Rome.
Without a strong general like Stilicho, Honorius could do little to break the siege, and adopted a passive strategy
trying to wait out Alaric, hoping to regather his forces to defeat the Visigoths in the meantime. What followed was
two years of political and military manoeuvering, Alaric, king of the Goths, attempting to secure a permanent peace
treaty and rights to settle within Roman territory. He besieged Rome three times without attacking while the Roman
army of Italu watched helplessly, but only after a fourth failed attempt at a deal was Alaric's siege a success. After
months under siege the people of Rome were dying of hunger and some were resorting to cannibalism. Then the
inevitable happened, a traitor opened the gates to Alaric's troops and they sacked the city in August 410. The
removal of Stilicho was the main catalyst leading to this monumental event, the first barbarian capture of the city in
nearly eight centuries and a part of the fall of the Western Roman Empire.
11
Stilicho
Fictional treatments
Stilicho has appeared in a number of fictional works, both as protagonist and as antagonist.
Stilicho is the main protagonist in the 1901 novel Stilicho by Felix Dahn (a part of the Kleine Romane aus der
Vlkerwanderung series), where he is portrayed as a loyal and honest general.
Stilicho makes a brief but significant appearance in Keith Robert's novel The Boat of Fate [28] (1971)
In the early novels of Jack Whyte's Arthurian series, he had a notable connection to the Britannicus family, whom
Whyte ties to the legends of Merlin, Arthur, and Camelot.
In the first of William Napier's Attila trilogy (2005), he is killed on the orders of Princess Galla Placida, who
suspects him of plotting with young Attila, their royal hostage.
In Wallace Breem's novel Eagle in the Snow, Stilicho appears as an ancillary character.
In Barbarian Invasion, a expansion of the strategy game Rome: Total War, Stilicho is a western Roman general.
In the 2000 TV mini-series Attila, Powers Boothe, who plays another historical figure, Aetius, takes on some of
Stilicho's story.
Stilicho appears in the American comic book X-O Manowar #1 (2012), where he surprise attacks the Visigoths on
Easter Sunday. This is shown to be the Battle of Pollentia where his army drove the Visigoths to retreat.
Sources
Besides the relevant legal records in the Codex Theodosianus, the major primary source for the events of Stilicho's
reign, or at least events prior to 404, are the panegyrics addressed to him by the poet Claudian. For events after 404,
Zosimus is a main source, although as a Byzantine, he felt a strong distaste for Stilicho. Stilicho also maintained
correspondence with his friend, the renowned pagan senator Symmachus.
Notes
[1] Stephen Mitchell. A History of the Later Roman Empire AD 284641. (Singapore: Blackwell Publishing, 2007) 89.
[2] Joseph Vogt. The Decline of Rome: The Metamorphosis of Ancient Civilization. Trans. Janet Sondheimer. (London: Weidenfeld and
Nicolson, 1967) 179.
[3] Simon Hornblower and Anthony Spawforth eds. The Oxford Classical Dictionary, third edition (Oxford University Press, 1996) 1444.
[4] Edward Gibbon. The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. Ed. J.B. Bury. Vol. III. (London: Methuen & Co., 1925) 225.
[5] Williams, S., Friell, G. Theodosius, The Empire at Bay. 1994. p 41
[6] Mitchell, 89.
[7] R.C. Blockley.. "The Dynasty of Theodosius." The Cambridge Ancient History. Ed. Averil Cameron and Peter Garnsey (New York:
Cambridge University Press, 1998) 113.
[8] Gibbon, 245
[9] Blockley, 113
[10] ibid
[11] Emma Burrell. "A Re-Examination of Why Stilicho Abandoned His Pursuit of Alaric in 397." Historia: Zeitschrift fr Alte Geschichte. Vol.
53, No.2 (2004): 251256.
[12] Blockley, 114
[13] Gibbon, 233235.
[14] Albrecht, M. von and Schmeling, G. L., A History of Roman Literature: From Livius Andronicus to Boethius : with Special Regard to Its
Influence on World Literature, BRILL, 1996 ISBN 90-04-10711-8, ISBN 978-90-04-10711-3 p. 1340
[15] M. Miller "Stilichos Pictish War. Brittania. Vol. 6, (1975), 141144
[16] Gibbon, 256
[17] Heather, Peter, The Fall of the Roman Empire, Oxford University Press, 2007 ISBN 978-0-19-532541-6 p. 219
[18] Blockley, 121
[19] Gibbon, 263267
[20] David Potter. Ancient Rome: A New History. (New York: Thames & Hudson, 2009) 288.
[21] http:/ / penelope. uchicago. edu/ Thayer/ L/ Roman/ Texts/ Rutilius_Namatianus/ text*. html
[22] Potter, 298
[23] Joseph Vogt. The Decline of Rome: The Metamorphosis of Ancient Civilization. Trans. Janet Sondheimer. (London: Weidenfeld and
Nicolson, 1967) 182.
12
Stilicho
13
[24]
[25]
[26]
[27]
[28]
J.F. Drinkwater. "The Usurpers Constantine III (407411) and Jovinus (411413)." Brittania. Vol. 29, (1998): 269298.
Gibbon, 277
Ibid
John Matthews, Western Aristocracies and Imperial Court AD 364425, Oxford: University Press, 1990, p. 281.
http:/ / www. wildsidepress. com/ The-Boat-of-Fate-by-Keith-Roberts_p_337. html
External links
Claudian at LacusCurtius (http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Claudian/home.html) (A
collection of Claudian's works in both Latin and English, including his panegyrics for Stilicho.)
Further reading
Bury, J.B. History of the Later Roman Empire.

Claudian. "De Bello Gildonico"
Claudian. "De Consulatu Stilichonis"
Claudian. "In Eutropium"
Claudian. "In Rufinum"
Ferrill, Arther. The Fall of the Roman Empire: The Military Explanation.
Fletcher, David T. The Death of Stilicho: A Study of Interpretations. Thesis (Ph.D.)--Indiana University, Dept. of
History, 2004.
Gibbon, Edward. The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.
Hodgkin, Thomas. The Barbarian Invasions of the Roman Empire. Vol. 1, the Visigothic Invasion. See Chapters
XIII XVI.
Hughes, Ian (2010). Stilicho: The Vandal Who Saved Rome. Barnsley: Pen & Sword Military.
Mazzarino, Santo. Stilicone: La crisi imperiale dopo Teodosio. Rome. 1942.
O'Flynn, John Michael. "Generalissimos of the Western Roman Empire" The University of Alberta Press, 1983.
Reynolds, Julian. "Defending Rome: The Masters of the Soldiers" Xlibris, 2012.
Zosimus. Historia Nova.
Political offices
Precededby
Eutropius,
Mallius Theodorus

400
with Aurelianus
Succeededby
Fravitta,
Flavius Vincentius
Precededby
Honorius,
Aristaenetus

405
with Anthemius
Succeededby
Arcadius,
Anicius Petronius Probus
Military offices
Precededby
Post Created
Supreme Commander of the Western Roman

Army
395-408
Succeededby
Constantius III
In 411
Constantius III
14
Constantius III
Constantius III
Emperor of the
Western Roman Empire
Constantius on a solidus. The reverse shows Constantius as a general, holding Victory in one hand and a captive enemy in the other.
Reign
421 (7 months, as co-emperor in the west with Honorius)
Full name
Flavius Constantius
Born
Naissus
Died
2 September 421
Predecessor
Honorius (alone)
Successor
Honorius (alone)
Wife
Galla Placidia
Issue
Justa Grata Honoria (417/418),

Valentinian III (419)
Flavius Constantius (died 2 September 421), commonly known as Constantius III, was Western Roman Emperor
for seven months in 421. A prominent general and politician, he was the power behind the throne for much of the
410s, and in 421 briefly became co-emperor of the Western Empire with Honorius.
Constantius III
Life
Early life and rise to the throne
Constantius was born in Naissus (modern-day Ni, Serbia[1]) and was
probably a career soldier, who reached the rank of magister militum
under Honorius.
In 411 he defeated Gerontius, the general of usurper Maximus, and
Constantine III, another usurper, in Arles. Constantine had revolted
against Honorius (407), but then he had broken his relationship with
general Gerontius, who had proclaimed Maximus Emperor in
opposition to both Honorius and Constantine (409). Gerontius had then
besieged Constantine in the city of Arles (411), but the arrival of the
troops of Constantius from Italy had put him in serious trouble, being
at the same time a besieger and a besieged. Gerontius was abandoned
by his troops and then killed in Hispania.
The able general having been disposed of, Constantius besieged the
city for three months until the general of Constantine, Edobichus, who
had been sent across the border to find allies, did return with a large
army of Franks and Alamanni. Before the walls of Arles, Constantius
confronted and defeated Edobichus, who was later betrayed and killed
Consular diptych of Constantius III, produced for
by a friend. Constantine was forced to surrender to Constantius when
his consulate in 413 or 417.
his troops on the Rhine left him for another usurper, Jovinus.
Constantius granted a safe conduct to Constantine, who had become an ordained priest, but later he captured and
killed him.
In 412 he expelled from Italy the Visigoths under Ataulf. In 413 he held his first consulate. In 414 he began a
military offensive against the Visigoths. In response, Ataulf appointed as emperor Priscus Attalus, who had already
been a usurper against Honorius in 410. The blockade imposed by Constantius on Gallic ports was so effective that
the Visigoths fled from Gaul to Hispania in 415. Attalus too tried to flee but was captured by the forces of
Constantius and sent to Ravenna.
With the death of Ataulf and his successor Segeric, that same year Constantius signed a treaty with the new
Visigothic king Wallia: in exchange of 600,000 bushels of wheat and the territory of the region of Aquitaine, from
the Pyrenees to the Garonne, the Visigoths pledged to fight on behalf of the Romans, as allies official or vassal state
of the Empire (foederati), the Vandals, Alans and Suebi who in 407 had crossed the Rhine River and were stationed
in the provinces of Hispania. The agreement also provided for the release of Galla Placidia, Honorius' sister,
captured during the sack of Rome in 410.
Constantius was appointed patricius and in 417, the year of his second consulate held with Honorius as colleague, he
married Galla Placidia, tying himself to the House of Theodosius. The couple had two children, Justa Grata Honoria
(born 417/418) and the future Emperor Valentinian III (born 419). In 420 he was appointed consul for the third time,
with the Eastern Emperor Theodosius II as colleague.
15
Constantius III
16
Brief reign and death

On February 8, 421, Constantius was appointed co-emperor with his ineffectual brother-in-law, Honorius, becoming
the real master of the West. Curiously, he complained of loss of personal freedom implied by the new role. The
elevation of Constantius, however, was not recognized by his colleague in the East, Theodosius II, who was the
nephew of Honorius.
It is said that Constantius was organizing a military expedition to the East to have his rights recognized, when he
died suddenly on September 2, 421, after just seven months as emperor, the archetype of able soldier and politician
that the Western Roman Empire desperately needed at the time. "A struggle to replace Constantius swiftly erupted,
with some open fighting. Galla Placidia fled with her son Valentinian to Constantinople. Her brother Honorius, still
childless, died in 423."[2]
Constantius' success in rising from head of the Roman army to Imperial rank obviously influenced the actions of
later holders of the patrician office, a list that includes Flavius Atius and Ricimer; however, only Petronius
Maximus ever made the same leap, and his reign was even shorter than that of Constantius.
References
[1] Roman Empire, Constantius III (http:/ / www. roman-emperors. org/ westemp5. htm#Note 8)
[2] Adrian Goldsworthy, The Fall of the West:The Slow Death of the Roman Superpower, Orion Books Ltd, Paperback Edition 2010, London,
p.305.
Sources
Bury, John Bagnall, History of the Later Roman Empire Macmillan & Co., 1923, p.193.
Burns, Thomas Samuel, Barbarians Within the Gates of Rome, Indiana University Press, 1994, ISBN
0-253-31288-4, p.250.
Elton, Hugh, "Constantius III (421 A.D.)" (http://www.roman-emperors.org/westemp5.htm#Note 8), De
Imperatoribus Romanis
Elton, Hugh, "Constantine III (407411 A.D.)" (http://www.roman-emperors.org/westemp5.htm), De
Imperatoribus Romanis
Kulikowski, Michael, Late Roman Spain and Its Cities, Johns Hopkins University Press, 2004, ISBN
0-8018-7978-7, pp.157160
C.E. Stevens, "Marcus, Gratian, Constantine", Athenaeum, 35 (1957), pp.31647
External links
Media related to Constantius III at Wikimedia Commons
Political offices
Precededby
Honorius

421
Served alongside: Honorius
Succeededby
Honorius
Precededby
Heraclianus,
Fl. Lucius

414
Served alongside: Fl. Constans
Succeededby
Imp. Caesar Honorius Augustus
X,
Imp. Caesar Flavius Theodosius
Augustus VI
Constantius III
17
Precededby
Augustus VII,
Fl. Iunius Quartus Palladius

417
Served alongside: Imp. Caesar Honorius
Augustus XI
Succeededby
Imp. Caesar Honorius Augustus
XII,
Augustus VIII
Precededby
Fl. Monaxius,
Fl. Plinta

420
Served alongside: Imp. Caesar Flavius
Theodosius Augustus IX
Succeededby
Fl. Iulius Agricola,
Fl. Eustathius
Military offices
Precededby
Stilicho
In 408
Supreme Commander of the Western

Roman Army
411-421
Succeededby
Flavius Felix
In 425
18

Constantine III
[1]
Co-emperor
of the Western Roman Empire
Coin of Constantine III.

Reign
Usurper 407409 (against Emperor Honorius)

Co-emperor 409411 (with Honorius and Constans II
Full name
Flavius Claudius Constantinus
Died
411 (before 18 September)
Predecessor Gratian
Successor
Honorius
Wife
name unknown
Issue
Constans II
[2]
Julianus,
Ambrosius Aurelianus (legend)
Flavius Claudius Constantinus,[1] known in English as Constantine III (died 411 by 18 September) was a Roman
general who declared himself Western Roman Emperor in Britannia in 407 and established himself in Gaul.
Recognised by the Emperor Honorius in 409, collapsing support and military setbacks saw him abdicate in 411. He
was captured and executed shortly afterwards.
Background
On 31 December in 406 several tribes of Barbarian invaders, including the Vandals, the Burgundians, the Alans and
the Sueves, crossed the Rhine perhaps near Mainz, and overran the Roman defensive works in a successful invasion
of the Western Roman Empire.[3] This was a blow to the Western Empire from which it never recovered. The Roman
authorities were never able to eject or destroy these invaders, most of whom eventually settled in Spain and North
Africa, nor to face the movements of the Franks, Burgundians and Visigoths in Gaul at the same time.[4]
Also, a contributing factor of major importance was the disunity among the Romans themselves. A unified Empire
with the full support of a loyal population willing to make the necessary sacrifices to overcome invaders/settlers had
shown in the past it was possible to keep the Empire's borders secure.[4]
At the time of this invasion, the provinces of Britain were in revolt,[5] setting up and pulling down a series of
usurpers, which ended with the elevation of Constantine early in 407.[1] Fearful of a Germanic invasion and
desperate for some sense of security in a world rapidly falling apart, the Roman military in Britain chose as their
leader a man named after the famed emperor of the early fourth century, Constantine the Great, who had himself
risen to power through a military coup in Britain.[6] A common soldier, but one of some ability,[7] Constantine
moved quickly. He crossed the English Channel to the continent at Bononia[4] and (historians have assumed) took
along with him all of the mobile troops left in Britain, thus denuding the province of any first line military protection

and explaining their disappearance in the early fifth century.[8]
Constantine's two generals Iustinianus and the Frank Nebiogastes, leading the vanguard of his forces, were defeated
by Sarus,[9] and Stilicho's lieutenant, with Nebiogastes being first trapped in, then killed outside, Valence.[10]
However, Constantine sent another army headed by Edobichus and Gerontius, and Sarus was forced to retreat into
Italy, needing to buy his passage through the Alpine passes from the brigand Bagaudae, who controlled them.[11]
Constantine secured the Rhine frontier, and garrisoned the passes that led from Gaul into Italy.[12] By May 408 he
had made Arles his capital,[13] where he appointed Apollinaris, the grandfather of Sidonius Apollinaris, as
prefect.[14]
Recognition as co-emperor
In the summer of 408, as the Roman forces in Italy
assembled to counterattack, Constantine had other
plans. Fearful that several cousins of the Emperor
Honorius in Hispania, which was a stronghold of the
House of Theodosius[13] and loyal to the ineffectual
emperor, would organize an attack from that direction
while troops under Sarus and Stilicho attacked him
from Italy in a pincer maneuver, he struck first at
Constantine III portrayed on a siliqua. The reverse celebrates the
Hispania.[15] He summoned his eldest son Constans
victories of the Augusti.
from the monastery where he was dwelling, elevated
[16]
him to Caesar, or co-emperor,
and sent him with the
general Gerontius towards Hispania.[8] The cousins of Honorius were defeated without much difficulty and
twoDidymus and Theodosioluswere captured, while two othersLagodius and Verianusmanaged to escape
to safety in Constantinople.[4]
Constans left his wife and household at Saragossa under the care of Gerontius to return to report to Arles.[17]
Meanwhile the loyalist Roman army mutinied at Ticinum (Pavia) on 13 August, which was followed by the
execution of the patrician Stilicho on 22 August.[4] As a by-product of these events, the actions of an intrigue within
the Imperial court, the general, Sarus, abandoned the western army followed by his men; this left the Emperor
Honorius in Ravenna without any significant military power, and also facing the problem of a Gothic army under
Alaric roaming unchecked in Etruria.[18] So, when Constantine's envoys arrived to parley at Ravenna, the fearful
Honorius eagerly recognized Constantine as co-emperor, and the two were joint consuls for the year 409.[17]
March on Italy
That year was the high-water mark of Constantine's success. But by September, the tribes that had overrun the Rhine
defenses,[19] and had spent the intervening two years and eight months burning and plundering their way through
Gaul, had reached the Pyrenees, where they broke through Constantine's garrisons and entered Hispania.[8] While
Constantine prepared to send his son Constans back to deal with this crisis, word came that his general Gerontius had
rebelled, raising his own man as co-emperor.[9] Despite Constantine's best efforts, his fear of an attack from Hispania
did come to pass the following year, when Gerontius advanced with the support of his barbarian allies.[20]
About the same time Saxon pirates raided Britain, which Constantine had left defenseless.[21] Obviously upset that
Constantine had neglected them in his efforts to establish his own empire and had failed to defend them against the
assaults they had hoped he would prevent, the Roman inhabitants of Britain and Armorica rebelled against
Constantine's authority and expelled his officials.[16]
Constantine's response to this tightening circle of enemies was a final desperate gamble: he marched on Italy with
the remaining troops left to him,[19] encouraged by the entreaties of one Allobich who wanted to replace Honorius
19

with a more capable ruler.[8] But this invasion ended in defeat, with Allobich losing his life and Constantine forced
to retreat into Gaul in the late spring of 410.[8]
Constantine's position grew even more untenable; his forces facing the rebel Gerontius were defeated at Vienne
(411), where his son Constans was captured and executed.[9] Constantine's Praetorian prefect Decimus Rusticus, who
had replaced Apollinaris a year earlier, abandoned Constantine, to be caught up in the new rebellion of Jovinus in the
Rhineland. Gerontius trapped Constantine inside Arles and besieged him.[8]
Surrender and execution

At the same time a new general was found to support Honorius. The future Constantius III, who arrived at Arles, put
Gerontius to flight and then took over the siege of Constantine in Arles.[19] Constantine held out, hoping for the
return of his general Edobichus who was raising troops in northern Gaul amongst the Franks,[21] but on his return
Edobichus was defeated by a simple stratagem.[22]
Constantine's last slender hope faded when his last troops guarding the Rhine abandoned him to support Jovinus and
he was forced to surrender.[18] Despite the promise of safe passage, and Constantine's assumption of clerical offices,
Constantius imprisoned the former soldier and had him beheaded on his way to Ravenna[23] in either August or
September 411.[24]
Although Gerontius committed suicide in Hispania,[25] and Athaulf the Visigoth later suppressed the revolt of
Jovinus,[22][26] Roman rule never returned to Britain after the death of Constantine III: as the historian Procopius
later explained, "from that time onwards it remained under [the rule] of tyrants."[27]
Legend
Constantine III is also known as Constantine II of Britain. He was remembered as a King of the Britons in the Welsh
chronicles and Geoffrey of Monmouth's highly popular and legendary Historia Regum Britanniae, where he comes
to power following Gracianus Municeps' reign, which had ended with his assassination. Geoffrey actually seems to
have conflated the historical Constantine III with an unrelated Cornish king of the same name, Custennin Gorneu
(the Welsh name Custennin is derived from Latin Constaninus; it is possible that Geoffrey picked up the name from
a Welsh Arthurian genealogy resembling those found in Bonedd yr Arwyr #30a and Mostyn MS 117 #5), which has
led to much confusion among modern scholars; beyond their names, Geoffrey's fictional Constantine does not
resemble the historical one.[28]
In some versions of the legend, Vortigern was Constantine's seneschal. This story was repeated in many retellings of
the Arthurian cycle, including Robert de Boron's Merlin and the Lancelot-Grail Cycle, though the narrative greatly
contradicts the known history of this period.[citation needed]
Sources
Primary sources
Zosimus, Historia Nova, Books 5 & 6 Historia Nova [29]
Orosius, Historiae adversum Paganos, 7.40
Secondary sources
Birley, Anthony (2005), The Roman Government in Britain, Oxford University Press, ISBN978-0-19-925237-4
Jones, Arnold Hugh Martin, John Robert Martindale, John Morris, The Prosopography of the Later Roman
Empire, volume 2, Cambridge University Press, 1992, ISBN ISBN 0-521-20159-4
2 Elton, Hugh, "Constantine III (407-411 A.D.)" [30], D.I.R.]
20
21
ISBN978-1-74196-598-8
C.E. Stevens, "Marcus, Gratian, Constantine", Athenaeum, 35 (1957), pp.31647
E.A. Thompson, "Britain, A.D. 406-410", Britannia, 8 (1977), pp.303318.
Gibbon, Edward, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1888)
References
[1] Jones, pg. 316
[2] Jones, pg. 638
[3] Bury, pg. 138
[4] Gibbon, Ch. 30
[5] Zosimus, 6:1:2
[6] Zosimus, 7:40:5
[7] Orosius, 7:40:4
[8] Elton, Constantine III (407-411 A.D.)
[9] Birley, pg. 460
[10] Zosimus, 6:2:3
[11] Zosimus, 6:2:4
[12]
[13]
[14]
[15]
[16]
[17]
[18]
[19]
[20]
[21]
[22]
[23]
[24]
[25]
[26]
[27]
[28]
[29]
[30]
Birley, pgs. 458-459

Bury, pg. 140
Jones, pg. 113
Zosimus, 6:2:5
Birley, pg. 459
Bury, pg. 141
Gibbon, Ch. 31
Canduci, pg. 152
Bury, pg.142
Bury, pg. 143
Bury, pg. 144
Canduci, pg. 153
Jones, pg. 316 His head reached Ravenna on September 18, 411
Jones, pg. 508
Canduci, pg. 155
Birley, Anthony, The People of Roman Britain, University of California Press (1980), pg. 160
Peter Bartrum, A Welsh Classical Dictionary, National Library of Wales, 1993, pp. 157-158.
http:/ / www. tertullian. org/ fathers/ zosimus06_book6. htm
http:/ / www. roman-emperors. org/ westemp5. htm#Note
External links
Political offices
Precededby
Anicius Auchenius
Bassus,
Flavius Philippus
Consul of the Roman Empire Succeededby

409
Varanes,
with Honorius and Theodosius II Tertullus
Legendary titles
Vacant
Turmoil
Title last held by
Gracianus Municeps
King of Britain
407411
Succeededby
Constans
Priscus Attalus
22
Priscus Attalus
Priscus Attalus
Usurper of the Western Roman Empire
Coin of Priscus Attalus.

Reign
409 and 414-415, against Honorius
Died
after 416
Place of death
Lipari Islands
Priscus Attalus (d. after 416) was twice Roman usurper (in 409 and in 414), against Emperor Honorius, with
Visigothic support.
Priscus Attalus was a Greek from Asia whose father had moved to Italy under Valentinian I. Attalus was an
important senator in Rome, who served as praefectus urbi in 409. He was twice proclaimed emperor by the
Visigoths, in an effort to impose their terms on the ineffectual Emperor Honorius, in Ravenna.
He held the title of Emperor in Rome, during 409, and later in Bordeaux in 414. His two reigns lasted only a few
months; the first one ended when Alaric believed it was hampering his negotiations with Honorius, and the second
came to an end after he was abandoned by the Visigoths and eventually captured by Honorius' men. Attalus was
obliged to participate in the triumph Honorius celebrated in the streets of Rome in 416, before finishing his days
exiled in the Lipari Islands.
External links
Media related to Priscus Attalus at Wikimedia Commons
Elton, Hugh, "Attalus (409-410, 414-415 A.D.)", De Imperatoribus Romanis [1]
Precededby
Gabinius Barbarus Pompeianus
Praefectus urbi of
Rome
409
Succeededby
Marcianus
Priscus Attalus
23
References
[1] http:/ / www. roman-emperors. org/ westemp5. htm#Note%205
Jovinus
Jovinus is a Roman cognomen, most often used for a 5th-century Roman usurper emperor. This article is
about the Roman usurper. For the saint, see Saint Jovinus. For the Frankish duke, see Jovinus of Provence.
Jovinus
Siliqua of Jovinus celebrating the "victories of the emperor"

Reign
411412 (alone);
412413 (co-emperor with Sebastianus)
Born
Gaul
Died
413
Place of death
Narbonne
Predecessor
Constantine III
Successor
Honorius
Jovinus was a Gallo-Roman senator and claimed to be Roman Emperor (411413).

Following the defeat of the usurper known with the name of Constantine III, Jovinus was proclaimed emperor at
Mainz in 411, a puppet supported by Gundahar, king of the Burgundians, and Goar, king of the Alans. Jovinus kept
his position in Gaul for two years, long enough to issue coinage that showed him wearing the imperial diadem. He
was supported by a number of local Gallo-Roman nobles who had survived Constantine's defeat.
Under the pretext of Jovinus' imperial authority, Gundahar and his Burgundians established themselves on the left
bank of the Rhine (the Roman side) between the river Lauter and the Nahe. Here they founded a kingdom with the
old Romanized Gaulish settlement of Borbetomagus (Worms) as its capital.
Jovinus' end came after the Visigoths under Ataulf left Italy (at Priscus Attalus' advice), ostensibly to join him,
carrying with them as hostages the ex-emperor Attalus and Galla Placidia, Honorius' half-sister. Then Ataulf
attacked and killed Sarus, who had also come to support Jovinus. Jovinus, offended at this act, then failed to consult
Ataulf when he elevated his brother Sebastianus as co-emperor. Insulted, Ataulf allied his Visigoths with Honorius,
and they defeated Jovinus' troops. Sebastianus was executed. Jovinus fled for his life, but was besieged and captured
in Valentia (Valence, Drme) and taken to Narbo (Narbonne), where Caius Posthumus Dardanus, the praetorian
prefect (governor) in Gaul, who had remained loyal to Honorius, had him executed. Jovinus' and Sebastianus' heads
were afterwards sent to Honorius and mounted on the walls of Ravenna (before being passed on to Carthage, where
they were put on permanent display with the heads of four other usurpers).
Jovinus
Bibliography
Ralf Scharf: Iovinus Kaiser in Gallien [1], in: Francia 20 (1993), pp.113.
External links
Media related to Jovinus at Wikimedia Commons
References
[1] http:/ / mdzx. bib-bvb. de/ francia/ Blatt_bsb00016297,00011. html
24
Valentinian III
25
Valentinian III
Valentinian III
Solidus of Emperor Valentinian III.

Reign
Caesar in the west: 423425

Emperor in the West 23 October 425 16 March 455
Full name
Flavius Placidius Valentinianus
Born
2 July 419
Birthplace
Ravenna
Died
16 March 455 (aged35)
Place of death Rome

Predecessor
Honorius
Successor
Petronius Maximus
Wife
Licinia Eudoxia
Issue
Eudocia and Placidia
Dynasty
Theodosian
Father
Constantius III
Mother
Galla Placidia
Valentinian III (Latin: Flavius Placidius Valentinianus Augustus;[1] 2 July 419 16 March 455), was Western
Roman Emperor from 425 to 455. His reign was marked by the ongoing dismemberment of the Western Empire.
Family
Valentinian was born in the western capital of Ravenna, the only son of Galla Placidia and Flavius Constantius.[2]
His mother was the younger half-sister of the western emperor Honorius, while his father was at the time a Patrician
and the power behind the throne.[3]
Through his mother, Valentinian was a descendent both of Theodosius I, who was his maternal grandfather, and of
Valentinian I, who was the father of his maternal grandmother. It was also through his mother's side of the family
that he was the nephew of Honorius and first cousin to Theodosius II (the son of Honorius' brother Arcadius), who
was eastern emperor for most of Valentinian's life. Valentinian had a full sister, Justa Grata Honoria, who was
probably born in 417 or 418 (the history of Paul the Deacon mentions her first when mentioning the children of the
marriage, suggesting she was the eldest[4]). His mother had previously been married to Ataulf of the Visigoths, and
had borne a son, Theodosius, in Barcelona in 414; but the child had died early in the following year, thus eliminating
an opportunity for a Romano-Visigothic line.[5][6]
Valentinian III
When Valentinian was less than two years old, Honorius appointed Constantius co-emperor, a dignity he would hold
until his death seven months later. As a result of all these family ties, Valentinian was the son, grandson,
great-grandson, cousin, and nephew (twice over) of Roman Emperors.[7]
Infancy and Regency of Galla Placidia (421437)

In either 421 or 423, Valentinian was give the title of Nobilissimus by Honorius, but which was not initially
recognized in the eastern court of Theodosius II.[2] After the death of his father in 421, Valentinian followed his
mother and his sister (Justa Grata Honoria) to Constantinople, when court intrigue saw Galla Placidia forced to flee
from her half-brother, Emperor Honorius, and the young Valentinian went to live at the court of his cousin
Theodosius II.[8]
In 423, Honorius died, and the usurper Joannes took the power in Rome. To counter this threat to his power,
Theodosius belatedly recognised Valentinians father as Augustus and nominated Valentinian Caesar of the west in
October 23, 424.[9] Theodosius also betrothed him to his own daughter Licinia Eudoxia (whom Valentinian would
eventually marry in 437 when he came of age). It was only in the following year, after Joannes had been defeated in
a combined naval and land campaign, that Valentinian was installed by the eastern patricius et magister officiorum
Helion as Western Emperor in Rome, on October 23, 425, at the age of six.[8]
Given his minority status, the new Augustus ruled under the regency of his mother Galla Placidia, one of whose first
acts was to install Felix as the Magister utriusque militiae in the west.[10] Her regency lasted until 437, and for the
duration Theodosius II gave her his full support.[11] This period was marked with a vigorous imperial policy and an
attempt to stabilize the western provinces as far as the stretched resources of the empire could manage.
In 425, the court at Ravenna negotiated with the Huns who had accompanied Flavius Atius to Italy in support of
Joannes. They agreed to leave Italy, and to evacuate the province of Pannonia Valeria, which was returned to the
empire.[12] This allowed Felix and the imperial government to restructure the defences along the Danubian provinces
in 427 and 428.[11] In addition, there were significant victories over the Visigoths in Gaul in 426/7 and 430[13][14]
and the Franks along the Rhine in 428 and 432.[15]
Nevertheless, there were significant problems that threatened the viability of the Roman state in the west. The
Visigoths were a constant presence in south-eastern Gaul, and could not be dislodged. The Vandals in Hispania
continued their incursions, and in 429 they commenced their invasion of Mauretania Tingitana.[15] The loss of these
territories seriously impacted the states ability to function. The burden of taxation became more and more
intolerable as Rome's power decreased, and the loyalty of its remaining provinces was seriously impaired in
consequence.[15]
In addition, the initial period of Valentinians reign was dominated by the struggle between the leaders of the three
principal army groups of the west Felix, the senior Magister militum praesentalis, Bonifacius, the Magister
militum per Africam and Flavius Atius, the Magister militum per Gallias.[13] In 427, Felix accused Bonifacius of
being a traitor and demanded that he return to Italy. Bonifacius refused, and defeated an army sent by Felix to
capture him. Weakened, Felix was unable to resist Atius who, with the support of Galla Placidia, replaced him as
Magister militum praesentalis in 429, before having him killed in 430.[16]
Bonifacius, in the meantime, had been unable to defeat Sigisvultus, whom Galla Placidia had sent to deal with the
rebel. Bonifacius, therefore, entered into an agreement with the Vandals to come to his aid and in return they would
divide the African provinces between themselves.[17] Concerned by these turn of events, and determined to hold onto
the African provinces at all cost, the court at Ravenna sought reconciliation with Bonifacius, who agreed in 430 to
affirm his allegiance to Valentinian III and stop the Vandal king Gaiseric.[18]
In 431, Bonifacius was crushed, and fled to Italy, abandoning western North Africa. The imperial court, and
especially Galla Placidia, worried about the power being wielded by Atius, stripped Atius of his command and
gave it to Bonifacius. In the civil war that followed, Bonifacius defeated Atius at the Battle of Ravenna, but died of
26
Valentinian III
27
his wounds. Atius fled to the Huns and with their help, was able to persuade the court to reinstate him to his old
position of Magister militum praesentalis in 434.[19] As a consequence, in 435 Valentinian was forced to conclude a
peace with Gaiseric, whereby the Vandals kept all their possessions in North Africa in return for a payment of tribute
to the empire,[20] while the Huns were granted new territory in Pannonia Savia to occupy.[12]
Galla Placidias regency came to an end in 437 when Valentinian travelled to Constantinople to marry his fianc,
Licinia Eudoxia. On his return to Rome he was nominally the emperor, but in truth the management of imperial
policy in the west was in the hands of Atius.[21]
Ascendancy of Atius
(437455)
From 436 to 439, Atius was focused on the
situation in Gaul. Serious Gothic defeats in
437 and 438 were undone by a Roman
defeat in 439, which saw the status quo
restored through a new truce.[22] He also
enjoyed initial success against the Franks
and the Burgundians, as well as putting
down a revolt by the Bagaudae by 437. In
438, peace was also achieved with the Suebi
in Spain,[23] the same year the Valentinians
daughter, Eudocia, was born.[24]
Solidus minted in Thessalonica to celebrate Valentinian III's marriage to Licinia

Eudoxia, daughter of the Eastern Emperor Theodosius II. On the reverse, the three
of them in their wedding costume.
With Atius completely occupied with events in Gaul, Valentinian was unable to do anything to prevent the Vandals
completely overrunning the remaining western African provinces, culminating in the fall of Carthage on 19 October,
439.[25] This was a major blow, due to the fact that taxes and foodstuffs from these wealthy provinces supported
Rome.[26] By 440, Vandal fleets were ravaging Sicily and Atius co-ordinated a joint response with the eastern
court, which saw large numbers of troops arriving in Sicily, with the intent of attacking Gaiseric.[26]
These plans were abandoned when pressure from the Huns forced the transfer of these troops to the Danube to
repulse the Hunnic invasions.[26] Therefore in 442, Atius and Valentinian were forced to acknowledge the Vandal
conquests of Proconsular Africa, Byzacena and western Numidia, in exchange for which Rome was returned the now
devastated provinces of Tripolitana, Mauretania Sitifensis, Mauretania Caesariensis, and part of Numidia.[27]
Regardless, however, Gaiseric had soon retaken Mauretania Sitifensis and Mauretania Caesariensis, as well as taking
Sardinia and Corsica, and conducting devastating raids on Sicily.[28]
Therefore, Atius was determined that, if they could not prevent Gaiseric wreaking havoc by military means, that
perhaps linking him to the imperial dynasty would be the next best thing. Consequently sometime before 446 he
convinced Valentinian to agree to a marriage between his eldest daughter, Eudocia, and Gaiseric's son, Huneric.
Unfortunately Huneric was already married to the daughter of the king of the Visigoths, so the idea was
abandoned.[29]
Spain as well continued to slip away from imperial control during the early to mid 440s as the Suebi extended their
control. By 444, all the Spanish provinces bar Hispania Tarraconensis had been lost to the Germanic tribe, and even
Tarraconensis was under pressure due to continued Bagaudic uprisings.[30] As a consequence of these territorial
losses, by the mid 440s the state was experiencing severe financial problems, with the government openly
acknowledging that there was insufficient revenue to meet the military needs of the state.[31] The emperor issued a
law on 14 July, 444, stripping the bureaucrats of their exemptions from the recruitment tax.[32]
In that year, two additional taxes were issued in Valentinians name, one a sales tax of around four percent, and
another on the senatorial class, specifically to raise new troops as well feeding and clothing them.[33] Senators of
Valentinian III
illustrious rank were required to contribute the money for maintaining three soldiers, senators of the second class
money for one soldier, and senators of the third class one-third the cost of maintaining a soldier.[34] Even Valentinian
himself was not exempt, and he was forced to sacrifice a portion of his income and use the reduced contents of his
personal income to help the State in its financial straits.[34]
Hunnic invasions
The Huns continued to pressure the Danubian provinces in the 440s. Sometime before 449, Valentinian granted the
honorary title of Magister militum of the western empire upon their chieftain, Attila the Hun, and the western court
was relieved when he concentrated on raiding the eastern empires provinces in the Balkans from 441 through to
449.[35][36] In 449, Attila received a message from Honoria, Valentinian IIIs sister, offering him half the western
empire if he would rescue her from an unwanted marriage that his brother was forcing her into.[35]
Attila had been looking for a pretext for invading the west, and was allegedly bribed by the Vandal king Gaiseric to
attack the Visigoths in Gaul. In 450 he invaded the Gallic provinces, after securing peace with the eastern court.[35]
Valentinian was furious over the invasion. The man Honoria sent to Attila with the offer was tortured to reveal all
the details of the arrangement, and then beheaded. It took a great deal of persuading for Valentinians mother to get
her son to agree to sparing his sister's life.[37]
In early 451, Attila crossed the Rhine and entered the Belgic provinces, capturing Divodurum Mediomatricum on
April 7, 451. Atius gathered together a coalition of forces, including Visigoths and Burgundians, and raced to
prevent Attila taking the city of Aurelianum, successfully forcing the Huns to beat a hasty retreat.[38] The
Roman-Germanic forces met Hunnic forces at the Battle of Chlons, resulting in a victory for Atius, who sought to
retain his position by allowing Attila and a significant number of his troops to escape.[39]
This allowed Attila to regroup, and in 452 he invaded Italy. He sacked and destroyed Aquileia and took Verona and
Vincentia as well.[40] Atius was shadowing the Huns but did not have the troops to attack, so the road to Rome was
open. Although Ravenna was Valentinian's usual residence, he and the court eventually moved back to Rome, where
he was as Attila approached.[41]
Valentinian sent Pope Leo I and two leading senators to negotiate with Attila. This embassy, combined with a plague
among his troops, the threat of famine, and news that the eastern emperor Marcian had launched an attack on Hun
homelands along the Danube, forced Attila to turn around and leave Italy.[42] The death of Attila in Pannonia in 453,
and the power struggle that erupted between his sons ended the Hunnic threat to the empire.[43]
Valentinian thereby felt secure enough to begin plotting to have Atius killed, egged on by Petronius Maximus, a
high ranking senator who bore Atius a personal grudge.[44] Atius, whose son had married Valentinians youngest
daughter, Placidia, was murdered by Valentinian on 21 September 454.[43] Aetius was presenting some financial
statement before the Emperor when Valentinian suddenly leapt from his throne, accusing him of treason. Valentinian
drew his sword and rushed at the weaponless Atius, killing him on the spot. An appalled Sidonius Apollinaris later
remarked to Valentinian that I am ignorant, sir, of your motives or provocations; I only know that you have acted
like a man who has cut off his right hand with his left.[44][45]
On March 16 of the following year, however, the emperor himself was assassinated in Rome by two Hunnish
followers of Atius.[46] These retainers may have been put up to it by Petronius Maximus, a wealthy senator taking
revenge for the rape of his wife Lucina by Valentinian.[44] The day after the assassination Petronius Maximus had
himself proclaimed emperor by the remnants of the Western Roman army after paying a large donative.[47] He was
not as prepared as he thought to take over and stabilize the depleted empire, however; after a reign of only 11 weeks,
Maximus was stoned to death by a Roman mob.[48] King Gaiseric and his Vandals captured Rome a few days later
and sacked it for two weeks.[49]
28
Valentinian III
Character and legacy

Valentinian's reign is marked by the dismemberment of the Western Empire; by the time of his death, virtually all of
North Africa, all of western Spain and the majority of Gaul had passed out of Roman hands. He is described as
spoiled, pleasure-loving, and heavily influenced by sorcerers and astrologers. Valentinian was devoted to religion,
contributing to churches of St. Laurence in both Rome and Ravenna.[50]
He also handed over greater authority to the Papacy. On June 6, 445, he issued a decree which recognized the
primacy of the bishop of Rome based on the merits of Peter, the dignity of the city, and the Nicene Creed (in their
interpolated form); ordained that any opposition to his rulings, which were to have the force of ecclesiastical law,
should be treated as treason; and provided for the forcible extradition by provincial governors of anyone who refused
to answer a summons to Rome. Valentinian was also consumed by trivialities: during the 430s he began expelling all
Jews from the Roman army, fearful of their supposed ability to corrupt the Christians they were serving with.[51]
According to Edward Gibbon, Valentinian III was a poor emperor:
He faithfully imitated the hereditary weakness of his cousin and his two uncles, without inheriting the
gentleness, the purity, the innocence, which alleviate in their characters the want of spirit and ability.
Valentinian was less excusable, since he had passions without virtues: even his religion was
questionable; and though he never deviated into the paths of heresy, he scandalised the pious Christians
by his attachment to the profane arts of magic and divination.[52]
John Bagnall Bury was equally scathing:
Though he had ruled for thirty years, Valentinian had influenced the destinies of his empire even less
than his uncle Honorius. He only flashed once into action, when, piqued by the presumption of Aetius in
aspiring to connect himself with the imperial family, he struck him down. He thought he had slain his
master; he found that he had slain his protector: and he fell a helpless victim to the first conspiracy
which was hatched against his throne.[53]
The opinion of most modern historians is that Valentinian not only lacked the ability to govern the empire in a time
of crisis, but aggravated its dangers by his self-indulgence and vindictiveness.
In literature
Valentinian III's life was dramatized by John Fletcher in his play Valentinian, c. 1612 (published 1647).
He also appears in Handel's 1731 opera Ezio, based on a libretto by Metastasio.
The story of Valentinian and Atius was recounted in the pages of Hal Foster's Prince Valiant.
Valentinian III was played by Reg Rogers in the 2001 miniseries Attila.
References
[1] In Classical Latin, Valentinian's name would be inscribed as FLAVIVS PLACIDIVS VALENTINIANVS AVGVSTVS.
[2] Martindale, pg. 1138
[6] Ralph W. Mathisen, "Galla Placidia" (http:/ / www. roman-emperors. org/ galla. htm)
[7] Canduci, pgs. 158159
[8] Blockley, pg. 136
[10] Blockley, pg. 137
[11] Bury, pg. 240
[12] Bury, pg. 272
[13] Heather, pg. 5
[14] Bury, pg. 242
[15] Heather, pg. 7
[16] Heather, pgs. 56; Bury, pg. 243
29
Valentinian III
[17]
[18]
[19]
[20]
[21]
[22]
[23]
[24]
[25]
[26]
[27]
[28]
[29]
[30]
[31]
[32]
[33]
[34]
[35]
[36]
[37]
[38]
Bury, pg. 245

Bury, pg. 247
Bury, pg. 248
Bury, pg. 249
Bury, pgs. 250251; Canduci, pg. 159
Heather, pg. 8
Heather, pg. 9
Bury, pg. 251
Bury, pg. 254
Heather, pg. 11
Heather, pgs. 1112; Bury, pg. 255
Bury, pg. 258
Bury, pg. 256
Heather, pg. 12
Heather, pg. 14; Bury, pg. 253
Heather, pg. 14
Bury, pg. 253; Heather, pg. 14
Bury, pg. 253
Heather, pg. 15
Bury, pgs. 273276
Bury, pg. 290
Bury, pg. 292
[39]
[40]
[41]
[42]
[43]
[44]
[45]
[46]
[47]
[48]
[49]
[50]
[51]
[52]
[53]
Bury, pg. 293

Bury, pgs. 294295
"Rome, Ravenna, and the Last Western Emperors", Papers of the British School at Rome (Oxford) 69 (2001) 131167
Heather, pgs. 1718; Canduci, pgs. 160161
Heather, pg. 18
Bury, pg. 299
Edward Gibbon: Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, ch. 35
Bury, pg. 300
Bury, pgs. 323324
Bury, pgs. 324325; Canduci, pg. 161
Bury, pg. 325
Ralph W. Mathisen, "Valentinian III (425455 A.D)" (http:/ / www. roman-emperors. org/ valenIII. htm)
Canduci, pg. 160
Gibbon, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Chapter 35.
Bury, J. B., The Cambridge Medieval History Vol. I (1924), pgs. 418419
Primary sources
Prosper Chronicles
Jordanes, Gothic History
Sidonius Apollinaris
Secondary sources
Blockley, R. C., The Dynasty of Theodosius in The Cambridge Ancient History: The Late Empire, A.D. 337425
(ed. Averil Cameron and Peter Garnsey) (1998), pgs. 111138
Heather, Peter, The Western Empire 42576 in The Cambridge Ancient History: Late antiquity : empire and
successors, A.D. 425600 (ed. Averil Cameron and Bryan Ward-Perkins) (2000), pgs. 132
Martindale, J. R., The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire, Vol. II, Cambridge University Press (1980)
Canduci, Alexander, Triumph and Tragedy: The Rise and Fall of Romes Immortal Emperors, Pier 9 (2010)
Oost, Galla Placidia Augusta, University Press, Chicago, 1968.
Jones, A.H.M., The Later Roman Empire A.D. 284602, Volume One. Johns Hopkins University Press,
Baltimore, 1986.
30
Valentinian III
31
Elia, Fibronia, Valentiniano III, CULC, Catania, 1999.
External links
This list of Roman laws of the fourth century (http://www.fourthcentury.com/index.php/
imperial-laws-chart-395) shows laws passed by Valentinian III relating to Christianity.
Media related to Valentinian III at Wikimedia Commons
Mathisen, Ralph, "Valentinian III", De Imperatoribus Romanis (http://www.roman-emperors.org/valenIII.
htm).
Valentinian III
Valentinian dynasty
Born: 2 July 419 Died: 16 March 455
Regnal titles
Precededby
Honorius

425455
Succeededby
Petronius Maximus
Political offices
Precededby
Flavius Castinus,
Victor

425426
with Ioannes Augustus and Flavius Theodosius
Augustus
Succeededby
Flavius Hierius,
Flavius Ardabur
Precededby
Flavius Florentius,
Flavius Dionysius

430
with Flavius Theodosius Augustus
Succeededby
Antiochus Chuzon
Precededby
Flavius Ardabur Aspar,
Flavius Areobindus

435
with Flavius Theodosius Augustus
Succeededby
Flavius Anthemius Isidorus,
Flavius Senator
Precededby
Flavius Theodosius
Augustus,
Festus

440
with Flavius Anatolius
Succeededby
Cyrus of Panopolis without co-consul
Precededby
Flavius Theodosius
Augustus,
Caecina Decius Aginatius
Albinus

445
with Flavius Nomus
Succeededby
Flavius Aetius,
Quintus Aurelius Symmachus
Precededby
Astyrius,
Florentius Romanus
Protogenes

450
with Gennadius Avienus
Succeededby
Flavius Marcianus Augustus,
Valerius Faltonius Adelfius
Precededby
Flavius Aetius,
Flavius Studius

455
with Procopius Anthemius
Succeededby
Eparchius Avitus Augustus (alone in
the West),
Iohannes (East),
Varanes (East)
Galla Placidia
32
Galla Placidia
Galla Placidia
Empress-Mother of the Western Roman Empire
Galla Placidia on a coin ca. 430

Reign
Regent for Emperor Valentinian III: 423 2 July 437 (14 years)
Full name
Aelia Galla Placidia
Born
392
Birthplace
Ravenna
Died
27 November 450
Place of death Rome

Buried
[Unknown. She died in Rome and is not buried in "Mausoleum of Galla Placidia" in Ravenna]
Consort to
Ataulf, King of the Visigoths

Constantius III, Roman Emperor
Issue
Theodosius
Flavius Placidius Valentinianus
Justa Grata Honoria
Dynasty
Theodosian
Father
Theodosius I
Mother
Galla
Aelia Galla Placidia (392 27 November 450), daughter of the Roman Emperor Theodosius I, was the Regent for
Emperor Valentinian III from 423 until his majority in 437, and a major force in Roman politics for most of her life.
She was consort to Ataulf, King of the Goths from 414 until his death in 415, and Empress consort to Constantius III
from 417 until his death in 422.
Family
Placidia was the daughter of Roman Emperor Theodosius I and his second wife Galla,[] who was herself daughter of
Emperor Valentinian I and his second wife Justina.[1] Her older brother Gratian died young. Her mother died in
childbirth in 394, giving birth to John, who died with their mother.[2] Placidia was a younger, paternal half-sister of
Emperors Arcadius and Honorius. Her older half-sister Pulcheria predeceased her parents as mentioned in the
writings of Gregory of Nyssa, placing the death of Pulcheria prior to the death of Aelia Flaccilla, first wife of
Theodosius I, in 385.[3]
Galla Placidia
Early life
Placidia was granted her own household by her father in the early 390s and was thus financially independent while
underage. She was summoned to the court of her father in Mediolanum during 394. She was present at Theodosius'
death on January 17, 395. She was granted the title of "Nobilissima Puella" ("Most Noble Girl") during her
childhood.[]
Placidia spent most of her early years in the household of Stilicho the Vandal and his wife Serena. She is presumed
to have learned weaving and embroidery. She might have also been given a classical education though no details are
known.[] Serena was a first cousin of Arcadius, Honorius and Placidia. The poem "In Praise of Serena" by Claudian
and the "Historia Nova" by Zosimus clarify that Serena's father was an elder Honorius, a brother to Theodosius
I.[4][5] According to "De Consulatu Stilichonis" by Claudian, Placidia was betrothed to Eucherius, only known son of
Stilicho and Serena. Her scheduled marriage is mentioned in the text as the third union between Stilicho's family and
the Theodosian dynasty, following those of Stilicho to Serena and Maria, their daughter, to Honorius.[6]
Stilicho was the magister militum of the Western Roman Empire. He was the only known person to hold the rank of
"magister militum in praesenti" from 394 to 408 in both the Western and the Eastern Roman Empire. He was also
titled "magister equitum et peditum" ("Master of the Horse and of Foot"), placing him in charge of both the cavalry
and infantry forces of the Western Roman Empire.[7] In 408, Arcadius died and was succeeded by his son
Theodosius II, only seven years old. Stilicho planned to proceed to Constantinople and "undertake the management
of the affairs of Theodosius", convincing Honorius not to travel to the East himself. Shortly after, Olympius, "an
officer of rank in the court-guards" attempted to convince Honorius that Stilicho was in fact conspiring to depose
Theodosius II, to replace him with Eucherius. Olympius proceeded to lead a military coup d'tat which left him in
control of Honorius and his court. Stilicho was arrested and executed on August 22, 408. Eucherius sought refuge in
Rome but was arrested there by Arsacius and Tarentius, two eunuchs following imperial command. They executed
him not long after. Honorius appointed Tarentius imperial chamberlain, and gave the next post under him to
Arsacius.[5] Their deaths left Placidia effectively unattached.
First marriage
In the disturbances that followed the fall of Stilicho, throughout the Italian Peninsula the wives and children of the
foederati were slain. The foederati were considered loyalists of Stilicho and treated accordingly. The natural
consequence of all this was that these men, to the number of 30,000, flocked to the camp of Alaric I, King of the
Visigoths, clamouring to be led against their cowardly enemies. Alaric accordingly led them across the Julian Alps
and, in September 408, stood before the Aurelian Walls and began a strict blockade.[8] Rome was under siege, with
minor interruptions, from 408 to August 24, 410. Zosimus records that Placidia was within the city during the siege.
When Serena was accused of conspiring with Alaric, "the whole senate therefore, with Placidia, uterine sister to the
emperor, thought it proper that she should suffer death".[5] Her reasons for concurring to the execution of her cousin
are not stated in the account.[]
Prior to the fall of Rome, Placidia was captured by Alaric. Her captivity was recorded by both Jordanes and
Marcellinus Comes, though the exact circumstances are not mentioned.[] She followed the Visigoths in their move
from the Italian Peninsula to Gaul in 412. Their ruler Ataulf, having succeeded Alaric, entered an alliance with
Honorius against Jovinus and Sebastianus, rival Western Roman emperors located in Gaul. He managed to defeat
and execute both Gallo-Roman emperors in 413.[]
After the heads of Sebastianus and Jovinus arrived at Honorius' court in Ravenna in late August, to be forwarded for
display among other usurpers on the walls of Carthage, relations between Ataulf and Honorius improved sufficiently
for Ataulf to cement them by marrying Galla Placidia at Narbonne on January 1, 414. The nuptials were celebrated
with high Roman festivities and magnificent gifts from the Gothic booty. Priscus Attalus gave the wedding speech, a
classical epithalamium. The marriage was recorded by Hydatius.[] The historian Jordanes states that they married
33
Galla Placidia
34
earlier, in 411 at Forum Livii (Forl). Jordanes's date may actually be when she and the Gothic king first became
more than captor and captive.
Placidia and Ataulf had a single known son, Theodosius. He was born in Barcelona by the end of 414. Theodosius
died early in the following year, thus eliminating an opportunity for a Romano-Visigothic line.[][] Years later the
corpse was exhumed and reburied in the imperial mausoleum in Old St. Peter's Basilica, Rome. In Hispania, Ataulf
imprudently accepted into his service a man identified as "Dubius" or "Eberwolf", a former follower of Sarus. Sarus
was a Germanic chieftain who was killed while fighting under Jovinus and Sebastianus. His follower harbored a
secret desire to avenge the death of his beloved patron. And so, in the palace at Barcelona, the man brought Ataulf's
reign to a sudden end by killing him while he bathed in August/September, 415.[]
The Amali faction proceeded to proclaim Sigeric, a brother of Sarus, as the next king of the Visigoths. According to
The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon, the first act of Sigeric's reign "was the
inhuman murder" of Ataulf's six children from a former marriage "whom he tore, without pity, from the feeble arms
of a venerable bishop." (the latter being Sigesar, Bishop of the Goths[]). As for Galla Placidia, as Ataulf's widow, she
was "treated with cruel and wanton insult" by being forced to walk more than twelve miles on foot among the crowd
of captives driven ahead of the mounted Sigeric. Seeing the noble widow's sufferings, however, became one of the
factors that roused indignant opponents of the usurper, who quickly assassinated Sigeric and replaced him with
Wallia, Ataulf's relative.[9]
Second marriage
According to the Chronicon Albeldense, included in the Roda
Codex, Wallia was desperate for food supplies. He surrendered to
Constantius III, at the time magister militum of Honorius,
negotiating terms giving foederati status for the Visigoths. Placidia
was returned to Honorius as part of the peace treaty.[10] Her
brother Honorius forced her into marriage to Constantius III on
January 1, 417.[] Their daughter Justa Grata Honoria was probably
born in 417 or 418. The history of Paul the Deacon mentions her
first among the children of the marriage, suggesting that she was
the eldest. Their son Valentinian III was born July 2, 419.[11]
Placidia intervened in the succession crisis following the death of
Pope Zosimus on December 26, 418. Two factions of the Roman
clergy had proceeded to elect their own popes, the first electing
Eulalius (27 December) and the other electing Boniface I (28
December). They acted as rival popes, both in Rome, and their
factions plunged the city into tumult. Symmachus, Prefect of
Rome, sent his report to the imperial court at Ravenna, requesting
an imperial decision on the matter.[] Placidia and, presumably,
Constantius petitioned the emperor in favor of Eulalius.[] This was
arguably the first intervention by an Emperor in the Papal election.
Interior of the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia in Ravenna
Honorius initially confirmed Eulalius as the legitimate pope. As this failed to put an end to the controversy, Honorius
called a synod of Italian bishops at Ravenna to decide the matter. The synod met from February to March 419 but
failed to reach a conclusion. Honorius called a second synod in May, this time including Gaulish and African
bishops. In the meantime, the two rival popes were ordered to leave Rome. As Easter approached, however, Eulalius
returned to the city and attempted to seize the Basilica of St. John Lateran in order to "preside at the paschal
ceremonies". Imperial troops managed to repel him, and on Easter (March 30, 419) the ceremonies were led by
Galla Placidia
35
Achilleus, Bishop of Spoleto. The conflict cost Eulalius the imperial favor, and Boniface was proclaimed the
legitimate pope as of April 3, 419, returning to Rome a week later.[] Placidia had personally written to the African
bishops, summoning them to the second synod. Three of her letters are known to have survived.[]
On February 8, 421, Constantius was proclaimed an Augustus, becoming co-ruler with the childless Honorius.
Placidia was proclaimed an Augusta. She was the only Empress in the West, since Honorius had divorced his second
wife Thermantia in 408 and had never remarried. Neither title was recognised by Theodosius II, the Eastern Roman
Emperor. Constantius reportedly complained about the loss of personal freedom and privacy that came with the
imperial office. He died of an illness on September 2, 421.[12]
Widow
Galla Placidia herself was now forced from the Western Empire.
Though the motivation for this remains unclear, the public issue was
the increasingly scandalous public caresses she received from her own
brother Honoriusthis at least was the interpretation of Olympiodorus
of Thebes, a historian used as a source by Zosimus, Sozomen and
probably Philostorgius, as J.F. Matthews has demonstrated.[13] Gibbon
had a different opinion: "The power of Placidia; and the indecent
familiarity of her brother, which might be no more than the symptoms
of a childish affection, were universally attributed to incestuous
love."[14]
According to Gibbon, "On a sudden, by some base intrigues of a
steward and a nurse, this excessive fondness was converted into an
Medallions of Honorius and Galla Placidia,
irreconcilable quarrel: the debates of the emperor and his sister were
Ravenna, 425
not long confined within the walls of the palace; and as the Gothic
soldiers adhered to their queen, the city of Ravenna was agitated with
bloody and dangerous tumults, which could only be appeased by the forced or voluntary retreat of Placidia and her
children. The royal exiles landed at Constantinople, soon after the marriage of Theodosius, during the festival of the
Persian victories. They were treated with kindness and magnificence; but as the statues of the emperor Constantius
had been rejected by the Eastern court, the title of Augusta could not decently be allowed to his widow."[] The
passage places the arrival of Placidia and her children after the marriage of Theodosius II to Aelia Eudocia, known to
have occurred on June 7, 421.[15] The "Persian victories" mentioned were probably victory celebrations over a brief
RomanSassanid War of 421-22, under the respective leadership of Theodosius II and Bahram V of the Sassanid
Empire. "The general Ardaburius operated in Arzanene and gained a victory, autumn 421, which forced the Persians
to retreat to Nisibis, which Ardaburius then besieged. He raised the siege on the arrival of an army under Varahran,
who proceeded to attack Resaina. Meanwhile the Saracens of Hira, under AlMundhir, were sent to invade Syria, and
were defeated by Vitianus. During the peace negotiations the Persians attacked the Romans and were defeated by
Procopius, son-inlaw of Anthemius (Socrates, VII.18, 20). The Empress Eudocia celebrated the war in a poem in
heroic metre (ib. 21)."[16] The "Saracens of Hira" were the Lakhmids of Al-Hirah.
On August 15, 423, Honorius died of dropsy, perhaps pulmonary edema.[17] With no member of the Theodosian
dynasty present at Ravenna to claim the throne, Theodosius II was expected to nominate a Western co-emperor.
However, Theodosius hesitated and the decision was delayed. Taking advantage of the power vacuum, Castinus the
Patrician proceeded to become a kingmaker. He declared Joannes, the primicerius notariorum ("chief notary", head
of the civil service), to be the new Western Roman Emperor. Among their supporters was Flavius Aetius. Aetius was
a son of Flavius Gaudentius, magister militum, and Aurelia. Joannes' rule was accepted in the provinces of Italia,
Gaul, Hispania, but not in Africa Province.[]
Galla Placidia
Theodosius II reacted by preparing Valentinian III for eventual promotion to the imperial office. In 423/424,
Valentinian was named nobilissimus. In 424, Valentinian was betrothed to Licinia Eudoxia, his first cousin once
removed. She was a daughter of Theodosius II and Aelia Eudocia. The year of their betrothal was recorded by
Marcellinus Comes. At the time of their betrothal, Valentinian was approximately four years old, Licinia only
two.[][18] Gibbon attributes the betrothal to "the agreement of the three females who governed the Roman world",
meaning Placidia and her nieces Eudocia and Pulcheria.[] In the same year, Valentinian was proclaimed a Caesar in
the Eastern court.[]
The campaign against Joannes also started in the same year. Forces of the Eastern Roman army gathered at
Thessaloniki, and were placed under the general command of Ardaburius, the victorious general of the
Roman-Persian War. The invasion force was to cross the Adriatic Sea by two routes. Aspar, son of Ardaburius, led
the cavalry by land, following the coast of the Adriatic from the Western Balkans to Northern Italy. Placidia and
Valentinian joined this force. Ardaburius and the infantry boarded ships of the Eastern Roman navy in an attempt to
reach Ravenna by sea. Aspar marched his forces to Aquileia, taking the city by surprise and with virtually no
resistance. The fleet, on the other hand, was dispersed by a storm. Ardaburius and two of his galleys were captured
by forces loyal to Joannes and were held prisoners in Ravenna.[][]
Ardaburius was treated well by Joannes, who probably intended to negotiate with Theodosius for an end to the
hostilities. The prisoner was allowed the "courteous freedom" of walking the court and streets of Ravenna during his
captivity. He took advantage of this privilege to come into contact with the forces of Joannes and convinced some of
them to defect to Theodosius' side. The conspirators contacted Aspar and beckoned him to Ravenna. A shepherd led
Aspar's cavalry force through the marshes of the Po River to the gates of Ravenna; with the besiegers outside the
walls and the defectors within, the city was quickly captured. Joannes was taken and his right hand cut off; he was
then mounted on a donkey and paraded through the streets, and finally beheaded in the Hippodrome of Aquileia.[][]
With Joannes dead, Valentinian was officially proclaimed the new Augustus of the Western Roman Empire on
October 23, 425, in the presence of the Roman Senate. Three days following Joannes' death, Aetius brought
reinforcements for his army, a reported number of sixty thousand Huns from across the Danube. After some
skirmishing, Placidia and Aetius came to an agreement that established the political landscape of the Western Roman
Empire for the next thirty years. The Huns were paid off and sent home, while Aetius received the position of
magister militum per Gallias (commander-in-chief of the Roman army in Gaul).[][]
Regent
Galla Placidia was regent of the Western Roman Empire from 425 to 437, her regency ending when Valentinian
reached his eighteenth birthday on July 2, 437. Among her early supporters was Bonifacius, governor of the Diocese
of Africa.[][] Aetius, his rival for influence, managed to secure Arles against Theodoric I of the Visigoths.[19] The
Visigoths concluded a treaty and were given Gallic noblemen as hostages. The later Emperor Avitus visited
Theodoric, lived at his court and taught his sons.[20]
Conflict between Bonifacius and Aetius

Conflict between Placidia and Bonifacius started in 429. Placidia appointed Bonifacius general of Libya. Procopius
records that Aetius played the two against each other, warning Placidia against Bonifacius and advising her to recall
him to Rome; simultaneously writing to Bonifacius, warning him that Placidia was about to summon him for no
good reason in order to put him away.[21]
Bonifacius, trusting the warning from Aetius, refused the summons; and, thinking his position untenable, sought an
alliance with the Vandals in Spain. The Vandals subsequently crossed from Spain into Libya to join him. To friends
of Bonifacius in Rome, this apparent act of hostility toward the Empire seemed entirely out of character for
Bonifacius. They traveled to Carthage at Placidia's behest to intercede with him, and he showed them the letter from
Aetius. The plot now revealed, his friends returned to Rome to apprise Placidia of the true situation. She did not
36
Galla Placidia
move against Aetius, as he wielded great influence, and as the Empire was already in danger; but she urged
Bonifacius to return to Rome "and not to permit the empire of the Romans to lie under the hand of barbarians."[21]
Bonifacius now regretted his alliance with the Vandals and tried to persuade them to return to Spain. Gaiseric offered
battle instead, and Bonifacius was besieged at Hippo Regius in Numidia by the sea. (St. Augustine was Bishop of
Hippo and died in this siege.) Unable to take the city, the Vandals eventually raised the siege. The Romans, with
reinforcements under Aspar, renewed the struggle but were routed and lost Africa to the Vandals.[21]
Bonifacius had meanwhile returned to Rome, where Placidia raised him to the rank of patrician and made him
"master-general of the Roman armies". Aetius returned from Gaul with an army of "barbarians", and was met by
Bonifacius in the bloody Battle of Ravenna (432). Bonifacius won the battle, but was mortally wounded and died a
few days later. Aetius was compelled to retire to Pannonia.[21]
Rise of Aetius
With the generals loyal to her having either died or defected to Aetius, Placidia acknowledged the inevitable: Aetius
was recalled from exile in 433 and given the titles "magister militum" and "Patrician". The appointments effectively
left Aetius in control of the entire Western Roman Army and gave him considerable influence over imperial policy.
Placidia continued to act as regent until 437, though her direct influence over decisions was diminished. She would
continue to exercise political influence until her death in 450no longer, however, the only power at court.[]
Aetius later played a pivotal role in the defense of the Western Empire against Attila the Hun. Attila was diverted
from Constantinople towards Italy by a letter from Placidia's own daughter Justa Grata Honoria in the spring of 450,
asking him to rescue her from an unwanted marriage to a Roman senator that the Imperial family, including Placidia,
was trying to force upon her. Honoria included her engagement ring with the letter. Though Honoria may not have
intended a proposal of marriage, Attila chose to interpret her message as such. He accepted, asking for half of the
western Empire as dowry. When Valentinian discovered the plan, only the influence of Placidia persuaded him not to
kill Honoria. Valentinian wrote to Attila denying the legitimacy of the supposed marriage proposal. Attila,
unconvinced, sent an emissary to Ravenna to proclaim that Honoria was innocent, that the proposal had been
legitimate, and that he would come to claim what was rightfully his. Honoria was quickly married to Flavius Bassus
Herculanus, though this did not prevent Attila from pressing his claim.[22]
Placidia died shortly afterwards at Rome in November 450, and did not live to see Attila ravage Italy in 451453, in
a much more brutal campaign than the Goths had waged, using Justa's letter as his sole "legitimate" excuse.
Public works
Placidia was a devout Chalcedonian Christian. She was involved in the building and restoration of various churches
throughout her period of influence. She restored and expanded the Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls in Rome
and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. She built San Giovanni Evangelista, Ravenna in thanks for the
sparing of her life and those of her children in a storm while crossing the Adriatic Sea. The dedicatory inscription
reads "Galla Placidia, along with her son Placidus Valentinian Augustus and her daughter Justa Grata Honoria
Augusta, paid off their vow for their liberation from the danger of the sea."[]
Her Mausoleum in Ravenna was one of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites inscribed in 1996. However there is
some doubt whether the building served as her tomb. The building was initially erected as a chapel dedicated to
Lawrence of Rome. It is unknown whether the sarcophagi therein contained the bodies of the members of the
Theodosian dynasty, or when they were placed in the building.[]
37
Galla Placidia
38
In literature
Two stanzas in Alexander Blok's poem "Ravenna" (MayJune 1909) focus on her tomb; Olga Matich writes: "For
Blok, Galla Placidia represented a synthetic historical figure that linked different cultural histories."[23]
Ezra Pound uses her tomb as an exemplar of the "gold" remaining from the past, for example in Canto XXI:
"Gold fades in the gloom,/ Under the blue-black roof, Placidia's..."
Louis Zukofsky refers to it in his poem "4 Other Countries," reproduced in "A" 17: "The gold that shines/ in the
dark/ of Galla Placidia,/ the gold in the// Round vault rug of stone/ that shows its pattern as well as the stars/ my
love might want on her floor..."
In popular culture
Galla Placidia is represented in the BBC's Ancient Rome: The Rise and Fall of an Empire by Natasha Berrero
Spanish musician Jaume Pahissa wrote the opera Galla Placdia in 1913.
Galla Placidia is played by Alice Krige in the 2001 American TV Miniseries Attila
Royal titles
Precededby
Thermantia
Western Roman Empress consort

421
Succeededby
Licinia Eudoxia
Precededby
Justina
Empress-Mother of the Western Roman

Empire
September 2, 421 November 27, 450
Succeededby
Ino Anastasia
Notes
[3] Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology
[5] Zosimus, "Historia Nova, Book five, 1814 translation by Green and Chaplin
[7] Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire, vol. 1 , p. 1114
[13] J. F. Matthews, "Olympiodorus of Thebes and the History of the West (A.D. 407-425)" The Journal of Roman Studies; 60 (1970:79-97)
[19] Prosper, Epitoma chronicon 1290, in: MGH Auctores antiquissimi (AA) 9, p. 471; Chronica Gallica of 452, 102, in: MGH AA 9, p. 658;
Sidonius Apollinaris, letters 7. 12. 3
[20] Sidonius Apollinaris, carmen 7. 215sqq.; 7. 495sqq.
[21] Procopius, "History of the Wars", Book 3, chapter 3
[23] Olga Matich, Erotic Utopia: The Decadent Imagination in Russia's Fin de Sicle (Univ. of Wisconsin Press, 2007: ISBN 0299208842), p.
300.
References
Cawley, Charles, Foundation for Medieval Genealogy (http://fmg.ac/Projects/MedLands/Intro.htm) Missing
or empty |title= (help), WP:NOTRS
Gibbon, Edward, "chapter 33" (http://etext.library.adelaide.edu.au/g/g43d/chapter33.html), History of the
Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
Weigel, Richard D. (ed.), An Online Encyclopedia of Roman Emperors (http://www.roman-emperors.org)
Galla Placidia
Further reading
Oost, Stewart Irwin (1967), Galla Placidia Augusta, A Biographical Essay is a good, modern study of Placidia
and the times in which she lived.
External links
Pictures of the mausoleum of Galla Placidia (http://mosaicartsource.wordpress.com/category/mosaic/
mosaic-resources/mosaic-travel/galla-placidia/)
Entry of Aelia Flaccilla in the Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (http://www.
ancientlibrary.com/smith-bio/1269.html)
Zosimus, New History. London: Green and Chaplin (1814). Book 5. (http://www.tertullian.org/fathers/
zosimus05_book5.htm)
39
Flavius Aetius
40
Flavius Aetius
Atius is also the name of several other persons.
Flavius Atius
Western Roman Empire.

Nickname
Last of the Romans
Born
c.396 A.D
Durostorum
Died
c.454 A.D
Ravenna
Allegiance
Service/branch
Late Roman army
Yearsof service 425-454

Rank
Magister Militum
Commands held Magister Militum per Gallias

Comes et Magister Utriusque Militae (Junior)
Comes et Magister Utriusque Militae (Senior)
Battles/wars
Battle of Rimini
Visigothic War of 437
Battle of Mons Colubrarius
Battle of Vicus Helena
Battle of the Catalaunian Plains
Atius (Latin: Flavius Atius, 396454), dux et patricius, was a Roman general of the closing period of the Western
Roman Empire. He was an able military commander and the most influential man in the Western Roman Empire for
two decades (433-454). He managed policy in regard to the attacks of barbarian peoples pressing on the Empire.
Notably, he mustered a large Roman and allied (foederati) army to win the Battle of the Catalaunian Plains, ending
the devastating Hunnic invasion of Attila in 451.
Along with his rival Count Boniface, he has often been called "the last of the Romans". Edward Gibbon refers to him
as "the man universally celebrated as the terror of Barbarians and the support of the Republic" for his victory at the
Catalaunian Plains.
Flavius Aetius
Biography
Origins and Family
Atius was born at Durostorum in Moesia Inferior (modern Silistra, Bulgaria), around 390. His father was Flavius
Gaudentius, a known Roman soldier of Scythian extraction,[1][2] and his mother, whose name is unknown, was a
wealthy aristocratic woman of Italian ancestry.[3] Before 425 Atius married the daughter of Carpilio,[4] who gave
him a son, also named Carpilio.[5] Later he married Pelagia[6], widow of Bonifacius, from whom he had a son,
Gaudentius. It is possible that he had also a daughter, wife of Thraustila who avenged Atius' death by killing
emperor Valentinian III.[7]
Early years and service under Joannes

As a boy, Atius was at the service of the imperial court, enrolled in the military unit of the Protectores Domestici
and then elevated to the position of tribuni praetoriani partis militaris, setting him up for future political
eligibility.[8] Between 405 and 408 he was kept as hostage at the court of Alaric I, king of the Visigoths.[9] In 408
Alaric asked to keep Atius as a hostage, but was refused, as Atius was sent to the court of Uldin, king of the Huns,
where he would stay with the Huns throughout much of the reign of Octar, Uldin's successor..[10] Atius's upbringing
amongst militaristic peoples gave him a martial vigour not common in Roman generals of the time.[9][11]
In 423 the Western Emperor Honorius died. The most influential man in the West, Castinus, chose as his successor
Joannes, a high-ranking officer. Joannes was not part of the Theodosian dynasty and he did not receive the
recognition of the eastern court. The Eastern Emperor Theodosius II organized a military expedition westward, led
by Ardaburius and his son Aspar, to put his cousin, the young Valentinian III (who was a nephew of Honorius), on
the western throne. Atius entered the service of the usurper as cura palatii and was sent by Joannes to ask the Huns
for assistance. Joannes lacked a strong army and fortified himself in his capital, Ravenna, where he was killed in the
summer of 425. Shortly afterwards, Atius returned to Italy with a large force of Huns to find that power in the west
was now in the hands of Valentinian III and his mother Galla Placidia. After fighting against Aspar's army, Atius
managed to compromise with Galla Placidia. He sent back his army of Huns and in return obtained the rank of comes
et magister militum per Gallias, the commander in chief of the Roman army in Gaul.[12]
First Gallic campaigns

In 427, Atius arrived in southern Gaul with an army of roughly 40,000[13] to find Arelate, an important city in
Septimania near the mouth of the Rhone, under siege from the Visigoths led by their king Theodoric I. Atius
defeated Theodoric, lifted the Siege of Arelate, and drove the Visigoths back to their holdings in Aquitania.[14] In
428 he fought the Salian Franks, defeating their king Chlodio and recovering some territory they had occupied along
the Rhine.[15] In 429 he was elevated to the rank of magister militum; this was probably the iunior of the two offices
of magister militum praesentalis, as the senior is known to have been the patrician Flavius Felix, the most influential
man in those years, supporter of Galla Placidia. In 430 the Visigoths led by Anaolsus attacked Arelate again but were
defeated by Atius at the Battle of Mons Colubrarius, establishing a peace treaty.[14][16] In May 430, Atius accused
Felix of plotting against him and had him and his wife killed. Once Felix was dead, Atius was probably the most
prominent among the magistri militum, even if he had not yet been granted the title of patrician. During late 430 and
431 Atius was in Raetia and Noricum, and is attested in the city of Vindelicia, re-establishing Roman rule on the
Danube frontier and campaigning against the Juthungi.[17] In 431 he returned to Gaul, he received Hydatius, bishop
of Aquae Flaviae, who complained about the attacks of the Suebi. In 432 Atius again defeated the Franks, making
peace with them, and he sent back Hydatius to the Suebi in Hispania.[18]
41
Flavius Aetius
War with Bonifacius

While Atius was campaigning in Gaul, there was an ongoing power struggle between Atius, generals Felix and
Bonifacius, and emperor Valentinian's mother and regent Galla Placidia. After the execution of Felix, Atius and
Bonifacius remained as the empire's most influential generals, both constantly vying for the favor of Placidia. In 427
while Bonifacius was away as governor (comes) of Africa, Atius caused him to fall into disfavour with Placidia.
Bonifacius was eventually returned to favor by Placidia, but not before revolting and causing the loss of most of
Africa to the Vandals.[19]
In 432 Atius held the consulate, but Bonifacius was recalled to Italy and received warmly by Placidia. Bonifacius
was given the rank of patrician, while Atius was stripped of his military command, which was given to
Bonifacius.[20] Atius, believing his fall now imminent, marched against Bonifacius and fought him at the Battle of
Rimini.[20] Boniface won the battle but was mortally wounded, dying a few months later. Atius escaped to Dalmatia
and traveled to the court of his friend, Rugila, the king of the Huns. With their help he returned to power, receiving
the title of magister utriusque militiae; he had Bonifacius' son-in-law, Sebastianus, who had succeeded to Bonifacius
as magister militum praesentalis, exiled from Italy to Constantinople, bought the properties of Bonifacius and
married his widow Pelagia[6].[21]
Campaigns against Burgundians, Bagaudae, and Visigoths

From 433 to 450, Atius was the dominant personality in the Western Empire, obtaining the patrician rank (5
September 435) and playing the role of "protector" of Galla Placidia and Valentinian III while the Emperor was still
young. At the same time he continued to devote attention to Gaul. In 436, the Burgundians of King Gunther were
defeated and obliged to accept peace by Atius, who, however, the following year sent the Huns to destroy them;
20,000 Burgundians were killed in a slaughter which probably became the basis of the Nibelungenlied, a German
epic.[citation needed] That same 436 Aetius was probably in Armorica with Litorius to suppress a rebellion of the
Bacaudae. Year 437 saw his second consulship and the wedding of Valentinian and Licinia Eudoxia in
Constantinople; it is probable that Aetius attended at the ceremony that marked the beginning of the direct rule of the
Emperor. The following two years were occupied by a campaign against the Suebi and by the war against the
Visigoths; in 438 Aetius won a major battle (probably the battle of Mons Colubrarius), but in 439 the Visigoths
defeated and killed his general Litorius and his Hunnic Foederati. Aetius returned to Gaul after Vetericus had
stabilized the situation, and defeated the Visigoths and obtained a treaty. [22] On his return to Italy, he was honoured
by a statue erected by the Senate and the People of Rome by order of the Emperor; this was probably the occasion
for the panegyric written by Merobaudes.[23]
In 443, Atius settled the remaining Burgundians in Savoy, south of Lake Geneva. His most pressing concern in the
440s was with problems in Gaul and Iberia, mainly with the Bagaudae. He settled Alans around Valence and Orlans
to contain unrest around present-day Brittany.
The Alans settled in Armorica caused problems in 447 or 448. It was probably in that period that he fought a battle
near Tours, followed by a Frankish attack under Clodio to the region near Arras, in Belgica Secunda; the invaders
were stopped by a battle around a river-crossing near Vicus Helena, where Atius directed the operations while his
commander Majorian (later Emperor) fought with the cavalry.[24] However, in 450 Atius had already returned in
good terms with the Franks. In that year, in fact, the king of the Franks died, and the patricius supported his younger
son's claim to the throne, adopting him as his own son and sending him from Rome, where he had been sent as
ambassador, to the Frankish court with many presents.[25]
42
Flavius Aetius
Victory over Attila at the Catalaunian Plains

Before 449 Atius had signed an agreement
with the Huns, allowing some of them to
settle in Pannonia, along the Sava River; he
also sent to Attila, the king of the Huns, a
man called Constantius as a secretary. In
449, Attila was angry for an alleged theft of
a golden plate, and Atius sent him an
embassy under Romulus to calm him; Attila
sent him as a present a dwarf, Zerco, whom
Atius gave back to his original owner,
Aspar.[26]
However, the good terms between Romans
and Huns did not last, as Attila wanted to
attack Gaul; he knew that Atius was a
The probable path (margin of error: 20 km) of the Hun forces in their invasion of
serious obstacle to his enterprise, and tried
Gaul, leading up to the Battle of the Catalaunian Plains
to have him removed, but in 451, when the
Huns attacked, Atius was the commander
of the Roman army in Gaul.[27] The large Hunnish army[28] captured several cities, and proceeded towards Orlans.
When the Alans living in the region were ready to defect to Attila, Atius, with the help of the influential
Gallo-Roman senator Avitus, convinced the Visigoths of king Theodoric I to join him against the external menace;
he also succeeded in preventing Sangibanus, a possible ally for Attila, from combining his army with the Hunnish
one. Then the joint Roman and Visigothic armies moved to relieve the besieged city of Orlans, forcing the Huns to
abandon the siege and retreat to open country.[29]
On September 20, 451 (some sources place the date at June 20, 451),[30] Atius and Theodoric defeated Attila and
his allies at the Battle of the Catalaunian Plains.[31] Theodoric died in the battle, and Atius suggested his son
Thorismund to quickly reach Toulouse (capital of the Kingdom of the Visigoths) to secure his throne; for this reason
it is said that Atius kept all of the booty for his army.[32]
Attila returned in 452 to again press his claim of marriage to Honoria; Atius did not take the necessary precautions
to block the Alpine passes,[33] and Attila invaded and ravaged Italy, sacking numerous cities and razing Aquileia
completely, leaving no trace of it behind. Valentinian III fled from Ravenna to Rome; Atius remained in the field
but lacked the strength to offer battle. Gibbon however says Atius never showed his greatness more clearly in
managing to harass and slow Attila's advance with only a shadow force. Attila finally halted at the Po, where he met
an embassy including the prefect Trigetius, the ex-consul Gennadius Avienus, and Pope Leo I. After the meeting he
turned his army back, having gained neither Honoria's hand nor the territories he desired. A number of practical
factors induced Attila to retreat: his army was unable to obtain sufficient food and was suffering from disease;
Aetius' army, busy harassing the Huns, had been reinforced by troops sent from the Eastern Empire by the Emperor
Marcian, and, finally, Marcian had sent forces north of the Danube to attack the homelands of the Huns.[34]
Assassination
Although in 453 Atius had been able to betroth his son Gaudentius to Valentinian's daughter Placidia, Valentinian
felt intimidated by Atius, who had once supported Joannes against him and who Valentinian believed wanted to
place his son upon the imperial throne. The Roman senator Petronius Maximus and the chamberlain Heraclius were
therefore able to enlist Valentinian in a plot to assassinate Atius. On September 21, 454, when at court in Ravenna
delivering a financial account, Atius was slain by Valentinian's own hand. Edward Gibbon credits Sidonius
43
Flavius Aetius
Apollinaris with the famous observation, "I am ignorant, sir, of your motives or provocations; I only know that you
have acted like a man who has cut off his right hand with his left."[35]
Maximus expected to be made patrician in place of Atius, but was blocked by Heraclius. Seeking revenge,
Maximus arranged with two Hun friends of Atius, Optila and Thraustila, to assassinate both Valentinian III and
Heraclius. On March 16, 455, Optila stabbed the emperor in the temple as he dismounted in the Campus Martius and
prepared for a session of archery practice. As the stunned emperor turned to see who had struck him, Optila finished
him off with another thrust of his blade. Meanwhile, Thraustila stepped forward and killed Heraclius. Most of the
soldiers standing close by had been faithful followers of Atius and none lifted a hand to save the emperor.
Legacy
Military legacy
Atius is generally viewed as a great military commander, indeed he was held in such high esteem by the Eastern
Roman Empire, that he became known as the last true Roman of the west. Most historians also consider the Battle of
the Catalaunian Plains as decisively important, crippling Attila by destroying his aura of invincibility.[36] Gibbon
eloquently states the majority view:
(Attila's) retreat across the Rhine confessed the last victory which was achieved in the name of the Western
Roman Empire.".[37]
John Julius Norwich caustically referred to the assassination of Valentinian III by his own guards as an act that
Valentinian brought on himself by his foolish execution of Atius, the "Empire's greatest commander."[38] Certainly
Atius' military legacy is defined by Chlons, even though he effectively ruled the western empire from 433-450,
and attempted to stabilize its European borders under a deluge of barbarians, including foremost, Attila and the
Huns.
One of his greatest achievements was the assembling of the coalition against Attila. On this Arther Ferrill says:
After he secured the Rhine, Attila moved into central Gaul and put Orlans under siege. Had he gained his
objective, he would have been in a strong position to subdue the Visigoths in Aquitaine, but Atius had put
together a formidable coalition against the Hun. The Roman leader had built a powerful alliance of Visigoths,
Alans and Burgundians, uniting them with their traditional enemy, the Romans, for the defense of Gaul. Even
though all parties to the protection of the Western Roman Empire had a common hatred of the Huns, it was
still a remarkable achievement on Atius' part to have drawn them into an effective military relationship.
"Attila the Hun and the Battle of Chalons", by Arther Ferrill [39]
While J. B. Bury viewed Atius as a great military commander, and giant figure of history, he did not consider that
the battle itself was particularly decisive. He argues that Atius attacked the Huns when they were already retreating
from Orlans (so the danger to Gaul was departing anyway); and he declined to renew the attack on the Huns next
day, precisely in order to preserve the balance of power. (Others suggest that the Huns may have abandoned the
siege of Orlans because Atius's armies were advancing on them.)
Bury suggests that the German victory over the Huns at the Battle of Nedao, three years later, was more important.
This determined that there would be no long-term Hunnic Empire in Europe, which Bury thinks would have been
unlikely even if they had crushed the Germans on that occasion. For Bury, the result of the battle of the Catalaunian
Plains determined chiefly that Attila spent his last year looting Italy, rather than Gaul.
Bury's view remains in the minority, and the battle is considered crucial by virtually every other major historian.
44
Flavius Aetius
Controversies
His legacy has been filled with controversy somewhat similar to that of Stilicho. The two best Roman generals of
their time, both were killed by jealous emperors, and both left the Empire significantly weaker when they died. The
main difference between the two was that all major historians hail Atius as a loyal Roman and a pillar of the
Empire, while Bury finds Stilicho an unwitting traitor. While Stilicho was succeeded by Atius, the Empire simply
had no one to take Atius's place. At the time of Atius's death, all the Roman provinces in western Europe had a
significant barbarian presence. This had begun a full three generations earlier, when the barbarians were allowed to
stay inside the Empire's borders in exchange for peace and their military service. Edward Gibbon maintains that
Atius could not have expelled them if he had wanted to, as he lacked Roman troops to do the task, and the
barbarians were the only army he had to keep the peace. Gibbon argues in great detail that Roman citizens had lost
their martial vigour, with the consequence that the only troops available to Stilicho or Atius were mostly
barbarians.[40]
Gibbon views Atius in a positive light, as do Norwich, Creasy, Ferrill, and Watson. In 1890, Robert F. Pennel wrote
in Ancient Rome from the Earliest Times Down to 476 A.D.
The Empire was but a relic of its former self. Gaul, Spain, and Britain were practically lost; Illyria and
Pannonia were in the hands of the Goths; and Africa was soon after seized by the barbarians. Valentinian was
fortunate in the possession of ATIUS, a Scythian by birth, who for a time upheld the Roman name, winning
for himself the title of LAST OF THE ROMANS. He was assassinated by his ungrateful master."[41]
Gibbon believes it was not indifference but rather preoccupation with the Huns and other barbarians that led Atius
to neglect the navy. The subsequent loss of Africa came after Boniface invited the Vandals. Gibbon makes clear that
Atius simply lacked the means to preserve the declining Western Empire in its entirety, while Norwich concludes
that he guarded the Empire for three decades and that the after-effects of Atius's death lie at the feet of the Emperor
who foolishly killed him. At a time when Romans did little or none of their own fighting, and no effective navy
existed in the West, Atius had done all he could to preserve some vestige of order in continental Europe.
One could argue that later Emperors Majorian, Leo I and Anthemius saw the necessity of regaining the African
provinces. Should Atius have concentrated his efforts on saving Africa, to the detriment of maintaining some
vestige of Empire in Europe? Michael Grant in his History of Rome states flatly that Atius was powerless to stop the
loss of Africa. Atius had begun to move against the Vandals when the forces he sent had to be recalled to fight
Attila. Since Atius relied on barbarian federates, and as no other Roman General had the respect of those barbarian
troops, his death left the Empire bereft of virtually any army in the west.
It is notable that Bury, whilst not believing the Battle of Chlons was significant, did believe in the significance of
Atius's rule in general, saying "From the end of the regency to his own death, Atius was master of the Empire in
the west, and it must be imputed to his policy and arms that Imperial rule did not break down in all the provinces by
the middle of the fifth century."
In the end, there is some disagreement among historians as to the historical place of Atius. Was he the protector of
Rome for three decades described by Gibbon, Norwich and Bury, the hero of Chlons described by Sir Edward
Creasy, or should he be condemned for the loss of Africa, though most historians say he was powerless to stop that
loss? Although Bury is cited as a critic of Atius, he was not, and said of Atius's death: "Who was now to save Italy
from the Vandals?" The answer was no one. There was not one figure in the Empire able to take Atius's place as the
champion and defender of the West. The certain thing about Atius's place in history is that he will forever be
remembered as the last great Western Roman General, and the General who defeated the dreaded Attila the Hun.
[42]
45
Flavius Aetius
Atius in the arts

Atius is the protagonist of several operas titled Ezio (Italian for Aetius), as well as Verdi's opera Attila.
Atius is played by Powers Boothe in the 2001 American TV Miniseries Attila. Here he is portrayed as an antagonist
whose methods are contrasted with Attila. Atius is portrayed as the heroic 'Last of the Romans' in William Napier's
Attila trilogy (2005), uniting the Romans and the Goths in one final, titanic battle to stop the Huns in their tracks, in
the epochal Battle of the Catalaunian Fields.
While he does not appear in person, Atius' battle with Attila is documented in detail in Jack Whyte's book The
Eagle, during a conversation between King Arthur and Seur Clothar.
Atius, Galla Placidia and Stilicho all appear as central characters in Jose Gomez-Rivera's historical novel Flavius
Atius: The Last Conqueror, published in 2004.
Atius, Attila and Theodoric all appear in Michael Curtis Ford's fourth novel entitled The Sword of Attila, published
by Thomas Dunne Books in 2005.
Atius, Attila, Honoria, Leo and others figure in Louis de Wohl's vivid historical novel Throne of the World (1946),
later republished with the alternative title Attila the Hun.
The movie "476 A.D.", about the period of Flavius Atius and his victory over Attila the Hun at the Battle of
Chlons, as well as following the events leading to the End of the Roman Empire on September 4, 476 A.D, will be
released in 2013, by Ivan Pavleti.
References
[1] Joseph Cummins, The War Chronicles: From Chariots to Flintlocks, Fair Winds, 2008 p. 110 Google book (http:/ / books. google. it/
books?id=A50WWPlO-7wC& pg=PA110& dq=aetius+ father+ scythian& hl=it& sa=X& ei=GrVjT7uIL8aatweP-pyECA&
ved=0CFwQ6AEwBzgK#v=onepage& q=aetius father scythian& f=false)
[2] Thomas J. Craughwell, How the Barbarian Invasions Shaped the Modern World, Fair Winds, 2008, p.60 Google book (http:/ / books. google.
it/ books?id=m-LaiejJocYC& pg=PA60& dq=aetius+ father+ scythian& hl=it& sa=X& ei=GrVjT7uIL8aatweP-pyECA&
ved=0CGIQ6AEwCDgK#v=onepage& q=aetius father scythian& f=false)
[3] Jordanes, Getica, 176; Merobaudes, Carmina, iv, 42-43, and Panegyrici, ii, 110-115, 119-120; Gregory of Tours, ii.8; Zosimus, v.36.1;
Chronica gallica 452, 100. Cited in Jones, p. 21.
[4] Carpilio had been a comes domesticorum, commander of the imperial guard (Gregory of Tours, ii.8).
[5] Carpilio went to Attila for an embassy (Cassiodorus, Variae, i.4.11) and remained at their court as an hostage for some time (Priscus, fr. 8).
[6] http:/ / toolserver. org/ %7Edispenser/ cgi-bin/ dab_solver. py?page=Flavius_Aetius& editintro=Template:Disambiguation_needed/
editintro& client=Template:Dn
[7] Gregory of Tours, ii.8; Priscus, fr. 8; Cassiodorus, Variae, i.4.11; John of Antioch, fr. 201.3 and 204; Marcellinus comes, s.a. 432; Sidonius
Apollinaris, Carmina, v.205; Hydatius, 167; Merobaudes, Carmina, iv (poem composed for the first birthday of Gaudentius); Additamenta ad
chron. Prosperi Hauniensis, s.a. 455 (only source to cite Thraustila as son-in-law of Atius). Cited in Jones, p. 21.
[8] Gregory of Tours, ii.8; Jones, p. 21.
[9] Bury, J.B. History of the Later Roman Empire. XIII.I. p 241
[10] Gregory of Tours, ii.8; Merobaudes, Carmina, iv, 42-46, and Panegyrici, ii.1-4 and 127-143; Zosimus, v.36.1
[11] Edward Gibbon, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Volume I, Chap. XXXV (Chicago: Encyclopdia Britannica, Inc., 1952), p.
559.
[12] Cassiodorus, Chronica, s.a. 425; Gregory of Tours, ii.8; Philostorgius, xii.4; Prosperus of Tirus, s.a. 425; Chronica gallica 452, 100;
Jordanes, Romana, 328; Jones, p. 22.
[15] Philostorgius, xii.4; Prosperus of Tirus, s.a. 425 and 428; Chronica gallica 452, 102 (s.a. 427); Cassiodorus, Chronica, s.a. 428. Cited in
Jones, p. 22.
[16] Merobaudes, Pan. 1.10 (Vollmer, ad loc.)
[18] Prosperus of Tirus, s.a. 429 e 430; John of Antioch, fr. 201; Hydatius, 92, 93 and 94 (s.a. 430), 95 and 96 (s.a. 431), 98 (s.a. 432); Chronica
gallica 452, 106 (s.a. 430); Jordanes, Getica, 176; Sidonius Apollinaris, Carmina, vii.233. Cited in Jones, pp. 22-23.
[19] Procopius of Caesarea, Bellum Vandalicum, i.3.14-22, 28-29; John of Antioch, fr. 196; Theophanes, AM 5931; Hydatius, 99; Prosperus, s.a.
427. Cited in Jones, p. 23.
46
Flavius Aetius
[21] CIL, v, 7530; Prosperus, s.a. 432; Chronica Gallica a. 452, 109 and 111 (s.a. 432), 112 (s.a. 433), 115 (s.a. 434); Chronica Gallica a. 511,
587; Additamenta ad chron. Prosperi Hauniensis, s.a. 432; Hydatius, 99; Marcellinus comes, s.a. 432; John of Antioch, fr. 201.3. Cited in
Jones, pp. 23-24.
[22] Hughes, pp. 102-103.
[23] Annales Ravennates, s.a. 435; John of Antioch, fr. 201.3; Prosper of Aquitaine, s.a. 435, s.a. 438, s.a. 439; Cassiodorus, Chronica, s.a. 435;
Chronica Gallica a. 452, 117 (s.a. 435), 118 (s.a. 436), 119 (s.a. 437), 123 (s.a. 439); Hydatius, 108 (s.a. 436), 110 (s.a. 437), 112 (s.a. 438),
117 (s.a. 439); Sidonius Apollinaris, vii.234-235 and 297-309; Merobaudes, Panegyrici, i fr. iib 11ff, i fr. iia 22-23, and ii.5-7; Jordanes,
Getica, 176; ; Barnes, Timothy, "Patricii under Valentinian III", Phoenix, 29, 1975, pp. 166-168; Jones, pp. 24-26.
[24] Chronica Gallica a. 452, 133 (s.a. 438); Sidonius Apollinaris, v.210-218. Cited in Jones, p. 27. Jan Willem Drijvers, Helena Augusta,
BRILL, ISBN 90-04-09435-0, p. 12.
[25] Priscus, fr. 16; Gregory of Tours, ii.7. It is possible that this happened after the Battle of the Catalaunian Plains in 451 (Jones, p. 27).
[26] Priscus, fr. 7 and 8; Suda, Z 29. Cited in Jones, p. 27.
[27] John of Antioch, fr. 199.2; Jordanes, Getica, 191. Cited in Jones, p.27.
[28] It should be noted that Hunnish armies were never composed entirely of ethnic Huns but contained relative majorities of subject peoples.
[29] Sidonius Apollinaris, vii.328-331, 339-341; John Malalas, 358; Jordanes, Getica, 195; Gregory of Tours, ii.7. Cited in Jones, p.27.
[30] Bury, J.B., 1923, Chapter 9, 4.
[31] Prosperus, s.a. 451; Chronica Gallica a. 452, 139 (s.a. 451), 141 (s.a. 452); Cassiodorus, Chronica, 451; Additamenta ad chron. Prosperi
Hauniensis, s.a. 451; Hydatius, 150 (a. 451); Chronicon Paschale, s.a. 450; Jordanes, Getica, 197ff; Gregory of Tours, ii.7; Procopius, i.4.24;
John Malalas, 359; Theophanes, AM 5943. Cited in Jones, p. 27.
[32] Additamenta ad chron. Prosperi Hauniensis, s.a. 451; Gregory of Tours, ii.7; Jordanes, Getica, 215ff. Cited in Jones, pp. 27-28.
[33] Prosperus, s.a. 452.
[34] Heather, P. (2010) The Fall of the Roman Empire, Pan Macmillan. ISBN 0330529838, 9780330529839, p. 341
[35] Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, ch. 35
[36] Edward Shepherd Creasy http:/ / www. standin. se/ fifteen06a. htm Fifteen Decisive Battles of the World "The victory which the Roman
general, Atius, with his Gothic allies, had then gained over the Huns, was the last victory of imperial Rome. But among the long Fasti of her
triumphs, few can be found that, for their importance and ultimate benefit to mankind, are comparable with this expiring effort of her arms."
[37] Edward Gibbon, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, The Modern Library, New York, volume II, p.1089.
[38] Norwich, John. Byzantium: The Early Centuries
[39] http:/ / history. eserver. org/ attila-at-chalons. txt
[40] Gibbon, E. The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Chapter 38 (http:/ / www. fordham. edu/ halsall/ source/ gibbon-fall. html)
[41] Ancient Rome from the earliest times to 476 A.D, By Robert F. Pennel (1890) (http:/ / www. nalanda. nitc. ac. in/ resources/ english/
etext-project/ history/ ancrome/ chapter42. html)
[42] http:/ / www. standin. se/ fifteen06a. htm
Bibliography
Primary sources
Additamenta ad chron. Prosperi Hauniensis

Annales Ravennates
Cassiodorus, Chronica and Variae
Chronica gallica anno 452
Chronica gallica anno 511
Chronicon Paschale
Gregory of Tours, Historia Francorum ii.8, gives a condensed version of Atius' character and career, using a lost
history of Renatus Profuturus Frigeridus.
Hydatius, Chronicle
John of Antioch, Chronicle
John Malalas, Chronographia
Jordanes, Getica and Romana
Marcellinus Comes, Chronicle
Merobaudes, Carmina and Panegyrici
Philostorgius, Ecclesiastical History
Priscus, History
Procopius, Vandal War
47
Flavius Aetius
48
Prosper of Aquitaine, Epitoma chronicon

Sidonius Apollinaris, Carmina
Suda
Zosimus, New History
Secondary sources
Jones, Arnold Hugh Martin, John Robert Martindale, John Morris, "Fl. Aetius 7", The Prosopography of the Later
Roman Empire, volume 2, Cambridge University Press, 1980, ISBN 0-521-20159-4, pp.2129.
Further readings
Cameron, Averil The Later Roman Empire (Harvard University Press 2007) ISBN 0-674-51194-8.
Cameron, Averil The Cambridge Ancient History: the Late Empire (Cambridge University Press 1998) ISBN
0-521-30200-5.
Clover, Frank M Flavius Merobaudes (American Philosophical Society 1971).
Creasy, Sir Edward, Fifteen Decisive Battles of the World,
Drinkwater, John, Fifth-Century Gaul: A Crisis of Identity? (Cambridge University Press 1992) ISBN
0-521-41485-7.
Elton, Hugh Warfare in Roman Europe, AD 350-425 (Oxford University Press 1998) ISBN 0-19-815241-8.
Ferrill, Arther, The Fall of the Roman Empire: The Military Explanation. Thames and Hudson, London, 1986.
Hughes, Ian, "Aetius: Attila's Nemesis" Pen & Sword Military, 2012. ISBN 1848842791.
Jones, A.H.M., The Later Roman Empire 284-602. Oxford Press, Cambridge, 1964.
Norwich, John J. Byzantium: The Early Centuries. The Fall of the West. Knopf, New York, 1997
O'Flynn, John Michael Generalissimos of the Western Roman Empire (The University of Alberta Press 1983)
ISBN 0-88864-031-5.
Oost, Stewart I., Galla Placidia Augusta. Chicago, 1968.
Reynolds, Julian "Defending Rome: The Masters of the Soldiers" Xlibris, 2012. ISBN 1462851053.
Political offices
Precededby
Flavius Anicius Auchenius Bassus,
Flavius Antiochus

432
with Flavius Valerius
Succeededby
Augustus XIV,
Petronius Maximus
Precededby
Flavius Anthemius Isidorus Theophilus,
Flavius Senator

437
with Flavius Sigisvultus
Succeededby
Augustus XVI,
Anicius Acilius Glabrio Faustus
Precededby
Imp. Caesar Flavius Placidus
Valentinianus Augustus VI,
Flavius Nomus

446
with Quintus Aurelius Symmachus
Succeededby
Flavius Calepius,
Flavius Ardaburius Iunior
Military offices
Precededby
Commanding General of Gaul

425-433
Succeededby
Precededby
Sebastianus
Supreme Commander of the Western

Roman Army
433-454
Succeededby
Remistus
In 456
Joannes
49
Joannes
Joannes
Joannes on a solidus.
Reign
20 November 423 May 425, against Valentinian III
Died
June or July 425
Place of death Aquileia
Ioannes, known in English as Joannes, was a Roman usurper (423425) against Valentinian III.
On the death of the Emperor Honorius (August 15, 423), Theodosius II, the remaining ruler of the House of
Theodosius hesitated in announcing his uncle's death. In the interregnum, Honorius's patrician at the time of his
death, Castinus, elevated Joannes as emperor.
History
Joannes was a primicerius notariorum or senior civil servant at the time of his elevation. Procopius praised him as
"both gentle and well-endowed with sagacity and thoroughly capable of valorous deeds."[1] Unlike the Theodosian
emperors, he tolerated all Christian sects.
From the beginning, his control over the empire was insecure. In Gaul, his praetorian prefect was slain at Arles in an
uprising of the soldiery there.[2] And Bonifacius, Comes of the Diocese of Africa, held back the grain fleet destined
to Rome.[3]
"The events of Johannes' reign are as shadowy as its origins," writes John Matthews, who then provides a list of the
ruler's known actions in a single paragraph. Joannes was proclaimed at Rome and praetorian games were provided at
the expense of a member of the gens Anicia. Johannes then moved his base of operations to Ravenna, knowing full
well that the Eastern Empire would strike from that direction. There is a mention of an expedition against Africa, but
its fate, presumed unsuccessful, is unrecorded. In Gaul, he appears to have caused offense by submitting clerics to
secular courts. And that is all.[4]
Joannes had hoped that he could come to an agreement with the Eastern Emperor, but when Theodosius II elevated
the young Valentinian III, first to Caesar, then to co-emperor as an Augustus (undoubtedly influenced by
Valentinian's mother Galla Placidia), he knew he could only expect war. Late in 424, he gave to one of his younger
and most promising followers, Atius, an important mission. Atius, Governor of the Palace at the time, was sent to
the Huns, with whom he had lived as a hostage earlier, to seek military help.[5]
While Atius was away, the army of the Eastern Empire left Thessalonica for Italy, and soon camped in Aquileia.
Although the primary sources state that Ravenna fell to their assault John of Antioch states that a shepherd led the
army of Aspar safely through the marshes that protected the city[6] Stewart Oost believes that Aspar's father,
Ardaburius, who had been captured by Joannes' soldiers, convinced the garrison of Ravenna to betray the city.[7] The
fallen emperor was brought to Aquileia where first his hand was cut off, then he was paraded on a donkey in the
Joannes
50
Hippodrome to the insults of the populace, then after further insults and injuries, he was finally decapitated in June
or July 425.[8]
Three days after Joannes's death, Atius returned at the head of a substantial Hunnic army. After some skirmishing,
Placidia, regent to her son, and Atius came to an agreement that established the political landscape of the Western
Roman Empire for the next thirty years. The Huns were paid off and sent home, while Aetius received the position
of magister militum (commander-in-chief of the Roman army).[9] The historian Adrian Goldsworthy writes that "it
took a hard-fought campaign by strong elements of the East Roman army and navy, in addition to a fair dose of
betrayal," to defeat Joannes.[10]
References
[1] Procopius, De Bellus III.3.6. Translated by H.B. Dewing, Procopius (Cambridge: Loeb Classical Library, 1979), vol. 2 p. 25
[2] Stewart Oost Galla Placidia Augusta: A biographical essay (Chicago: University Press, 1968), p. 186
[3] Olympiodorus, fragment 40. Translated by C.D. Gordon, Age of Attila: Fifth Century Byzantium and the Barbarians (Ann Arbor: University
of Michigan, 1966), pp. 44f
[4] John Matthews, Western Aristocracies and Imperial Court AD 364 - 425 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1990), pp. 379f
[5] Renatus Frigeridus, cited in Gregory of Tours, Decem Libri Historiarum, II.8; translated by Lewis Thorpe, History of the Franks
(Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1974), pp. 118f
[6] John of Antioch, fragment 195; translated by C.D. Gordon, Age of Attila, p. 47
[7] Oost, Galla Placidia Augusta, pp. 188f
[8] Procopius, III.3.9; translated by Dewing, pp. 75ff
[9] Oost, Galla Placidia Augusta, pp. 189f
[10] Adrian Goldsworthy, The Fall of the West: The Slow Death of the Roman Superpower, Orion Books Ltd, Paperback Edition 2010, London,
pp. 305 and 436
External links
Hugh Elton, "Ioannes" (http://www.roman-emperors.org/westemp5.htm#Note`9), from De Imperatoribus
Romanis"
Political offices
Precededby
Flavius
Castinus,
Victor

425
with Flavius Theodosius Augustus and Flavius Placidus
Valentinianus Caesar
Succeededby
Flavius Theodosius Augustus,
Flavius Placidus Valentinianus
Caesar
Petronius Maximus
51
Petronius Maximus
Petronius Maximus
Solidus of Emperor Petronius Maximus.

Reign
17 March 31 May 455
Full name
Flavius Anicius Petronius Maximus
Born
c. 396
Died
31 May 455 (aged 58-59)
Predecessor
Valentinian III
Successor
Avitus
Wives
possibly Lucina
Licinia Eudoxia
Issue
Palladius
Dynasty
Anicii
Father
possibly Anicius Probinus
Flavius Petronius Maximus[1] (possibly Flavius Anicius Petronius Maximus)[2] (c. 396 31 May 455[3][4]) was
Western Roman Emperor for two and a half months in 455. A wealthy senator and a prominent aristocrat, he was
instrumental in the murders of the Western Roman magister militum, Flavius Atius, and the Western Roman
Emperor Valentinian III. Maximus was killed during the events culminating in the sack of Rome by the Vandals in
455.
Early career
Petronius Maximus was born in about 396.[3] Although he was of obscure origin, it is now believed that he belonged
to the Anicii family.[5] Related to later Emperor Olybrius, Maximus was the son of Anicius Probinus,[6] the son of
Anicia Faltonia Proba and Sextus Claudius Petronius Probus,[7] who was Prefect of Illyricum in 364, Prefect of Gaul
in 366, Prefect of Italy in 368375 and again in 383 and consul in 371.
Maximus achieved a remarkable career early in life. His earliest known office was praetor, held about 411;[8] around
415 he served as a tribunus et notarius, which was an entry position to the imperial bureaucracy and led to his
serving as Comes sacrarum largitionum (Count of the Sacred Largess) between 416 and 419.[8]
From January/February 420 to August/September 421 he was praefectus urbi of Rome, an office he held again
sometime before 439; as praefectus he restored the Old St. Peter's Basilica. He was also appointed praetorian prefect
sometime between 421 and 439; it was either while holding this post or during his second urban prefecture that he
was appointed consul for the year 433.[9]
Petronius Maximus
From August 439 to February 441 he held the praetorian prefecture of Italy,[10] then a second consulship in 443.
Between 443 (the year of his fourth prefecture and second consulship) and 445 (the year he was granted the title of
Patrician) Maximus built a forum in Rome, on the Caelian Hill between via Labicana and the Basilica di San
Clemente.[9] During this year, he was briefly the most honored of all non-Imperial Romans, until the third consulate
of Flavius Atius, generalissimo of the Western empire, the following year.[8]
The enmity between Petronius Maximus and the powerful Patricius and magister militum of the West Atius clearly
led to the events that gradually brought down the Western Roman Empire.[11] Initially however, the principal
beneficiary of this was Maximus, who came to the throne as a result of the murders of Atius in 454 and of the
Western Roman Emperor Valentinian III on 16 March 455.[8]
Murder of Valentinian III and accession of Maximus

According to the historian John of Antioch,[12] Maximus poisoned the mind of the Emperor against Atius, resulting
in the murder of his rival at the hands of Valentinian III. Johns account has it that Valentinian and Maximus placed a
wager on a game that Maximus ended up losing.[8] As he did not have the money available, Maximus left his ring as
a guarantee of his debt. Valentinian then used the ring to summon to court Lucina, the chaste and beautiful wife of
Maximus, whom Valentinian had long lusted after. Lucina went to the court, believing she had been summoned by
her husband, but instead found herself at dinner with Valentinian. Although initially resisting his advances, the
Emperor managed to wear her down and succeeded in raping her.[8]
Returning home and meeting Maximus, she accused him of betrayal, believing that he had handed her over to the
Emperor. Although Maximus swore revenge, he was equally motivated by ambition to supplant "a detested and
despicable rival,"[13] so he decided to move against Valentinian.
According to John of Antioch, Maximus was acutely aware that while Atius was alive he could not exact vengeance
on Valentinian, so Atius had to be removed.[8] He therefore allied himself with a eunuch of Valentinian's, the
primicerius sacri cubiculi Heraclius, who had long opposed the general with the hope of exercising more power over
the emperor. The two of them convinced Valentinian that Atius was planning to assassinate him and urged him to
kill his magister militum during a meeting, which Valentinian did with his own hands, with the help of Heraclius, on
September 21, 454.[8][14][15]
Once Atius was dead, Maximus asked Valentinian to be appointed in his place, but the Emperor refused;[16]
Heraclius, in fact, had advised the Emperor not to allow anyone to possess the power that Atius had wielded.
According to John of Antioch, Maximus was so irritated by Valentinians refusal to appoint him as his magister
militum that he decided to have Valentinian assassinated as well. He chose as accomplices Optilia and Thraustila,
two Scythians who had fought under the command of Aetius and who, after the death of their general, had been
appointed as Valentinians escort.[8]
Maximus easily convinced them that Valentinian was the only one responsible for the death of Aetius, and that the
two soldiers must avenge their old commander, while at the same time also promising them a reward for the betrayal
of the Emperor. On March 16, 455 Valentinian, who was in Rome, went to Campus Martius with some guards,
accompanied by Optilia, Thraustila and their men.[8] As soon as the Emperor dismounted to practice with the bow,
Optilia came up with his men and hit him in the temple. As Valentinian turned to look at his attackers, Optilia killed
him. At the same moment, Thraustila killed Heraclius. The two Scythians took the imperial diadem and robe and
brought them to Maximus.[8]
The sudden and violent death of Valentinian III left the Western Roman Empire without an obvious successor to the
throne, with several candidates supported by various groups of the imperial bureaucracy and the military. In
particular, the armys support was split between three main candidates:[8] Maximianus, the former domesticus
("bodyguard") of Atius, who was the son of an Egyptian merchant named Domninus who had become rich in Italy;
the future emperor Majorian, who commanded the army after the death of Aetius and who had the backing of the
Empress Licinia Eudoxia; and Maximus himself, who had the support of the Roman Senate and who in the end, on
52
Petronius Maximus
17 March, defeated his rivals and secured the throne by distributing money to officials of the imperial palace.[8]
Reign and death

After gaining control of the palace, Maximus consolidated his hold on power by immediately marrying Licinia
Eudoxia, the widow of Valentinian III.[16] She only married him reluctantly, suspecting that in fact he had been
involved in the murder of her late husband; and indeed Maximus treated Valentinian III's assassins with considerable
favour.[8] The eastern court at Constantinople refused to recognise his accession, so to further secure his position,
Maximus quickly appointed Avitus as Master of Soldiers, and sent him on a mission to Toulouse to gain the support
of the Visigoths.[17][18] He also proceeded to cancel the betrothal of Licinias daughter, Eudocia, to Huneric, the son
of the Vandal king Geiseric. This infuriated the Vandal king, who only needed the excuse of Licinias despairing
appeal to the Vandal court for help to begin preparations for the invasion of Italy.[19]
By May, however, within two months of Maximus gaining the throne, news reached Rome that Geiseric was sailing
for Italy. As the news spread, panic gripped the city and many of its inhabitants took to flight.[8] The Emperor, aware
that Avitus had not yet returned with the expected Visigothic aid, decided that it was fruitless to mount a defence
against the Vandals, so he attempted to organize his escape, urging the Senate to accompany him. However, in the
panic, Petronius Maximus was completely abandoned by his bodyguard and entourage and left to fend for himself.[8]
As Maximus rode out of the city on his own on May 31, 455, he was set upon by an angry mob, which stoned him to
death. (Another account has it that he was killed by "a certain Roman soldier named Ursus")[20] His body was
mutilated and flung into the Tiber.[8][21] He had reigned for only seventy-eight days. His son from his first marriage,
Palladius, who had held the title of Caesar between March 17 and May 31, and who had married his stepsister
Eudocia, was probably executed.[22][8]
On June 2, 455, three days after Maximus death, Geiseric captured the city of Rome and thoroughly sacked it for
two weeks. In response to the pleas of Pope Leo I, the Vandals desisted from more destructive behavior that often
accompanied the sack of a city arson, torture, and murder. Nevertheless Geiseric eventually carried away a great
amount of loot as well as the empress Licinia Eudoxia and her daughters Placidia and Eudocia.[23] Eudocia married
Huneric in 456 as had been originally intended.[citation needed]
Sources
Browne, Robert William (1859). A history of Rome from A.D. 96 to the fall of the Western empire [24]. Society for
Promoting Christian Knowledge.
Cameron, Averil; Ward-Perkins, Bryan; Whitby, Michael (2001). The Cambridge Ancient History, Volume 14:
Late Antiquity: Empire and Successors, A.D. 425600. Cambridge University Press. ISBN9780521325912.
Canduci, Alexander (2010). Triumph & Tragedy: The Rise and Fall of Rome's Immortal Emperors. Pier 9.
ISBN978-1-74196-598-8.
Drinkwater, John; Elton, Hugh (2002). Fifth-Century Gaul: A Crisis of Identity?'. Cambridge, England:
Cambridge University Press. ISBN0-521-52933-6.
Gibbon, Edward. Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Vol. I [25].
Jones, Arnold Hugh Martin; Martindale, John Robert (1992). The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire
volume 2. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. ISBNISBN 0-521-20159-4.
Mathisen, Ralph (1999). "Petronius Maximus (17 March 455 22 May 455)" [26]. De Imperatoribus Romanis.
Norwich, John Julius (1989). Byzantium: The Early Centuries. Penguin.
53
Petronius Maximus
54
References
[1] Jones & Martindale, pg. 749
[2] Drinkwater, pgs. 117-118
[3] Drinkwater, pg. 118
[4] Norwich, J, pg. 162
[8] Mathisen
[10] Norwich, pg. 160
[11] Cameron, pg. 18
[12] John of Antioch, fragments 200201.
[13] Gibbons; chapter 35
[17] Canduci, pg. 161-163
[20] Brown, p. 350
[21]
[22]
[23]
[24]
[25]
[26]
Canduci, pg. 161

Cameron, pg. 21
Norwich, Byzantium: The Early Centuries, pg. 162
http:/ / books. google. com/ books?id=mmoBAAAAQAAJ
http:/ / www. ccel. org/ ccel/ gibbon/ decline/ files/ volume1/ chap35. htm#valentinian
http:/ / www. roman-emperors. org/ petmax. htm
External links
Media related to Petronius Maximus at Wikimedia Commons
Petronius Maximus
Theodosian dynasty
Born: 396 Died: 31 May 455
Regnal titles
Precededby
Valentinian III

455
Succeededby
Avitus
Political offices
Precededby
Flavius Aetius,
Flavius Valerius

433
with Imp. Caesar Flavius Theodosius Augustus
XIV
Succeededby
Flavius Ardaburius Asparus,
Flavius Areobindus
Precededby
Flavius
Dioscorus,
Flavius Eudoxius

443
with Flavius Paterius
Succeededby
Imp. Caesar Flavius Theodosius Augustus
XVIII,
Caecina Decius Aginatius Albinus
Avitus
55
Avitus
This article is about the Roman Emperor. For the other meanings of "Avitus", see Avitus (disambiguation)
Avitus
Tremissis of Emperor Avitus.

Reign
9 July 455 17 October 456
Coronation
Toulouse, 9 July 455
Born
c. 385
Birthplace
Clermont
Died
457
Buried
Brioude
Predecessor
Petronius Maximus
Successor
Majorian
Father
Flavius Julius Agricola
Eparchius Avitus[1] (c. 385[2] after 17 October 456 or in 457) was Western Roman Emperor from 8 or 9 July 455
to 17 October 456. He was a senator and a high-ranking officer both in the civil and military administration, as well
as Bishop of Piacenza.
A Gallo-Roman aristocrat, he opposed the reduction of the Western Roman Empire to Italy alone, both politically
and from an administrative point of view. For this reason, as Emperor he introduced several Gallic senators in the
Imperial administration; this policy, however, was opposed by the Senatorial aristocracy and by the people of Rome,
who had suffered from the sack of the city by the Vandals in 455.
Avitus had a good relationship with the Visigoths, in particular with their king Theodoric II, who was a friend of his
and who acclaimed Avitus Emperor. The possibility of a strong and useful alliance between the Visigoths and
Romans ended, however, when Theodoric invaded Roman Hispania and then refused to help Avitus against the rebel
Roman generals who deposed him.
Avitus
56
Biography
Origins and early career
Avitus was born in Clermont to a family of the Galllo-Roman nobility. His father was possibly Flavius Julius
Agricola, consul in 421. Avitus had two sons, Agricola (440 after 507, a vir inlustris) and Ecdicius Avitus (later
patricius and magister militum under Emperor Julius Nepos) and a daughter Papianilla; she married Sidonius
Apollinaris, whose letters and panegyrics remain an important source for Avitus' life and times.
Avitus followed a course of study typical for a young man of his rank, including law. Before 421 he was sent to the
powerful patricius Flavius Constantius (briefly Emperor in 421) to ask for a tax reduction for his own country; this
embassy was successful. His relative Theodorus was hostage at the court of the King of Visigoths, Theodoric I. In
425/426 Avitus went and met him and the King, who let Avitus enter his own court. Here, around 439, Avitus met
the son of Theodoric, Theodoric II, who later became King. Avitus inspired the young Theodoric to study Latin
poets.
He then started a military career serving under the magister militum Aetius in his campaign against the Juthungi and
the Norics (430431) and against the Burgundians (436). In 437, after being elevated to the rank of vir inlustris, he
returned to Avernia, where he held a high office, probably magister militum per Gallias. In the same year he
defeated a group of Hunnic raiders near Clermont and obliged Theodoric to lift the siege of Narbonne. In 439 he
became Praetorian prefect of Gaul and renewed the friendship treaty with the Visigoths.
Before the summer of 440, he retired to private life at his estate, Avitacum, near Clermont. Here he lived until 451
when the Huns, led by Attila, invaded the Western Roman Empire; Avitus persuaded Theodoric into an alliance with
Rome, and the combined forces of Theodoric and Aetius defeated Attila in the Battle of Chlons; Theodoric died in
the battle.
Rise to the throne

In the late spring of 455, Avitus was recalled to service
by emperor Petronius Maximus and was elevated to the
rank of magister militum, probably praesentalis;
Maximus sent Avitus in an embassy to the court of
Theodoric II, who had succeeded to his father, at
Toulouse. This embassy probably confirmed to the new
king and his people the condition of foederati of the
Empire and asked for their support for the new
Emperor.[3]
Petronius Maximus, who obtained the throne at the death of

Valentinian III, recalled Avitus from his private life and sent him to
ask for support to the Visigoths, but, at the death of Maximus, they
acclaimed Avitus Emperor
While Avitus was at Theodoric's court, news came of

the death of Petronius Maximus (31 May) and of the
sack of Rome by the Vandals of Gaiseric. Theodoric
acclaimed Avitus Emperor in Toulouse; on 9 July,[4] the new Emperor was acclaimed by the Gallic chiefs gathered
in Viernum,[5] near Arelate (Arles); and later, around 5 August, before Avitus reached Rome, he received the
recognition of the Roman Senate.[6]
Avitus stayed in Gaul for three months, to consolidate his power in the region that was the center of his support, and
later went to Italy with a Gallic army, probably reinforced with a Gothic force. He probably travelled to Noricum to
restore the imperial authority in that province, and then passed through Ravenna, where he left a Gothic force under
the new patricius and magister militum Remistus, a Visigoth. On 21 September, finally, he entered Rome.[7]
Avitus
57
Consolidation of power
The effective power of Avitus depended on the support of all the major players in the Western Roman Empire in the
mid-5th century. The new Emperor needed the support of both the civil institutions, the Roman senate and the
Eastern Roman Emperor Marcian, as well as that of the army and its commanders (the generals Majorian and
Ricimer) and the Vandals of Gaiseric.
On 1 January 456, Avitus took the consulate,[8] as traditionally the Emperors always held the consulate in the first
year upon assuming the purple. However, his consulate sine collega (without a second Consul) was not recognised
by the Eastern court, which nominated two consuls, Iohannes and Varanes. The fact that the two courts did not agree
on a couple of consuls but each nominated its own means that despite the efforts of Avitus to receive the recognition
of the Eastern Emperor,[9] the relationship between the two halves was not optimal.
Foreign policy
Treaties under Marcian and a treaty of 442 between emperor Valentinian III and the Vandal king Gaiseric had failed
to reduce Vandal incursions and raids along the Italian coast. Avitus' own efforts secured a temporary winter truce
with them; but in March 456, Vandals destroyed Capua. Avitus sent Ricimer to defend Sicily, and the Romans
defeated the Vandals twice, once in a land battle near Agrigento and another in a naval battle off Corsica.[10]
During the reign of Avitus, the Visigoths expanded into Hispania, nominally under Roman authorisation but actually
in their own interests. In 455 Avitus had sent an ambassador, comes Fronto, to the Suebi and then to Theodoric II to
ask them to formally recognise Roman rule. When the Suebi invaded the Roman province of Hispania
Tarraconensis, the Visigoths attacked and defeated them 5 October 456 at the Campus Paramus, twelve miles from
Astorga, on the banks of the rbigo (Urbicus),[11] subsequently occupying the province as nominal foederati of the
Empire.
Fall
In the meantime, resentment amongst the population of
Italy against the foreigner Avitus grew. The
Gallic-Roman Emperor had given to other members of
the Gallic-Roman aristocracy many key offices of the
public administration usually filled by Romans.
Furthermore the population of Rome, devastated by the
sack of Rome, suffered from food shortages due to the
Vandal control of the naval routes, aggravated by the
requirements of the foreign troops that had arrived with
Avitus. The imperial treasury was almost empty and,
after disbanding his Visigoth guard because of popular
pressure, Avitus was obliged to pay their huge wages
by melting down and selling the bronze of some
statues.[12]
Majorian, comes domesticorum of Avitus, and Ricimer, a general of

barbaric descent, rebelled against their Emperor, defeated him near
Piacenza, and obliged him to become Bishop of the city. It was
Majorian who succeeded Avitus on the throne.
Counting on the popular discontent, on the disbandment of the imperial guard, and on the prestige gained through
their victories, Ricimer and the comes domesticorum Majorian rebelled against Avitus; the Emperor was obliged to
leave Rome in early autumn and to move north. Ricimer had the Roman Senate depose Avitus and ordered the
murder of the magister militum Remistus in the Palatium at Classe, ancient port of Ravenna, on 17 September
456.[13]
Avitus decided to react. First he chose Messianus, one of his collaborators in his embassy to the Visigoths ordered by
Petronius Maximus, as the new magister militum; then he probably went to Gaul (Hydatius says to Arelate)[14] to
Avitus
collect all the available forces, probably the Visigoth guard he had just disbanded; finally he led his forces against
the troops of Ricimer, near Piacenza. The Emperor and his army entered the city and attacked the huge army led by
Ricimer, but after a great massacre of his men, including Messianus, Avitus fled on 17 or 18 October 456. In the
immediate aftermath Ricimer spared his life, but forced him to become Bishop of Piacenza.[15]
Death
Avitus' Gallic supporters may still have recognised him as emperor, despite his deposition. Sidonius Apollinaris tells
of a failed coup d'etat in Gaul organised by one Marcellus[16] and probably aimed at bringing Avitus back on the
throne.[17] The contemporary historian Hydatius, who lived in Spain, considered the year 457 the third of Avitus'
reign;[18] Avitus' own intentions are not known; nor are the manner and date of his death, of which there are several
versions. In some, he was told that the Roman Senate had condemned him to death, and tried to flee to Gaul,
officially travelling there to bring donations to the basilica of Saint Julian in Avernia, his homeland; according to
Gregory of Tours, he died during this journey.[19] Other sources have him strangled or starved to death, by order of
his successor. Avitus died in 457, or late in 456, very soon after his deposition, and was buried at Brioude, next to
Saint Julian's tomb.[20]
Notes
[1] In older literature the names Marcus Maecilius Avitus was reported, but now only Eparchius is accepted. ICVR-08, 20823: Locus Geronti
presb(yteri) / depositus XIIII Kal(endas) Iul(ias) / cons(ulatu) Eparchi Aviti.
[2] Avitus was appointed to his first political task around 420. Sidonius Apollinaris described him as a iuuenis, a "youth" at the time, so he was
probably between the ages of 30 and 45. For iuvenis as an age category, see Andrew Gillet, "The Birth of Ricimer," Historia: Zeitschrift fr
Alte Geschichte, Vol. 44, No. 3, 1995, p. 383 note 23.
[3] Petronius Maximus ascended to the throne on 17 March 455, after Emperor Valentinian III had been killed by a conspiracy in which
Petronius was involved.
[4] Fasti vindobonenses priores record date about 10 July.
[5] According to Sidonius Apollinaris, vii.571579, Avitus was crowned with a torc, the typical Gallic neck ring with which Julian had also been
crowned.
[6] Fasti vindobonenses priores, n. 575; Cassiodorus, 1264.
[7] Auctuarium Prosperi, 7.
[8] In this occasion, Sidonius Apollinaris declamed his panegiric.
[9] Hydatius writes (Chronicle, 166) that Avitus sent some ambassadors to Marcian to discuss the separation of their spheres of influences, and
later (Chronicle, 169) adds that the two emperors ruled in agreement.
[10] See Priscus, History, fragment 24, and Hydatius, 176177.
[11] E.A. Thompson, "The End of Roman Spain. Part II", Nottingham Medieval Studies, 1977.
[12] John of Antioch, fragment 202.
[13] Fasti vindobonenses priores, 579; Auctuarium Prosperi Havniense, 1.
[14] Hydatius, 177.
[15] Fasti vindobonenses priores, 580 (reporting 17 October as the day of the battle); Auctuarium Prosperi, s.a. 456 (that reports 18 October,
instead); Victor of Tuenna, s.a. 455 (that tells of Avitus' consecration by the Bishop of Milan, Eusebius).
[16] Sidonius Apollinaris, Letters, i.11.6.
[17] Mathisen.
[18] Hydatius, Chronicle, 183..
[19] Gregory of Tours, Historia Francorum, ii.11.
[20] For modern scholarly analyses and list of ancient and modern sources for the circumstances of Avitus' final year and death, see Ralph W.
Mathisen, "The Third Regnal Year of Eparchius Avitus," Classical Philology, Vol. 80, No. 4 (Oct., 1985), pp. 326-335. For a response, and
alternative interpretations of the same materials, see R. W. Burgess, "The Third Regnal Year of Eparchius Avitus: A Reply," Classical
Philology, Vol. 82, No. 4 (Oct., 1987), pp. 335-345.
58
Avitus
59
Bibliography
Primary sources
Major source for Avitus' life until his rise to the throne is the panegyric written in occasion of his consulate by
Sidonius Apollinaris (431486):
Sidonius Apollinaris, Panegyric for Avitus
For the history of his reign, the major sources are the Spaniard historian Hydatius (400 c. 469 c.) and the Byzantine
chronicler John of Antioch (first half of the 7th century):
Hydatius, Chronicle
John of Antioch, Chronicle
Secondary sources
Jones, Arnold Hugh Martin, John Robert Martindale, John Morris, "Eparchius Avitus 5", Prosopography of the
Later Roman Empire, Volume 2, Cambridge University Press, 1992, ISBN 0-521-20159-4, pp.196198.
Mathisen, Ralph W., "Avitus (9/10 July 455 17/18 October 456)" (http://www.roman-emperors.org/avitus.
htm), De Imperatoribus Romanis
Randers-Pehrson, Justine Davis. "Barbarians and Romans: The Birth Struggle of Europe, A.D. 400700".
Norman University of Oklahoma Press, 1983. p.251.
External links
Media related to Avitus at Wikimedia Commons
Gibbon chapter XXXVI (http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext97/dfre310h.htm)
Latin text of Sidonius's carmen (http://home.casema.nl/marcelkuyper/sidonius_bestanden/sid_carmen_vii.
html)
Regnal titles
Precededby
Petronius Maximus

455456
Succeededby
Majorian
Political offices
Precededby
Flavius Placidus Valentinianus
Augustus
Procopius Anthemius
Consul of the Roman

Empire
456
with Iohannes and Varanes
Succeededby
Flavius
Constantinus,
Flavius Rufus
Ricimer
Ricimer
Flavius Ricimer[1] (c. 405 August 18, 472) Latin pronunciation:[rkmr]) was a Romanized Germanic general who
effectively ruled the remaining territory of the Western Roman Empire from 456 until his death in 472. Deriving his
power from his position as magister militum of the Western Empire, Ricimer exercised political control through a
series of puppet emperors.
Ricimer's military office and his dominance over the Empire led to historians such as J.B. Bury to conclude that he
was a link between previous magistri militum, such as the Vandal Stilicho, and the Germanic king of Italy,
Odoacer.[2] Odoacer deposed Western Emperor Romulus Augustulus in 476, in an act often considered to mark the
fall of the Roman Empire.
Lineage
Ricimer was the son of Rechila, the Suevic King of Galicia. His mother was the daughter of Wallia, king of the
Visigoths. It has been surmised that such an alliance between the Suevi and the Visigoths would have been made
before Wallia's death in 418, after which Wallia's successors may have become hostile toward the family members of
the deceased king. As entry into the Western Empire's military was a frequently-used option for "losers of struggles
for leadership among the barbarians",[3] Ricimer's family would have thus entered the service of Rome.[4]
Ricimer himself later married the sister of Gondioc, the king of the Burgundians.
Rise to Power
According to Sidonius Apollinaris, Ricimer served under the magister militum Flavius Aetius alongside the comes
domesticorum Majorian, whom he befriended.[5]
A power vacuum was created in the Western Empire after the events of 454 and 455, which saw the consecutive
murders of Aetius and of the Western Emperor Valentinian III, who had been responsible for the magister militum's
assassination. After the assassinations, the Roman senator Petronius Maximus proclaimed himself emperor.
Petronius, however, was killed by a Roman mob immediately prior to the Vandal sacking of the city in 455. After the
sack, the Visigothic king Theodoric II proclaimed as emperor Avitus, the Roman military commander in Gaul. In
return for Theodoric's support, Avitus agreed to allow the Visigoths to enter Suevi-controlled Hispania. Theodoric
consented to Avitus's offers and the new emperor, with the Visigoths under his command, marched on Rome to
secure the throne. Avitus named the Visigothic Remistus as magister militum, a position which had been vacant
since Aetius's death.
Following the arrival of Avitus in Rome, Majorian gave his support, albeit reluctantly, to the new emperor. Avitus
subsequently appointed Ricimer as a comes, or count of the Empire, a prominent military position. By this point,
however, the Western Empire encompassed the Italian peninsula and portions of southern Gaul, which were mere
fractions of the territory held by Rome in previous centuries.
Ricimer raised an army and navy from the Germanic mercenaries available to him, and commenced campaigns
directed against "barbarian" tribes in conflict with the Empire. Ricimer achieved his first important victory in 456,
when he defeated the Vandals in a naval battle. Although Priscus wrote that Avitus had sent him to Sicily to engage
the Vandals, Hydatius states he defeated the Vandals near Corsica.[6] After his Mediterranean victory, Ricimer was
appointed by Avitus as magister militum praesentalis, the commander of the Western Empire's field army in Italy
and effectively the second-highest rank available to a general of the West.
Ricimer used his new position to assist his colleague Majorian in plotting against Avitus, who had not yet been
recognized as emperor of the West by Marcian, the Eastern emperor. Ricimer and Majorian convinced the Roman
Senate to authorize a military expedition against Avitus, who had established himself at the Imperial capital of
60
Ricimer
Ravenna. The two led an army against an Imperial force commanded by the magister militum Remistus and defeated
it at Piacenza on October 16, 456. They then besieged Avitus in Ravenna, which fell. Avitus was captured, forced to
assume the bishopric of Piacenza, and finally executed.[7] With the Western throne vacant, the new Eastern Emperor,
Leo I, granted Ricimer the title of patrician and the rank of magister militum on February 28, 457. Leo appointed
Majorian to replace Ricimer in his Italian command. Without a Western Emperor, Leo hoped to use Ricimer as his
effective vicegerent in the West.
Magister militum
Majorian (457-461)
As a Germanic tribesman, Ricimer could not assume the Imperial throne himself, but as magister militum he gained
influence over the Germanic peoples occupying Gaul, Hispania, and Northern Africa. He was left with the options of
dissolving the Western Empire and ruling as an official viceroy of Leo in Constantinople or exerting his power over
the West through a puppet emperor. Though he had hoped to take the first option, the Roman aristocracy refused to
consent to this step and Ricimer was forced to take the latter.
With a vacant Western throne, the Alamanni invaded Italy. They moved from Raetia and managed to penetrate Italy,
reaching Lake Maggiore. Majorian led his field army north to fight the Alamanni, defeating them. Majorian was
proclaimed emperor by his troops in a place called ad Columellas on April 1, 457.[8] Realizing Majorian's potential
as a puppet, Ricimer induced Leo to give his consent to this arrangement.
Though Ricimer had expected to control his friend, Majorian proved to be a capable ruler and soon distanced himself
from his magister militum. Majorian demonstrated his military skill through his re-conquest of Gaul and his
campaigns in Hispania. Majorian's campaigns effectively subdued the Visigoths and returned them to their
pre-Avitus foederati status, greatly increasing his status among the Senate and army. Majorian then prepared for a
campaign against the Vandals of Geiseric. With Majorian in Hispania, Ricimer was left in Italy.[citation needed]
Majorian was defeated by Geiseric, possibly through treachery, near modern-day Valencia, Spain while organizing a
mercenary army. During his absence, Ricimer convinced the Senate to turn against the emperor, who soon disbanded
his army and returned to Italy. Learning that the emperor was in Tortona, Ricimer led a detachment there and
arrested him. Deposing Majorian on August 3, 461, Ricimer had the emperor tortured and finally beheaded on
August 7.[9]
Libius Severus (461-465)

Ricimer's murder of Majorian did not sit well with some portions of the military establishment, notably the
Commanding General in Gaul Aegidius and the Commanding General in Dalmatia Marcellinus who ruled their
respective domains independent from Imperial authority. These two generals entered open hostilities with Ricimer
and refused to recognize Ricimer's position. Ricimer ruled the West without an Emperor for three months. Facing
pressure from the Senate and Italian aristocracy, Ricimer named the undistinguished Senator Libius Severus as his
puppet Emperor. Though Severus was recognized by the Senate, the Eastern Emperor Leo I refused to recognize him
as his Western counterpart. Though he faced open military opposition from Western generals, with the docile
Severus as Emperor, Ricimer was master of Rome.
The chief problems facing Ricimer during Severus' reign was military opposition from the Vandals and political
opposition from the Eastern Empire. The Vandals had continuously raided the Italian coast since the assassination of
Valentinian III in 455, wreaking havoc upon the Italian economy. At the same time Eastern Emperor Leo refused to
recognize Severus as the legitimate Western Emperor and refused to provide assistance to the Western government
as a consequence. Constantinople had made peace with Geiseric in 462, but had refused to intervene in the Vandal
raids. Due to diminished tax revenues and with the key armies of the West under opposition control, Ricimer needed
assistance from the East in order to maintain order in the West. As such, Severus, despite his docile nature,
61
Ricimer
represented an obstacle to Ricimer's power. Upon Severus' death in 465 rumored, according to Cassiodorus, to
have been poisoned by Ricimer[10] Ricimer proceeded to rule the West for eighteen months without an Emperor
as he waited for Leo to name Severus' successor.
Anthemius (467-472)
The Vandals saw the vacant Western throne as an opportunity to increase their role in Imperial politics. Geiseric
supported Olybrius' candidacy for appointment as Emperor. Geiseric had family ties with Olybrius as both Olybrius
and Geiseric's son Huneric had married the two daughters of Valentinian III. With Olybrius on the throne, Geiseric
would become the real power behind the throne in the West, replacing Ricimer. To put Leo under pressure, the
Vandals extended their attacks on Sicily and Italy to the territories of the Eastern Empire, sacking and enslaving
people living in Illyricum, the Peloponnese and other parts of Greece.
Faced with increased Vandal raiding, in 467 Leo named the Commanding General of the Illyrian Army Anthemius
as Western Emperor. Leo sent Anthemius to Italy with an army led by the Commanding General of the Dalmatian
Army Marcellinus, who had previously rebelled against Ricimer, to secure the Western throne and recapture North
Africa from the Vandals. Ricimer must have initially viewed Anthemius' appointment as undermining his position.
Unlike Libius Severus, Anthemius had a proven history of military success and had family ties to the Theodosian
dynasty. However, needing the support of the Eastern Empire, Ricimer was forced to accept him. To solidify his
connections with the new Emperor, Ricimer diplomatically married Anthemius' daughter Alypia,[11] and for some
time lived in peace with Anthemius. The marriage produced two sons, Aunemundus in 470 and Ansemund in 505.
Soon after assuming the Western throne, Anthemius granted Marcellinus the rank of Patrician in an effort to
counterbalance the authority of Ricimer. In the East, it was established practice for there to be two Supreme
Commanders where the West it had become common to only have one. With his experience with the Eastern military
structure, this may have been an attempt by Anthemius to introduce the eastern structure and rule like an eastern
emperor using the successful and trustworthy Marcellinus as co-Supreme Commander with Ricimer. Both Eastern
Emperor Leo and Anthemius had seen the difficulty any Western Emperor had in maintaining control over the
Western military with the existence of a singular unchallenged Supreme Commander.
In 468, Eastern Emperor Leo organized a grand campaign attack against the Vandals in North Africa, in which the
East and West would commit substantial forces. The Commanding General of the Thracian Army Basiliscus,
brother-in-law of the Leo, assumed supreme command over the joint West-East assault, with Marcellinus given
direct command of the forces from the West. The overall plan called for a three-pronged attack between Basiliscus,
Marcellinus, and the Military Count of Egypt Heraclius of Edessa.[12] Basiliscus was to land at a distance from
Carthage with the main army (transported by an armada of over 1,000 ships) and then link up with Heraclius,
advancing from Tripolitania. Marcellinus was to secure Sicily and Sardinia and then advance to Carthage.[12][13]
Ricimer, under the overall command of Marcellinus, commanded a large portion of the Western forces in the
expedition. Ricimer's behavior raised suspicions that he secretly wanted the expedition to fail, which it ultimately did
following the disastrous battle of Cape Bon. Most of the joint armada was destroyed, with Marcellinus himself being
assassinated by his own soldiers while in Sicily, perhaps at the instigation of Ricimer.
The failed joint expedition against the Vandals bankrupted the Western and Eastern Empires and greatly reduced
their military might. Upon hearing of the disastrous defeat, the Visigoths resumed their wars of expansion against the
West and the Vandals resumed raids on Italy. Additionally, with Marcellinus dead, Ricimer was left as the sole
Supreme Commander of the West. Marcellinus had been Anthemius' favorite of the two generals, and his death
served to widen the divide between the Emperor and Ricimer. The tipping point of their relationship was the trial of
Romanus, the Imperial Chancellor (magister officiorum) and supporter of Ricimer, whom Anthemius accused of
treachery and condemned to death in 470.[14] Following the execution of Romanus by Anthemius, Ricimer moved
north to Mediolanum with a force of several thousand soldiers. Relations between the two deteriorated to the point
that Epiphanius of Pavia, bishop of Milan, was asked to negotiate peace between them.[15]
62
Ricimer
Despite the bishop's efforts, open warfare broke out between Ricimer and Anthemius again in 472. Ricimer, along
with his barbarian mercenary units (including the soldiers of Odoacer), marched on Rome. Besieged, Anthemius
took refuge in St. Peter's Basilica. The Eastern Emperor Leo dispatched Olybrius to mediate a truce between Ricimer
and Anthemius but, according to John Malalas, had sent a secret letter to Anthemius, urging him to kill Olybrius.
Ricimer intercepted the letter, showed it to Olybrius, and had him proclaimed Emperor.[16] The siege lasted for five
months. Ricimer finally entered the city and succeeded in separating the port on the Tiber from the Palatine, starving
the supporters of the Emperor.[17] Both sides appealed to the Field Army in Gaul, but the Burgundian Commanding
General of Gaul Gundobad supported his uncle Ricimer.
Anthemius held out until his supporters deserted him. Disguised as a beggar, the Emperor was caught attempting to
flee the city at the church of Santa Maria in Trastevere, where he was beheaded on July 11, 472.[18] Ricimer then
proclaimed Olybrius as Emperor, who was the candidate for Emperor that he and Geiseric had once favored.
Death
Ricimer's "rule" lasted until his death from a hemorrhage on August 18, 472, six weeks after deposing Anthemius.
His title of Patrician and position as Supreme Commander were assumed by his nephew Gundobad.
Without a powerful figure to guide it, the Western Roman Empire experienced an even more rapid succession of
emperors, none of whom was able to effectively consolidate power. The line of Western Roman Emperors ended
with Odoacer's deposition of Romulus Augustulus (arguably in either 476 or 480), reunifying the Imperial power in
far off Constantinople.
Secondary literature
Friedrich Anders: Flavius Ricimer: Macht und Ohnmacht des westrmischen Heermeisters in der zweiten Hlfte
des 5. Jahrhunderts. Frankfurt a. M. 2010.
John B. Bury: History of the Later Roman Empire. From the death of Theodosius I. to the death of Justinian. Vol.
1, New York 1923).
Max Flomen: The Original Godfather. Ricimer and the Fall of Rome. In: Hirundo 8, 2009, pp.9ff.
Andrew Gillett, "The Birth of Ricimer," Historia 44, 1995, pp.380ff.
Penny MacGeorge: Late Roman Warlords. Oxford 2002, pp.167ff.
John M. O'Flynn: Generalissimos of the Western Roman Empire. Edmonton 1983.
Guy Lacam: Ricimer. Un Barbare au service de Rome. Paris 1986.
Julian Reynolds. "Defending Rome: The Masters of the Soldiers" Xlibris 2012.
L. Robert Scott: Antibarbarian Sentiment and the "Barbarian" General in Roman Imperial Service: The Case of
Ricimer. In: J. Harmatta (ed.): Proceedings of the 7th Congress of the International Federation of the Societies of
Classical Studies Bd. 2, Budapest 1984, pp.23ff.
63
Ricimer
64
References
[1]
[2]
[3]
[4]
[5]
Michael Frassetto, "Encyclopedia of Barbarian Europe, Society in Transformation", p. 305; Cambridge Medieval History, vol. 1 (1967:420ff.
J. B. Bury, History of the Later Roman Empire (London: Macmillan, 1889), vol. 1 p. 241
Gillett, "The Birth of Ricimer", Historia: Zeitschrift fr Alte Geschichte (http:/ / www. jstor. org/ stable/ 4436388), 44 (1995), p. 382
Sister: Herwig Wolfram, History of the Goths, (1979) 1988:33, following Martindale, Prosopography, 2:524f; daughter: Wolfram 1988:202.
Sidonius, Carmen V, 266-268; translated by W.B. Anderson, Sidonius: Poems and Letters (Harvard: Loeb Classical Library), 1980), vol. 1 p.
83
[6] Priscus, fragment 24; translated by C.D. Gordon, The Age of Attila: Fifth Century Byzantium and the Barbarians (Ann Arbor: University of
Michigan, 1966), p. 115. Bury, History of the Later Roman Empire, vol. 1 p. 236
[7] John of Antioch, fragment 202; translated by C.D. Gordon, Age of Attila, p. 116
[8] Sidonius Apollinaris, Carmina; Letters. Translation: Anderson, W.B., Sidonius. Poems and Letters, 2 vols. (Loeb, 19361965)
[9] Priscus, fragment 27, John of Antioch, fragment 203; both translated by C.D. Gordon, Age of Attila, pp. 116f
[10] Cassiodrus, Chronicle, 1280, quoted in Oost, "D. N. Libivs Severvs P. F. AVGA", Classical Philology (http:/ / www. jstor. org/ stable/
268600), 65 (1970), p. 229
[11] Ralph W. Mathisen, "Anthemius (12 April 467 - 11 July 472 AD.)" (http:/ / www. roman-emperors. org/ anthemiu. htm)
[12] Hussey (1967), p. 426
[13] Stephen Williams and Gerard Friell, The Rome That Did Not Fall: Survival of the East in the fifth century, pp 178
[14] Cassiodorus, Chronicon, 1289; Paul the Deacon, Historia Romana, xv.2; John of Antioch, fragments 209.12, 207, translated by C.D.
Gordon, The Age of Attila (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan, 1966), pp. 122f
[15] Related in Ennodius, Vita Epifanius, 51-75; translated in Sr. Genevieve Marie Cook, The Life of Saint Epiphanius by Ennodius: A
translation with an introduction and commentary (Washington: Catholic University of America, 1942), pp. 53-63.
[16] John Malalas, Chronographica, 373374.
[17] John of Antioch, fragment 209.12; translated by C.D. Gordon, The Age of Attila, pp. 122f
[18] John of Antioch, fragment 209, translated by C.D Gordon, Age of Attila, pp. 122f
Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Ricimer". Encyclopdia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
Political offices
Precededby
Imp. Caesar Iulius Maiorianus Augustus,
Imp. Caesar Flavius Valerius Leo Augustus

459
with Julius Patricius
Succeededby
Flavius Magnus,
Flavius Apollonius
Military offices
Precededby
Remistus
In 456

Army
457-472
Succeededby
Gundobad
Majorian
65
Majorian
Majorian
Coin of Emperor Majorian

Reign
April 1, 457 August 2, 461
Coronation
December 28, 457
Full name
Iulius Valerius Maiorianus
Born
ca. 420
Died
August 7, 461 (aged 40)
Place of death
Tortona
Predecessor
Avitus
Successor
Libius Severus
Majorian (Latin: Flavius Julius Valerius Majorianus Augustus; ca. 420 August 7, 461) was the Western Roman
Emperor from 457 to 461.
A prominent general of the Late Roman army, Majorian deposed Emperor Avitus in 457 and succeeded him.
Majorian was one of the last emperors to make a concerted effort to restore the Western Roman Empire. Possessing
little more than Italy, Dalmatia, and some territory in northern Gaul, Majorian campaigned rigorously for three years
against the Empire's enemies.
After defeating a Vandal attack on Italy, Majorian launched a campaign against the Visigothic Kingdom in southern
Gaul. Defeating king Theodoric II at the Battle of Arelate, Majorian forced the Goths to abandon their possessions in
Septimania and Hispania and return to federate status immediately. Majorian then attacked the Burgundian
Kingdom, defeating them at the Siege of Lugdunum, expelling them from the Rhone valley and reducing them to
federate status.
In 460, Majorian left Gaul to consolidate his hold on Hispania. His generals launched a campaign against the Suebic
Kingdom in northwest Hispania, defeating them at the battles of Lucus Augusti and Scallabis and reducing them to
federate status as well. His fleet for his campaign to restore Africa to the empire from the Vandals was destroyed due
to treachery.
Majorian sought to reform the imperial administration in order to make it more efficient and just. The powerful
general Ricimer deposed and killed Majorian, who had become unpopular with the senatorial aristocracy because of
his reforms.
Majorian
66
According to historian Edward Gibbon, Majorian "presents the welcome discovery of a great and heroic character,
such as sometimes arise, in a degenerate age, to vindicate the honour of the human species".[1]
Biography
The life of Majorian and his reign are better known than those of the other Western Emperors of the same period.
The most important sources are the chronicles that cover the second half of the 5th century those of Hydatius and
Marcellinus Comes, as well as the fragments of Priscus and John of Antioch.
Besides these sources, which are useful also for the biographies of the other emperors, some peculiar sources are
available that make Majorian's life known in some detail, both before and after his rise to the throne. The
Gallo-Roman aristocrat and poet Sidonius Apollinaris was an acquaintance of the Emperor and composed a
panegyric that is the major source for Majorian's life up to 459. As regards his policy, twelve of his laws have been
preserved: the so-called Novellae Maioriani were included in the Breviarium that was compiled for the Visigothic
king Alaric II in 506, and help to understand the problems that pressed Majorian's government.[2]
Early life
Majorian was probably born after 420, as in 458 he is defined a iuvenis, a "young man". He belonged to the military
aristocracy of the Roman Empire. His grandfather of the same name reached the rank of magister militum under
Emperor Theodosius I and, as commander-in-chief of the Illyrian army, was present at his coronation at Sirmium in
379. The daughter of the magister militum then married an officer, probably called Donninus,[3] who administered
the finances of Aetius, the powerful magister militum of the West. The couple gave the name Maiorianus to their
child in honour of his influential grandfather.[2]
It was under the same Aetius that Majorian started his military
career.[4] He followed Aetius to Gallia, where he met under Aetius'
command two officers of barbarian origin who were to play an
important role in Majorian's life: the Suevic-Visigoth Ricimer[5] and
the Gaul Aegidius.[6] Majorian distinguished himself in the defence of
the city of Turonensis (modern Tours) and in a battle against the
Franks of king Clodio, near Vicus Helena[7] (447 or 448). In the latter,
Majorian fought at the head of his cavalry on a bridge, while Aetius
controlled the roads leading to the battlefield:[8]
There was a narrow passage at the junction of two ways, and a
road crossed both the village of Helena... and the river. [Atius]
was posted at the cross-roads while Majorian warred as a
mounted man close to the bridge itself...
Sidonius Apollinaris,Carmina, V.207227. Anderson tr.
Placidia was the younger daughter of Emperor

Valentinian III, who planned to marry her to
Majorian (450 ca.). As the powerful magister
militum Aetius realised that this marriage would
weaken his position, he sent Majorian away from
his staff to private life, thus hindering the
marriage.
Around 450, the Western Roman Emperor Valentinian III considered

the possibility of marrying his daughter Placidia to Majorian.
Valentinian had two daughters and no sons, and therefore no heir to the
throne. Having Majorian as son-in-law would have strengthened
Valentinian in the face of other powerful generals and would have
solved the problem of the succession. Furthermore, as Emperor, Majorian could have led the army himself, freed
from the dangerous bond with a powerful general, such as Valentinian had been obliged to contract with Aetius.[9]
The intention of this plan was to avoid the possibility that barbarian generals like Huneric or Attila should succeed to
Aetius, but clashed with the plans of Aetius himself. The Roman general, in fact, planned to marry his own son
Gaudentius to Placidia. He therefore opposed Valentinian's plan, and put an end to Majorian's military career,
Majorian
67
expelling him from his staff and sending him to his country estate.[9] According to the poet Sidonius Apollinaris, the
cause of the fall of Majorian was the jealousy of Aetius' wife, who feared that Majorian could overshadow Aetius'
prestige.[10]
It was only in 454 that Majorian was able to return to public life. In that year, Valentinian III killed Aetius with his
own hands but, fearing that Aetius' troops might revolt, called Majorian back to office to quell them.[11] In the
following year, Valentinian III was killed by two former officers of Aetius' staff. There was then a fight for the
succession, as no heir existed. Majorian played the role of the candidate for the throne of Licinia Eudoxia,
Valentinian's widow, and of Ricimer, who reserved for himself a role similar to Aetius'.[12]
In the end, the new Emperor was Petronius Maximus, a senator involved in Valentinian's murder, who
outmanoeuvred the other candidates. To strengthen his position, he obliged Licinia to marry him and promoted
Majorian to the rank of comes domesticorum (commander-in-chief of the imperial guard).[13]
Petronius ruled only for a few weeks, as he was killed during the Vandal sack of Rome (May 455). He was
succeeded, not by Majorian, but by the Gallic-Roman noble Avitus, who had the support of the Visigoths. Both
Majorian, comes domesticorum, and Ricimer, comes, initially supported Avitus, but when the Emperor lost the
loyalty of the Italian aristocracy, the two generals revolted against him. First Majorian and Ricimer killed Remistus,
the magister militum entrusted by Avitus with the defence of the capital, Ravenna. Then Ricimer defeated Avitus'
troops near Placentia, taking the Emperor himself prisoner, and obliging him to abdicate. Finally, Majorian caused
Avitus' death, possibly starving him, in early 457.[14]
Rise to the throne

Avitus was dead and the Western throne without a pretender. It was thus for the Eastern Roman Emperor to choose
the successor, but Marcian could do nothing, as he died on January 27, 457. His successor on the Eastern throne was
the general Leo I, who did not, however, select a colleague for the West, possibly because he intended to reign
alone.[citation needed][15] On the other hand, Leo rewarded both Majorian and Ricimer: the former was appointed
magister militum, the latter patricius and magister militum (February 28, 457).[16]
While the situation was in a precarious equilibrium, a troop of 900 Alemanni invaded Italy. They entered from
Raetia and penetrated Italian territory down to Lake Maggiore. There they were intercepted and defeated by the
troops of comes Burco, sent by Majorian to stop them:[17]
The savage Alaman had scaled the Alps and had emerged, plundering the Roman land; he had sent 900
foemen to scour for booty... By this time you were Master [of Soldiers], and you sent forth Burco with a band
of followers... Fortune brought about a triumph not through numbers but through their love of you... You
fought with the authority of a Master but the destiny of an Emperor
This victory was celebrated as Majorian's own, and the magister militum was acclaimed Emperor by the army on
April 1, six miles outside Ravenna, at a place called ad Columellas, "at the Little Columns".[16] There were actually
two magistri militum to choose between, Majorian and Ricimer, but the barbarian origin of the latter barred him from
the throne. Ricimer could, however, expect to exert a great influence on the new Western Emperor, because of their
relationship dating back to the time of their service under Aetius and because of his control of the army as magister
militum.
In his panegyric to Majorian, the poet Sidonius Apollinaris tells that Majorian initially refused the election:[18]
The world trembled with alarm while you were loath to permit your victories to benefit you, and because,
overly modest, you grieved because you deserved the throne and because you would not undertake to rule
what you had deemed worth defending
Majorian
68
Modern historians think that it was Leo I who initially refused to recognize Majorian as his colleague, although the
general chosen by the army must have seemed the only viable candidate to the throne. The Eastern court was not
displeased with the deposition of Avitus, an Emperor chosen by the Visigoths, whereas the only other candidate,
Olybrius, had a politically difficult relationship with the Vandal king Genseric and no influence on the army.[citation
needed]
Despite this, the approval by the Eastern court of Majorian's election came late, as the new Emperor was
actually crowned only on December 28.[19] Leo I and Majorian jointly assumed the consulate for the year 458; it was
customary that a new Emperor took this magistracy on the first year started as Emperor.[2]
Foreign affairs
Defence of Italy
The first problems Majorian had to handle were the consolidation of his rule over Italy and the recovery of Gaul,
since this province had rebelled after the deposition of the Gaulo-Roman emperor Avitus. The recovery of the lost
provinces of Hispania and Africa was a project that Majorian had to leave for later.
In summer 458, a group of Vandals, led by the brother-in-law of Genseric, landed in Campania, at the mouth of the
Liri or the Garigliano river, and started devastating and sacking the region. Majorian personally led the Roman army
to a victory over the invaders near Sinuessa and followed the defeated Vandals, loaded with their booty, as far as
their own ships, killing many of them including their commander.[20]
After this event, Majorian understood that he had to take the initiative, if he wanted to defend the hearth of his
Empire, the only territory he actually controlled. So he decided to strengthen its defences. First, he issued a law, the
Novella Maioriani 8 known as De reddito iure armorum ("On the Return of the Right to Bear Arms"), concerning
the personal right to bear arms; in 440 Valentinian III had already promulgated a law with the same name, Novella
Valentiniani 9, after another attack of the Vandals. It is probably to this time that another law is to be dated, the
Novella Maioriani 12 known as De aurigis et seditiosis ("Concerning Charioteers and Seditious Persons"), to quell
the disorders that sprang up during the chariot races. Both these laws are now lost.[2]
He then strengthened the army, recruiting a large number of barbarian mercenaries, among whom Gepids,
Ostrogoths, Rugii, Burgundians, Huns, Bastarnae, Suebi, Scythians and Alans.[21] Finally, he rebuilt two fleets,
probably those of Miseno and Ravenna, since the Vandals had a strong navy:[22]
Meanwhile you built on the two shores fleets for the upper and lower sea. Down into the water falls every
forest of the Apennines
Majorian
Re-conquest of Gaul
After consolidating his position in
Italy, Majorian concentrated on the
recovery of Gaul. When news of the
deposition of the Gallo-Roman
emperor Avitus arrived in Gaul, the
province refused to recognize Majorian
as his successor. An important clue to
this is an inscription found in
Lugdunum (modern Lyons) and dating
to 458: according to Roman custom,
the inscriptions were dated reporting
the name of the consuls in office, who
that year were Leo I and Majorian.
This inscription, instead, records only
the name of Eastern Emperor, showing
that Majorian was not recognized as
lawful Emperor.[23]
Another clue is the fact that, at the
death of Avitus, the citizens of
During his four-year reign Majorian reconquered most of Hispania and southern Gaul,
Lugdunum
had
allowed
the
meanwhile reducing the Visigoths, Burgundians and Suevi to federate status.
Burgundians of king Gondioc to
occupy the city,[citation needed] and that
they sent an envoy to Leo, and not to Majorian, to ask for a reduction of taxation.[24] Finally, there is a record of a
failed usurpation in Gaul, around this time.[25]
In late 458, Majorian entered Gaul, with an army strengthened by barbarian units.[26] The Emperor personally led the
army, leaving Ricimer in Italy and choosing Aegidius and the magister militiae Nepotianus as collaborators. The
imperial army defeated the Visigoths under king Theodoric II at the Battle of Arelate, forcing the Visigoths to
abandon Septimania and withdraw west to Aquitania. The Roman victory was decisive: under the new treaty the
Visigoths had to relinquish their vast conquests in Hispania and return to federate status. Majorian chose his trusted
general Aegidius as the new magister militum per Gallias (military commander of Gaul) and sent an envoy in
Hispania, to report the victory over the Visigoths and the new treaty with Theodoric II.[27]
With the help of his new foederati, Majorian entered the Rhone Valley, conquering its populations "some by arms
and some by diplomacy".[28] He defeated the Burgundians and besieged and conquered the city of Lugdunum: the
rebel city was heavily fined, while the Bagaudae were forced to join the Empire.[2] Despite the fact that the
Gallo-Roman aristocracy had sided with Avitus, Majorian wanted a reconciliation, not a punishment. With the
intercession of Majorian, magister epistolarum Petrus, Sidonius Apollinaris, the son-in-law of Avitus, was allowed
to deliver a panegyric[29] in honour of the Emperor (early January 459), receiving in reward the appointment to the
rank of comes spectabilis. Much more effective was, however, the granting of the tax remission that the citizens of
Lugdunum had requested from Leo I.[30]
69
Majorian
70
Campaign of Hispania
In the wake of the Vandal sack of
Rome (455), the Visigoths had
conquered Hispania, formally in the
name of the new Western Emperor
Avitus, actually controlling the
territory themselves. Majorian planned
to reconquer Hispania and use it as the
base for the conquest of Africa. This
rich province of the Western Empire,
which provided for the very important
grain supply to the city of Rome, was
in fact under Vandal control.
The Roman Empire in 460 during the reign of Majorian.
According to the historian Procopius,

Majorian, "who surpassed in every virtue all who have ever been emperors of the Romans", wanted to know
personally the military readiness of the Vandals and how the local populations would react to the Roman invasion.
He dyed black his fair hair, for which he was famous, and went to Genseric claiming to be an envoy of the Western
Emperor. Genseric tried to impress the enemy ambassador by showing him the arms collected in the warehouses and
sent him back.[31] This story is probably only a legend of Italian folklore,[32] but it is a clue to the care with which
the expedition was prepared. Majorian collected information on the enemy and gathered a fleet of three hundred
ships to support the army in the reconquest of Hispania and in the invasion of Africa.[2]
It was probably during the preparation of this operation that Majorian sent the comes and patricius Occidentis
Marcellinus to Sicily with an army of Huns, to take the island back from the Vandals. Marcellinus was the comes rei
militaris (governor) of Illyricum, but he had become practically independent since the death of Aetius, not
recognizing the imperial authority. Majorian convinced him to accept him as Emperor and even to collaborate with
his troops in the military recovery of the Empire.[33]
The campaign started with an operation against the Suebi in North-Western Hispania, lasting the whole of 459, led
by the magister militiae Nepotianus and the Gothic comes Sunieric. Majorian gathered the main part of the army in
Liguria, then entered Aquitaine and Novempopulania coming from Theodoric's court in Toulouse (May 460).
Genseric, fearing the Roman invasion, tried to negotiate a peace with Majorian, who rejected the proposal. The
Vandal king then decided to devastate Mauretania, his own territory, because he thought that the Roman army would
land there, and also ordered his navy to prepare incursions in the waters near the probable invasion area.[28]
In the meantime, Majorian was conquering Hispania. While Nepotianus and Sunieric defeated the Suebi at Lucus
Augusti (modern Lugo) and conquered Scallabis in Lusitania (modern Santarm, Portugal), the Emperor passed
through Caesaraugusta (Saragossa), where he performed a formal imperial adventus.[34] Finally he reached
Carthaginiensis, where his fleet, docked at Portus Illicitanus (near Elche), was destroyed by traitors paid by the
Vandals:[35]
While Majorian was campaigning in the province of Carthaginiensis the Vandals destroyed, through traitors,
several ships that he was preparing for himself for a crossing against the Vandals from the shore of
Carthaginiensis. Majorian, frustrated in this manner from his intention, returned to Italy.
Hydatius,Chronicle, 200, s.a. 460.
Majorian, deprived of the fleet that was necessary for the invasion, cancelled the attack on the Vandals. He received
the ambassadors of Genseric, with whom he agreed to conclude peace, which probably included the recognition of
the de facto occupation of Mauretania by the Vandals. On his way back to Italy, the Emperor stopped at Arelate.[36]
Majorian
Domestic policy
Majorian's domestic policy is known thanks to some of the laws he issued, the so-called Novellae Maioriani, that
were included in a collection of Roman law entitled Breviarium, requested from some Gallo-Roman jurists in 506 by
the 6th-century Visigothic king Alaric II .[2][37]
The preserved laws are:
Novella Maioriani 1, De ortu imperii domini Majoriani Augusti, "The Beginning of the Reign of Our Lord
Majorian Augustus", opening speech of his reign, addressed to the Roman Senate (given in Ravenna, on January
11, 458);
Novella Maioriani 2, De indulgentiis reliquorum, "On the Remission of Past-Due Accounts" (given in Ravenna,
on March 11, 458, to Basilius, Praetorian prefect of Italy);
Novella Maioriani 3, De defensoribus civitatum, "The Defenders of the Municipalities", on the office of defensor
civitatum (given in Ravenna, on May 8, 458, also in the name of Leo I);
Novella Maioriani 4, De aedificiis pubblicis, "Public Buildings", on the preservation of the monuments of Rome
(given in Ravenna, on July 11, 458, to Aemilianus, praefectus urbi of Rome, also in the name of Leo I);
Novella Maioriani 5, De bonis caducis sive proscriptorum, "On Abandoned Property and That of Proscribed
Persons" (given in Ravenna, on September 4, 458, to Ennodius,[38] comes privatae largitionis, also in the name of
Leo I);
Novella Maioriani 6, De sanctimonialibus vel viduis et de successionibus earum, "Holy Maidens, Widows, and
Their Succession" (given in Ravenna, on October 26, 458, to Basilius, Praetorian prefect of Italy, also in the name
of Leo I);
Novella Maioriani 7, De curialibus et de agnatione vel distractione praediorum et de ceteris negotiis, "Decurions,
Their Children and The Sale of Their Landed Estates" (given in Ravenna, on November 6, 458, to Basilius,
Praetorian prefect of Italy, also in the name of Leo I);
Novella Maioriani 8, De reddito iure armorum, "On the Return of the Right to Bear Arms", whose text is lost;
Novella Maioriani 9, De adulteriis, "Adultery", confirming that the adulterers are to be put to death (given in
Arelate, on April 17, 459, to Rogatianus, governor of Suburbicarian Tuscany, also in the name of Leo I);
Novella Maioriani 10, about the right of the Roman senators and of the Church to keep the goods received in a
will, whose text is lost;
Novella Maioriani 11, De episcopali iudicio et ne quis invitus clericus ordinetur vel de ceteris negotiis,
"Episcopal Courts; No Person Shall Be Ordained A Cleric Against His Will; Various Matters", (given in Arelate,
on March 28, 460, to Ricimer, also in the name of Leo I);
Novella Maioriani 12, De aurigis et seditiosis, "Charioteers and Seditious Persons", whose text is lost.
71
Majorian
72
Fiscal policy and coinage

Majorian understood that he could reign
effectively only with the support of the
senatorial aristocracy, whom he wanted to
return to its pristine political prominence. At
the same time, he planned to reduce the
abuses perpetrated by the senators, many of
whom cultivated their local interests
disregarding the imperial policies, even
refusing to pay taxes and keeping for
themselves the taxes they had exacted. This
fiscal evasion had a cascade effect that
affected the small landowners, the citizens
and the local civil magistrates.[2]
Tremissis minted by a Visigothic king in the name of Majorian. These coins were
minted in Arelate between 457 and 507 by the Visigoths, but they carried the
portrait and the name of the Roman Emperor, corrupted in iviivs haiorianvs. Even
if their style was close to the Roman originals, Visigothic coins contained less
precious metal; it was probably for this reason that Majorian issued a law obliging
the tax collectors to accept golden coins at their nominal value, with the exception
[39]
of the "Gallic" coin, of lesser value.
For example, the decurions had personally

to compensate the imperial treasury for all
taxes not exacted. Sometimes, oppressed by the debts accumulated in this way, the decurions abandoned their status,
a problem already addressed by Emperor Julian (361363). Majorian also cancelled tax arrears, knowing that fiscal
policy could not be effective if taxpayers had to pay large accumulated arrears.[2]
On March 11, 458, Majorian issued a law entitled De indulgentiis reliquorum, "On the Remission of Past-Due
Accounts" (Novella Maioriani 2). This law remitted all the tax arrears of the landowners. This same law explicitly
prohibited public administrators, who had a record of keeping the collected money for themselves, from collecting
taxes. This task was to be reserved to the governors alone. Another law issued to reorganise the tax system was
issued on September 4 of the same year, and was entitled De bonis caducis sive proscriptorum, "On Abandoned
Property and That of Proscribed Persons" (Novella Maioriani 5): the comes privatae largitionis Ennodius was to
admonish the provincial judges against defrauding the imperial treasure, keeping for themselves a part of the money
collected.[2]
The Emperor was also interested in repairing the backbone of the imperial administration. On 8 May 458, Majorian
issued a law entitled De defensoribus civitatum, "The Defenders of the Municipalities" (Novella Maioriani 3), to
re-establish the office of the defensor civitatis. This city magistrate represented the interests of the citizens in trials
against the public administration, particularly in fiscal matters; this magistracy was still in existence, but actually
ineffective, since it was often held by the same officials who cheated the population.[2]
Another law was issued on November 6 to strengthen the magistracy of the decurions. De curialibus et de agnatione
vel distractione praediorum et de ceteris negotiis, "Decurions, Their Children and The Sale of Their Landed Estates"
(Novella Maioriani 7), was issued to forgive past abuses perpetrated by the decurions. This forbade them to leave
their status (going into hiding or marrying slave or tenant farmers) or to alienate their own properties.[2]
Majorian minted coins in gold, silver and bronze. Gold coinage was minted in great quantities. On these coins the
Emperor is depicted, with few exceptions, with an combat helmet, a spear, a shield and a chi-rho, looking towards
right; this typology was derived from a rare type minted in Ravenna for Honorius and used in great quantities only
by Majorian, while it was dropped by his successors. The first series of solidi were minted probably in Ravenna, and
bear at the obverse the joint portrait of Majorian and Leo I, thus celebrating the mutual recognition of the two Roman
emperors. The mints of Ravenna and Milan issued both solidi and tremisses since the beginning of Majorian's
reign.[2][40]
No series of semisses are attested for these two mints, probably because the semisses were typically minted by the
mint of Rome and this mint was not active under Majorian, who never visited the ancient capital of his Empire
Majorian
73
during his four years of rule. The minting of solidi is attested for the mint of Arelate in 458, a fact compatible with
the presence of Majorian in Gaul in that year. This mint was again active in 460, when the Emperor returned from
his campaign in Hispania. The Visigoths minted some reproductions of his solidi, modelled after the issues of the
Arelate mint: as Arelate issued only solidi, the Visigoths used those designs also for the tremissis.[2][40]
Silver coinage was issued almost exclusively by the Gallic mints; it has been suggested that these series were not
issued by Majorian, but by Aegidius after the Emperor's death, to mark the fact that he did not recognize his
successor, Libius Severus. Majorian also produced great quantities of nummi of great weight, mostly minted at
Ravenna and Milan, and some contorniates, mostly in Rome, but probably also in Ravenna.[2][40]
Natalist policies
The diffusion of Christianity in the Empire caused some social changes within the aristocratic families. In several
wealthy families, daughters were obliged to take religious vows and never marry, so that the family wealth would
not be dispersed in dowries. Majorian thought that this behaviour was harmful to the State, because it reduced the
number of Roman children, and because it caused the girls to start illicit affairs. On October 26, 458, the Emperor
addressed a law, the Novella Maioriani 6, to the Praetorian prefect of Italy, Caecina Decius Basilius.[41]
This law, titled De sanctimonialibus vel viduis et de successionibus earum ("Holy Maidens, Widows, and Their
Succession"), imposed a minimum age of 40 for taking religious vows, considering that at this age the sexual drives
of the initiated would be dormant. The law also granted women who had been forced to take religious vows, and
were subsequently disinherited, the same rights on the legacy of parents as their brothers and sisters.[41]
In order to solve this same problem of the decline of the Roman population, in particular compared with the growth
of the barbarians allocated within the imperial boundaries, Majorian addressed the problem of young women
widowed and without children who never remarried because of the influence of the clergy, to whom they destined
their goods in their will.[42] The young widows were prohibited to take religious vows.[42]
By the same measure, departing in this from the policy of the Eastern Empire, Majorian insisted that a marriage
without dowry and pre-wedding exchange of gifts (first from the bride's family to the groom, then in the opposite
direction) was invalid; simultaneously ended the practice of requesting pre-wedding gifts of a value considerably
higher than the dowry.[43]
Relationship with the senatorial aristocracy
When Majorian took power by deposing
Avitus, the province of Gaul, where Avitus'
power was based, did not recognize the new
Emperor. When Majorian re-conquered the
province, he chose to forgive this rebellion.
The reason was that Majorian understood
that one of the mistakes of his predecessor
was to promote and trust only the senatorial
aristocracy of Gaul, the region he come
from, favouring it over the senatorial
aristocracy of Italy.[2][38]
Majorian, instead, decided to gain the favour
of the wealthy and noble families of the
recovered province involving them in the
administration of the power, together with
Avitus, the predecessor of Majorian on the imperial throne, had alienated the
support of the Roman senatorial aristocracy by appointing members of the
Gallo-Roman aristocracy, of which he was a part, to the most important offices of
the imperial administration. He was overthrown by Majorian, who did not repeat
the error and rotated the main offices between representatives of the two
aristocracies.
Majorian
74
the Italian aristocracy that, on the other side, had supported him since the beginning. A clue of this policy is the
origin of the high civil servants of his administration, in particular of the consuls, whom the Emperor appointed
jointly with his Eastern colleague.[2][38]
In the first year (458) Majorian reserved the honour for himself, as was usual for the augusti, while in the second
year he appointed his former colleague and powerful magister militum, Ricimer. Then, for the year 460, he choose
the Gallic senator Magnus, and for the next year the Italian senator Severinus. Magnus had been appointed
Praetorian prefect of Gaul in 458, while the Praetorian prefect of Italy was Caecina Decius Basilius, who was the
patron of the Gallic senator (and poet) Sidonius Apollinaris, while the comes privatae largitionis, Ennodius, was
related to a family with interests in Arelate.[2][38]
Majorian also showed great respect towards the Roman senate, as suggested by the message he addressed to it on the
eve of his coronation: he promised the senators he would not take into account the accusations of informers, which
were much feared as they might be used by the Emperor to cause the fall of influential figures.[44] And the promises
were followed by facts, as told by Sidonius Apollinaris, who had been anonymously accused of the authorship of a
pamphlet against some influential figures: during a dinner together, Majorian defused the risky situation with a
witticism.[45]
Conservation of the monuments of Rome
Since the beginning of the 4th century, the monuments of Rome, and more generally all buildings of some value that
were in a state of neglect for various reasons, were increasingly used as quarries for valuable building materials. This
practice, in fact, was cheaper and more convenient than import from remote locations, sometimes rendered difficult
or impossible by the control of the sea by the Vandals.[46] Roman officials conceded upon petition the use for
construction of marble, stone and brick recovered from demolition of ancient monuments:
Hence the occasion now arises that also each and every person who is constructing a private edifice through
the favoritism of the judges who are situated in the City, does not hesitate to take presumptuously and to
transfer the necessary materials from the public places, although those things which belong to the splendor of
the cities ought to be preserved by civic affection, even under the necessity of repair.
Novella Maioriani 4,Clyde Pharr (ed.), The Theodosian code: and Novels The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd.,
2001 ISBN 1-58477-146-1, pp. 5534.
To cope with this phenomenon, Majorian promulgated a law Novella Maioriani 4, De aedificiis pubblicis ("Public
Buildings"), promulgated in Ravenna on July 11, 459, and addressed to Aemilianus, praefectus urbi of Rome. The
punishment for judges who had allowed the destruction of ancient public buildings was 50 pounds of gold, while
their subordinates were whipped and had both hands amputated. Those who had removed materials from public
buildings were to return it. The Senate had the power to decide whether there were extreme conditions that justified
the demolition of an old building and, if it decided for the demolition, the Emperor had still the right to order that the
resulting materials should be used to decorate other public buildings.
Majorian
Fall and death

Just as the fate of Avitus had been marked by the
betrayal of Ricimer and of Majorian and by the
dismissal of his German guard, so the fate of Majorian
himself was decided by the disbandment of his army
and a plot organized by Ricimer. In fact, while the
Emperor was busy away from Italy, the barbarian
patricius et magister militum had gathered around
himself the aristocratic opposition to his former
A coin of Majorian.
comrade with whom, just a few years earlier, he had
cultivated dreams of power. Majorian's legislation had
shown that he intended to intervene decisively on issues that plagued the empire, even if they countered the interests
of influential aristocrats.[2][47]
After spending some time at Arelate, his base at the end of the operation against the Vandals in Hispania,[36]
Majorian disbanded his barbarian mercenaries and, accompanied by some guards, set off to Rome, where he
intended to carry out reforms. Ricimer went to meet Majorian with a military detachment; the magister militum met
the Emperor near Tortona (not far from Piacenza, where Avitus had been killed), and had him arrested and deposed
(August 3).[36]
The Emperor was deprived of his dress and diadem, beaten and tortured. After five days, Majorian was beheaded
near the river Iria (August 7, 461):[48] He was about forty years old and had reigned for four. The city of Tortona
now hosts, in the church of St. Matthew, a building traditionally identified as the "mausoleum of Majorian".[49]
After the death of Majorian, Ricimer waited for three months before placing on the imperial throne a person he
believed he could manipulate. He finally chose Libius Severus, a senator of no political distinction, probably selected
to please the Italian senatorial aristocracy. The new emperor was not recognized by the Eastern Emperor Leo I, nor
by any of the generals who had served under Majorian; not by Aegidius in Gaul, not by Marcellinus in Sicily and
Illyria, and not by Nepotianus in Hispania.[33][50]
Notes
[1] The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Chapter XXXVI "Total Extinction Of The Western Empire"
[2] Mathisen.
[3] This identification, based on a passage in the work of Priscus, is not universally accepted by the historians. See MacGeorge, p. 189, for a
summary of the arguments in favour of the identification, and Arnold Hugh Martin Jones, John Robert Martindale, John Morris, "Domninus
3", Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire, Volume 2, Cambridge University Press, 1992, ISBN 0-521-20159-4, p. 373, for the arguments
against it.
[4] Sidonius Apollinaris, Carmina, V.198200.
[6] Priscus, fragment 50.
[7] The exact location of Vicus Helena is unknown, but it was in Northern France, probably near modern Arras (Jan Willem Drijvers, Helena
Augusta, BRILL, ISBN 90-04-09435-0, p. 12).
[9] O'Flynn, pp. 9495.
[12] Sidonius Apollinaris, Carmina, V.312314; John of Antioch, fragment 201.6.
[13] It is however possible that Majorian was appointed comes domesticorum by Valentinian when he was recalled back in service after Aetius'
murder (Mathisen).
[14] John of Antioch, fragment 202.
[15] After the death of Libius Severus in 465, Leo waited two years to select a new colleague, Anthemius.
[16] Fasti vindobonenses priores, 583.
75
Majorian
[19] Auctarium Prosperi Hauniensis, s.a. 458.
[20] Sidonius Apollinaris, Carmina, V.385440 and A. Loyen, Recherches historiques sur les pangiriques de Sidonine Apollinaire, Paris 1942,
pp. 7677 and note 5. Cited in Savino, Eliodoro, Campania tardoantica (284604 d.C.), Edipuglia, 2005, ISBN 88-7228-257-8, p. 84.
[21] Gibbon.
[23] , to be compared to .
[24] Gregory of Tours, Glory of the Confessors 62. Cited in Mathisen.
[25] Sidonius Apollinaris tells (Letters, I.11.6) that this usurpation regarded some Marcellus. The hypothesis that this Marcellus is to be identified
with the semi-independent comes of Illyricum Marcellinus has been rejected, as this conspiracy was to put Avitus back on the throne, or to
oppose a Gallo-Roman noble to Majorian.
[27] Hydatius, 197, s.a. 459; Gregory of Tours, Historia Francorum, II.11.
[28] Priscus, fragment 27.
[29] Sidonius Apollinaris' Carmen V.
[31] Procopius, VII.413.
[32] MacGeorge, p. 214.
[33] Arnold Hugh Martin Jones, The Later Roman Empire, 284602, JHU Press, 1986, ISBN 0-8018-3353-1, p. 241. MacGeorge, however,
maintains that Marcellinus' return under the Western Emperor's rule is not attested, and thinks that Marcellinus was in Sicily either to take part
independently in the campaign against the Vandals or, by order of the Eastern Emperor, to put pressure on Geiseric for the restitution of
Emperess Eudoxia and her daughters (pp. 4648).
[34] Roger Collins, Visigothic Spain, 409711, Blackwell Publishing, 2004, ISBN 0-631-18185-7, p. 32.
[35] Chronica gallica anno 511, 634; Marius Aventicensis, s.a. 460; Hydatius, 200, s.a. 460.
[36] Chronica gallica anno 511.
[37] Clyde Pharr, The Theodosian code and novels, and the Sirmondian constitutions, The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd., 2001, ISBN 1-58477-146-1,
pp. 551561.
[38] This Ennodius was a relative of the poet and bishop Magnus Felix Ennodius (474521).
[39] Novella Maioriani 7.14, November 6, 458, cited in Mathisen.
[40] Vagi, David, Coinage and history of the Roman Empire, c. 82 B.C.--A.D. 480, Taylor & Francis, ISBN 1-57958-316-4, p. 567.
[41] Novella Maioriani 6.13, cited in Grubbs, p. 110.
[42] Novella Maioriani 6.58, cited in Grubbs, pp. 232234.
[43] Novella Maioriani 6.9103, cited in Grubbs, p. 119.
[44] Novella Maioriani 1, De ortu imperii domini Majoriani Augusti, "The Beginning of the Reign of Our Lord Majorian Augustus".
[45] This event took place in 461, and is recorded in a letter (Letters, I.11.215) of Apollinaris to a friend (Mathisen).
[46] Paolo Delogu, Le invasioni barbariche nel meridione dell'impero: Visigoti, Vandali, Ostrogoti, Rubettino, p. 336.
[47] Hydatius, 210.
[48] John of Antioch, fragment 203; Marcellinus, sa 461; Fasti vindobonenses priores, No 588. Procopius (VII.1415) does not mention the
Emperor's return from Hispania and said that Majorian died of dysentery: it is possible that the news has been put about by Ricimer (Fik
Meijer, Emperors Do not Die in Bed, Routledge, 2004, ISBN 0-415-31201-9, p. 155). Victor of Tonnena erroneously claims that Majorian
reached Rome and was killed there, and puts this event in 463 (Chronica, s.a. 463).
[49] "Mausoleo di Maiorano (Sec. I a.C.)" (http:/ / www. comune. tortona. al. it/ Database/ urp/ tortona/ tortona2. nsf/ pagine/
DA680647AA36E2A2C1256C2C004ED0C3?OpenDocument), Citt di Tortona.
[50] O'Flynn, p. 111.
76
Majorian
77
Sources
Primary sources
Hydatius, Chronicle
John of Antioch, Historia chronike
Jordanes, Getica
Marcellinus Comes, Annales
Priscus, History
Procopius, Vandal War
Sidonius Apollinaris, Carmina; Letters. Translation: Anderson, W.B., Sidonius. Poems and Letters, 2 vols. (Loeb,
19361965).
Secondary sources
Edward Gibbon, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Chapter XXXVI "Total Extinction Of
The Western Empire".
Judith Evans Grubbs, Women and the Law in the Roman Empire, Routledge, 2002, ISBN 0-415-15240-2.
Penny MacGeorge, Late Roman Warlords, Oxford University Press, 2002, ISBN 0-19-925244-0.
Ralph W. Mathisen, "Julius Valerius Maiorianus (18 February/28 December 457 2/7 August 461)" (http://
www.roman-emperors.org/major.htm), De Imperatoribus Romanis.
John Michael O'Flynn, Generalissimos of the Western Roman Empire, University of Alberta, 1983, ISBN
0-88864-031-5.
Further reading
Ralph W. Mathisen, "Resistance and Reconciliation: Majorian and the Gallic Aristocracy after the Fall of Avitus,"
Francia 7 (1979) pp.597627.
Gerald E. Max, "Political Intrigue during the Reigns of the Western Roman Emperors Avitus and Majorian,"
Historia 28 (1979) pp.225237.
Meyer, Helmut, "Der Regierungsantritt Kaiser Majorians," Byzantinische Zeitschrift 62 (1969) pp.512.
Stewart I. Oost, "Atius and Majorian," Classical Philology 59 (1964) pp.2329.
External links
Media related to Majorian at Wikimedia Commons
Regnal titles
Precededby
Avitus
Precededby
Flavius
Constantinus,
Flavius Rufus

457461
Succeededby
Libius Severus

Succeededby
458
Flavius Ricimerus,
with Flavius Valerius Leo Augustus Flavius Iulius Patricius
Libius Severus
78
Libius Severus
Libius Severus
Solidus of Emperor Libius Severus

Reign
November 19, 461 August 15, 465
Full name
Flavius Libius Severus Serpentius
Birthplace
Lucania
Died
August 15, 465
Predecessor
Majorian
Successor
Anthemius
Flavius Libius Severus Serpentius[1][2] (Lucania, c. 420 15 August 465) was Western Roman Emperor from
November 19, 461 to his death.
A Roman senator from Lucania[3] Severus was one of the last Western Emperors, emptied of any effective power
(the real power was in the hands of the powerful magister militum Ricimer), and unable to solve the many problems
affecting the Empire; the sources describe him as a pious and religious man.[4]
Biography
Rise to the throne
On August 7, 461, the magister militum (Commander in Chief) of the Western Roman army, Ricimer, had Emperor
Majorian killed, thus leaving the western throne empty. A struggle for the succession thus ensured, with the Eastern
Emperor, Leo I the Thracian, the King of the Vandals, Gaiseric, and Ricimer himself involved. The Eastern Emperor
traditionally had the right to accept his "colleague," for the Empire was nominally still united.
Ricimer needed a weak Emperor on the throne, in order to control him: his barbaric descent barred him from taking
the throne for himself. Gaiseric had captured the wife and the two daughters of the Western Roman Emperor
Valentinian III Licinia Eudoxia, Placidia and Eudocia during the sack of Rome (455), and, through the marriage
of one of them, Eudocia, with his son Huneric, he had entered the imperial family. Gaiseric's candidate to the
Western throne was Olybrius, who had married Placidia and was thus a member of his family.
In order to push for Olybrius' election, Gaiseric decided to put pressure on the Empire with several raids on the
coasts of Italy and Sicily, maintaining that the peace treaty he had signed with Majorian was no longer valid;
Ricimer reacted by sending an embassy to Gaiseric and asking him to respect the treaty, while a second embassy was
sent by Leo I asking for the end of the raids and the release of the wife and daughters of Valentinian.
Despite the pressure of the Vandal raids, Ricimer ignored Olybrius and put the senator Libius Severus on the
Western throne; he was probably chosen in order to please the Italian aristocracy. Severus was elected Emperor by
Libius Severus
the Roman Senate on November 19, 461, in Ravenna.[5]
Reign
Severus had to face several problems during his reign, because of the presence of Ricimer and because his rule was
not recognised in several provinces.
Unrest in the provinces
At the beginning of the 460s the Western Roman Empire no longer ruled several imperial provinces even nominally:
Britain had been abandoned; Africa had been conquered by the Vandals; and Hispania was occupied by the Suebi,
and the Visigoths (who were foederati of the Empire). However, the area under Libius' control was even smaller, as
the governors of several provinces did not recognise him as Emperor: both Aegidius, who controlled Gaul, and
Marcellinus, who ruled semi-autonomously over Illyricum, had been supporters of Majorian and thus did not accept
Libius' election.
Even the Eastern Emperor Leo I the Thracian did not recognise Libius Severus; the historical sources related to the
Eastern part of the Empire, Marcellinus Comes and Jordanes, consider Libius a usurper of the Western throne.[6]
Libius Severus feared that Marcellinus, who commanded a powerful army, could descend upon Italy, and asked for
Leo's help; the Eastern Emperor sent Philarcus as envoy to Marcellinus and dissuaded him from the attack. This
episode is also important because it marks the passage of Illyricum from the Western to the Eastern sphere of
influence.
To oppose Aegidius, Severus appointed his own supporter Agrippinus to the office of magister militum per Gallias,
thus officially giving him power over Aegidius. During Majorian's reign Agrippinus had been accused by Aegidius
of treachery; found guilty and condemned to death, he had been pardoned, probably because of Ricimer, who then
supported him in opposition to Aegidius. Agrippinus asked for support from the Visigoths, and with their help
moved against Aegidius and his Frankish allies, led by King Childeric I.
In exchange for their support, in 462 the Visigoths received the city of Narbonne from Severus, thus getting access to
the Mediterranean sea and separating Aegidius from the rest of the Empire. Among Severus' few official acts, there
is the appointment (464) as Praetorian prefect of Gaul of that Arvandus who, in 468, was to be prosecuted for
treachery and condemned to death for having tried to obtain the throne.
Therefore Severus actually ruled only over Italy, even if in 465, with the death of Aegidius, Gaul returned to his
sphere of influence for a short time. It is probably to this temporary control over Gaul that the limited issue of his
coins by the mint of Arelate is to be dated.
Under Ricimer's control
Ricimer put Libius Severus on the throne, though he retained actual power. Some coins exist issued in Severus' name
yet bearing a monogram sometimes identified with Ricimer; even if these coins were actually issued in the period
between the reign of Severus and of his successor, Anthemius, it is nonetheless an honour unheard of for a barbarian,
who was even mentioned on the inscriptions just after the emperors (salvis dd. nn. et patricio Ricimere, CIL X,
8072 [7]).
Ricimer's control was so clear that, in recording the defeat and death of Bergor, the King of the Alans, by his hand
(February 6, 464, near Bergamo), the historian Marcellinus Comes calls Ricimer a king: "Bergor, King of the Alans,
is killed by King Ricimer" (Beorgor rex Alanorum a Ricimere rege occiditur, Marcellinus Comes, Chronicle, s.a.
464). One source, Cassiodorus, goes so far to attribute Severus' death to poisoning ordered by Ricimer, when all of
the other sources claim it was a natural death.
79
Libius Severus
Vandals
The Vandals continued their raids during the reign of Severus. On one hand Gaiseric justified the raids complaining
that he had not received part of Valentinian's legacy; on the other hand, he still hoped to put Olybrius on the Western
throne.
Vandal raids deeply affected the economy of the Italian landowners, typically senators; some representatives of the
Italian aristocracy went to the Emperor to pledge for a reconciliation with Gaiseric. Severus chose the patrician
Tatian and sent him to the King of the Vandals, who, however, rejected the peace proposal.
Relationship with the Eastern Empire
Even if Severus was not officially recognised by Eastern emperor Leo I the Thracian, nonetheless the two halves did
collaborate, as shown by the episode of Leo's intercession with Marcellinus and the embassy led by Philarcus.
Another sign of the collaboration between the two courts is the choice of Consuls. According to tradition, each court
chose a consul and accepted the one chosen by the other court. Without Eastern recognition, Severus named himself
consulate of 462 (his first year as Emperor) and chose an influential member of the Roman senatorial aristocracy
(Caecina Decius Basilius, Praetorian prefect of Italy from 463 to 465) for the following year. Severus then decided
not to indicate a consul for the years 464 and 465 and chose to accept the two designated by the Eastern court.
Death
The details of Severus' death are obscure, but the majority of the modern scholars agree that he died of a natural
cause in 465. In a passage from his Getica, Jordanes claims Severus ruled for only three years;[8] it is probable,
however, that this is a mistake by the 6th century historian. As regards the day of his death, it is recorded as August
15 by Fasti vindobonenses priores, but a law by Severus dated September 25 has been preserved; either he died after
that day or the law was issued after his death in his name.
Cassiodorus, in the 6th century, maintains that Severus was treacherously poisoned by Ricimer in his own palace,[9]
but three years after Severus' death, the poet Sidonius Apollinaris wrote that he had died a natural death.[10]
According to modern historians, Ricimer had no reason to kill Severus, who was actually a puppet under his control,
unless he was an obstacle to Ricimer's reconciliation with Leo.[11]
Notes
[1] The nomen "Flavius" is attested in a surviving papyrus scroll from Egypt, 462 http:/ / papyri-leipzig. dl. uni-leipzig. de/ receive/
UBLPapyri_schrift_00002250;jsessionid=D43D2172E6A5E08C1E4AD3DF76DBC021?XSL. Style=print
[2] The cognomen "Serpentius" is attested in the Chronica Paschale and by Theophanes Confessor (AM 5955)
[3] Cassiodorus, Chronicle; Chronica Gallica of 511, 636.
[4] Laterculus imperatorum.
[5] Theophanes, Chronografia, AM 5955; Chronica Gallica of 511, 636.
[6] Marcellinus, Chronicle, s.a. 465. Jordanes, Romana, 336.
[7] http:/ / db. edcs. eu/ epigr/ epi_einzel_en. php?p_belegstelle=CIL+ 10%2C+ 08072& r_sortierung=Belegstelle
[8] Jordanes, Getica, 236.
[9] Cassiodorus, Chronicles, s.a. 465.
[10] Sidonius Apollinaris, Carmina, ii.317318.
[11] O'Flynn, John Michael, Generalissimos of the Western Roman Empire, University of Alberta, 1983, ISBN 0-88864-031-5, pp. 111114.
80
Libius Severus
81
Bibliography
Mathisen, Ralph W., "Libius Severus (461465 A.D.)" (http://www.roman-emperors.org/libius.htm), De
Imperatoribus Romanis, 1997
D. Woods, "A Misunderstood Monogram: Ricimer or Severus?," Hermathena 172 (2002), 521.
http://papyri-leipzig.dl.uni-leipzig.de/receive/
UBLPapyri_schrift_00002250;jsessionid=D43D2172E6A5E08C1E4AD3DF76DBC021?XSL.Style=print
External links
Coins of Libius Severus (http://www.tantaluscoins.com/browse.php?type=2&sbt=3&sbc=128&cur=1)
Regnal titles
Precededby
Majorian

461465
Succeededby
Anthemius
Political offices
Precededby
Flavius Severinus,
462
Flavius Dagalaiphus with Imp. Caesar Flavius Valerius Leo Augustus II
Succeededby
Flavius Caecina Decius
Basilius,
Flavius Vivianus
Anthemius
82
Anthemius
Anthemius
Tremissis of Emperor Anthemius. His title is Our Lord, Anthemius, Pious, Fortunate, Augustus.
Reign
April 12, 467 July 11, 472
Full name
Procopius Anthemius
Born
c. 420
Birthplace
Constantinople
Died
July 11, 472, (aged 52)
Place of death
Rome
Predecessor
Libius Severus
Successor
Olybrius
Wife
Marcia Euphemia
Issue
Alypia, Anthemiolus, Marcian, Procopius Anthemius and Romulus
Procopius Anthemius[1] (c. 420 11 July 472) was Western Roman Emperor from 467 to 472.
Perhaps the last capable Western Roman Emperor, Anthemius attempted to solve the two primary military
challenges facing the remains of the Western Roman Empire: the resurgent Visigoths, under Euric, whose domain
straddled the Pyrenees; and the unvanquished Vandals, under Geiseric, in undisputed control of North Africa.
Anthemius was killed by Ricimer, his own general of Gothic descent, who contested power with him.
Early life
Anthemius belonged to a noble family, the gens Procopia, which gave several high officers, both civil and military,
to the Eastern Roman Empire. His mother Lucina,[citation needed] born c. 400,[citation needed] descended from Flavius
Philippus, Praetorian prefect of the East in 346, and was the daughter of the influential Flavius Anthemius,
Praetorian prefect of the East (404415) and Consul in 405.[2] His father was Procopius, magister militum per
Orientem from 422 to 424, who was descended from the Procopius who had been a nephew of Emperor Constantine
I and a usurper against the Eastern Emperor Valens (365366).
Born in Constantinople around 420, he went to Alexandria to study in the school of the Neoplatonic philosopher
Proclus; among his fellow students there were Marcellinus (magister militum and governor of Illyricum), Flavius
Illustrius Pusaeus (Praetorian prefect of the East and Consul in 467), Messius Phoebus Severus (Consul in 470 and
praefectus urbi), and Pamprepius (Pagan poet).[3]
In 453 he married Marcia Euphemia, daughter of the Eastern Emperor Marcian (450457); after the marriage he was
elevated to the rank of comes and sent to the Danubian frontier with the task of rebuilding the border defences, left in
bad condition after Attila's death in 453. In 454 he was recalled to Constantinople, where he received the title of
Anthemius
patricius in 454 or 455 and became one of the two magistri militum or magister utriusque militiae of the East. In 455
he received the honour of holding the consulate with the Western Emperor Valentinian III as colleague.
This succession of honourable events the wedding with Marcian's daughter; a promotion to an important military
rank, but with administrative rather than military tasks; the prestigious rank of patricius and the highest military
position; the consulate held with an Emperor as colleague suggests that Marcian had selected Anthemius as a
possible candidate for the Eastern or Western throne. This hypothesis is further strengthened by the fact that
Anthemius' prestige misled the 6th century historian John Malalas to state that Marcian had actually designated
Anthemius as Western Emperor after Avitus.[4]
In October 456, in fact, the Western Emperor Avitus had been deposed; it is probable that Marcian considered
Anthemius as successor, but the Eastern Emperor died in January 457 before choosing his colleague. Therefore both
empires had no Emperor, and the power was in the hands of the Western generals, Ricimer and Majorian, and of the
Eastern Magister militum, the Alan Aspar. As Aspar could not sit on the throne because of his barbaric origin, he
opposed Anthemius whose prestige would have made him independent and chose a low-ranking military officer,
Leo; in the West, as his barbaric origin barred Ricimer from the throne, it was Majorian who received the purple.[5]
Anthemius stayed in service under the new Emperor; as magister militum, his task was to defend the Empire from
the barbaric populations pressing on its border. Around 460, he defeated the Ostrogoths of Valamir in Illyricum.
During the winter of 466/467 he defeated a group of Huns, led by Hormidac, who had crossed the frozen Danube
and were pillaging Dacia. The raiders had conquered Serdica, and Anthemius besieged the city until the starved
Huns decided to accept open battle; despite the treachery of his cavalry commander (a Hun), Anthemius led his
infantry to victory, and when Hormidac offered surrender Anthemius asked for the deserter to be given to him.[6]
Rise to the throne

The newly-elected Eastern Roman Emperor, Leo I the Thracian, had a major foreign affairs problem: the Vandals of
King Geiseric and their raids on the Italian coasts. After the death of Libius Severus in 465, the Western Empire had
no Emperor. Gaiseric had his own candidate, Olybrius, who was related to Gaiseric because both Olybrius and a son
of Gaiseric's had married the two daughters of Emperor Valentinian III.
With Olybrius on the throne, Gaiseric would become the real power behind the throne of the Western Empire. Leo,
on the other hand, wanted to keep Gaiseric as far as possible from the imperial court at Ravenna, and took time to
choose a successor to Severus. To put Leo under pressure, Gaiseric extended his attacks on Sicily and Italy to the
territories of the Eastern Empire, sacking and enslaving people living in Illyricum, the Peloponnese and other parts
of Greece, so Leo was obliged to take action.
On 25 March 467,[citation needed] Leo I, with the consent of Ricimer,[citation needed] designated Anthemius Western
Emperor as Caesar[citation needed] and sent him to Italy with an army led by the Magister militum per Illyricum
Marcellinus. On April 12, Anthemius was proclaimed Emperor at the third or twelfth mile from Rome.[7] Anthemius'
election was celebrated in Constantinople with a panegyric by Dioscorus.[8]
By choosing Anthemius, Leo obtained three results: he sent a possible candidate to the Eastern throne far away; he
repulsed Gaiseric's attempt to put a puppet of his on the Western throne; and he put a capable and proven general
with a trained army in Italy, ready to fight the Vandals.
83
Anthemius
Rule
Foreign affairs
Relationship with the Eastern Empire
The reign of Anthemius was characterised by a good diplomatic relationship with the Eastern Empire; for example,
Anthemius is the last Western Emperor to be recorded in an Eastern law.[9] Both courts collaborated in the choice of
the yearly consuls, as each court chose a consul and accepted the other's choice. Anthemius held the consulate with
the honour of the sine collega (to be appointed without colleague) in 468, the first year he started as Emperor,
following a similar honour given to Leo in 466. The following year the two consuls were Anthemius' son, Marcian,
and Leo's son-in-law, Flavius Zeno (later successor of Leo on the Eastern throne).
In 470 the consuls were Messius Phoebus Severus, Anthemius' old friend and fellow student at Proculus' school, and
the Magister militum per Orientem Jordanes. In 471, the year in which Leo held his fourth consulate with the
Praetorian prefect of Italy Caelius Aconius Probianus as colleague, the two emperors strengthened their bonds with a
marriage between Anthemius' son, Marcian, and Leo's daughter, Leontia; Marcian was honoured with his second
consulate the following year, this time chosen by the Eastern court.
Anthemius' matrimonial policy also included the marriage of his only daughter, Alypia, and the powerful Magister
militum Ricimer. The poet Sidonius Apollinaris arrived in Rome on the occasion of the wedding at the end of 467
and described the celebrations in which all social classes were involved; he also hints that Alypia might have not
liked her husband, a barbarian.[10]
Campaigns against the Vandals
The Vandals were the major problem of the Western Empire. In late 467, Anthemius organised a campaign of the
western Roman army, probably under the command of Marcellinus, but the result was a failure: the bad weather
obliged the Roman fleet to return to its base before completing the operation.
In 468, Leo I, Anthemius and Marcellinus organised a major operation against the Vandal kingdom in Africa. The
commander-in-chief of the operation was Leo's brother-in-law Basiliscus (who would become Eastern emperor
seven years later). A fleet consisting of upwards of one thousand vessels was collected to transport the combined
Eastern-Western-Illyric army, and while most of the expenses were paid for by the Eastern Empire, Anthemius and
the Western treasury contributed to the costs. The fleet was defeated in the Battle of Cape Bon, however, with
Marcellinus killed at Roman hands in its wake.
Leo decided to sign a separate peace with Gaiseric. Anthemius lost his allies and, with the imperial treasury almost
emptied by the failed operation, renounced taking Africa back. Instead he concentrated on the second problem of his
Empire, keeping under his control the Western provinces targeted by Visigoth expansion.
Campaigns against the Visigoths
After the disastrous campaign in Africa, Anthemius turned to the reconquest of Gaul, occupied by Visigoths under
the ambitious King Euric who had exploited the weak Roman control caused by political instability. Euric's sphere of
influence had also separated some imperial provinces from the rest of the Empire. Even though Arelate and
Marseilles in Southern Gaul were still governed by the Western court, Avernia was isolated from the rest of the
Empire and governed by Ecdicius, son of Emperor Avitus, while the territory later included in the so-called Domain
of Soissons was located further north.
In 470, Anthemius recruited the Bretons living in Armorica to fight Euricus.[11] The Bretons, under King Riothamus,
were initially successful and occupied Bourges with twelve thousand men. However, when they entered the core of
Visigoth territory, trying to conquer Dols, they were outnumbered and defeated by an Visigoth army, and
Riothamus was forced to flee to the Burgundians, who were Roman allies.[12]
84
Anthemius
Anthemius took the matter into his own hands and decided to attack the Visigoths directly. He collected an army
under the nominal leadership of his own son, Anthemiolus, but actually commanded by the generals Torisarius,
Everdingus, and Hermianus. Anthemiolus moved from Arelate and crossed the Rhone river, but he was intercepted
by Euric, who defeated and killed the Roman generals and pillaged the area.[13]
Internal affairs and Relationship with the Roman Senate

If Africa was lost and the control over Western provinces was shaky, Anthemius' power over Italy was threatened by
internal opposition; he was of Greek origin, had been chosen by the Eastern Emperor from among members of the
Eastern court, and was suspected of being a pagan.[14]
In order to obtain the support of the senatorial aristocracy, Anthemius conferred the rank of patricius on members of
the Italian and Gallic governing class. He introduced the practice, common in the East, of appointing even civilians
to the patrician rank, and honoured so many members of the aristocracy with this title that it suffered a sort of
inflation.
Among the new patricii there were, obviously, Italian senators, e.g. Romanus and Messius Phoebus Severus, but
against common practice he also appointed Gallic senators and even aristocrats without noteworthy careers, e.g.
Magnus Felix and the Gallic poet Sidonius Apollinaris. Sidonius had come to Rome to bring a petition from his
people; his contact in the court, Consul Caecina Decius Basilius, suggested that he should compose a panegyric to be
performed at the beginning of Anthemius' consulate, on 1 January 468. The Emperor honoured the poet, conferring
on him the patrician rank, the high rank of Caput senatus, and even the office of Praefectus urbi of Rome, usually
reserved to members of the Italian aristocracy.[15] Sidonius was so influential that he convinced the Emperor to
commute the death penalty of Arvandus, the Praetorian prefect of Gaul who had allied himself with the Visigoths.
Coinage
The good relationship between the two Roman Emperors was good news in the recent affairs between the two halves
of the Roman Empire, and was used in imperial propaganda. Anthemius had his mints (Mediolanum, Ravenna and
Rome) issue solidi depicting the two Emperor joining hands in a show of unity.
Anthemius had restored his court in Rome, and thus this mint became more and more important, overshadowing the
other two mints.
Some coins are in the name of his wife Marcia Euphemia; among these there is a solidus depicting two Empresses on
the thrones, probably a reference to Alypia's marriage.
85
Anthemius
86
Death
The most important figure at the Western court was
Ricimer, the powerful magister militum, who had
already decided the fate of several emperors.[16] The
new Emperor, however, had been chosen by the
Eastern court, and, despite the bond of the marriage
between Ricimer and Anthemius' daughter, Alypia,
they were not on good terms. The tipping point of their
relationship was the trial of Romanus, an Italian
senator, who was a patricius and was supported by
Ricimer, whom Anthemius accused of treachery and
condemned to death in 470.[17]
Ricimer had gathered 6,000 men for the war against the
Vandals, and after the death of Romanus he moved
with his men to the north, leaving Anthemius in Rome.
Supporters of the two parties fought several brawls, but
Ricimer and the emperor signed a one-year truce after
the mediation of Epiphanius, the Bishop of Pavia.[18]
The Old St. Peter's Basilica, built by Emperor Constantine I, was the
refuge of Anthemius from Ricimer's supporters in 472
At the beginning of 472, the struggle between them renewed, and Anthemius was obliged to feign an illness and took
refuge in St. Peter's Basilica. The Eastern Roman Emperor, Leo I, sent Olybrius to mediate between Ricimer and
Anthemius but, according to John Malalas, had sent a secret letter to Anthemius, urging him to kill Olybrius.
Ricimer intercepted the letter, showed it to Olybrius, and had him proclaimed Emperor.[19]
The struggle became an open war. Anthemius, with the aristocracy and the people of the city, faced the Goth
magister militum and the barbaric units of the army, which included Odoacer's men. Ricimer blockaded Anthemius
in Rome; five months of fighting followed. Ricimer entered the city and succeeded in separating the port on the
Tiber from the Palatine, starving the supporters of the Emperor.[20]
Both sides appealed to the army in Gaul, but the Magister militum per Gallias, the Burgundian Gundobad, supported
his uncle Ricimer. Anthemius elevated Bilimer to the rank of Rector Galliarum and had him enter Italy with the
loyal army. Bilimer arrived in Rome but died trying to prevent Ricimer entering the centre of the city from the other
side of the Tiber, through the Pons Aelius in front of the Mausoleum of Hadrian.[21]
Losing any hope of external help and pressed by the scarcity of food, Anthemius tried to rally, but his men were
defeated and killed in great numbers.[20] The emperor fled for the second time to St. Peter's (or, according to other
sources, to Santa Maria in Trastevere), where he was captured and beheaded by Gundobad[20][22] or by Ricimer[23]
on 11 July 472.[24]
Anthemius
Notes
[1] Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire II.96.
[2] Morris.
[3] O'Meara, Dominic, Platonopolis: Platonic Political Philosophy in Late Antiquity, Oxford University Press, 2003, ISBN 0-19-925758-2, p. 21.
[4] John Malalas, Chronicon, 368369, cited in Mathisen.
[5] Mathisen.
[6] Thompson, Edward Arthur, The Huns, Blackwell Publishing, 1996, ISBN 0-631-21443-7, p. 170.
[7] Fasti vindobonenses priores, no. 597, s.a. 467: "his cons. levatus est imp. do.n. Anthemius Romae prid. idus Aprilis.", cited in Mathisen.
[8] Dioscorus was the teacher of Leo's daughters, Ariadne and Leontia, and later became Praetorian prefect of the East.
[9] Justinian code, I.11.8, issued on July 1 472, cited in Mathisen.
[10] Sidonius Apollinaris, Epistulae, i.5.1011.
[11] Chronica gallica anno 511, n. 649, s.a. 470; Sidonius Apollinaris, Epistulae III.9
[12] Jordanes, 237238; Gregory of Tours, ii.18.
[13] Chronica gallica anno 511, n. 649 s.a. 471, cited in Mathisen.
[14] Anthemius had many pagans as collaborators: Marcellinus was a pagan, as it was Anthemius' friend, the philosopher, Consul of 470 and
Praefectus urbi Messius Phoebus Severus.
[15] Sidonius Apollinaris, Epistulae, i.9.17.
[16] Ricimer had deposed Avitus and Majorian and supported the election of Libius Severus.
[17] Cassiodorus, Chronicon, 1289; Paul the Deacon, Historia Romana, xv.2; John of Antioch, fragments 209.12, 207, translated by C.D.
Gordon, The Age of Attila (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan, 1966), pp. 122f
[18] Magnus Felix Ennodius, Vita Epiphanii, 5153, 6068; Paul the Deacon, Historia Romana, xv.203.
[20] John of Antioch, fragment 209.12; translated by C.D. Gordon, The Age of Attila, pp. 122f
[21] Paul the Deacon, Historia Romana, xv.4.
[23] Cassiodorus, Chronicle, 1293; Marcellinus Comes, Chronicon, s.a.472; Procopius of Caesarea, Bellum Vandalicum, vii.13. Chronica
gallica anno 511 (n. 650, s.a. 472) records both versions.
[24] Fasti vindobonenses priores, n. 606, s.a. 472.
Bibliography
Primary sources
Sources for Anthemius's life are richer than for most fifth century Western Emperors, partly because of his origin in
Constantinople, where the tradition of court histories was kept alive, and partly because of the details that can be
extracted from a panegyric delivered on January 1, 468 by the Gallo-Roman poet Sidonius Apollinaris.
Gregory of Tours, Historia Francorum
Jordanes, Getica
Sidonius Apollinaris, Epistulae and Carmen
Secondary sources
Mathisen, Ralph, "Anthemius (12 April 467 11 July 472 A.D.)", De Imperatoribus Romanis (http://www.
roman-emperors.org/anthemiu.htm)
Morris, John; Arnold Hugh Martin Jones and John Robert Martindale (1992). The Prosopography of the Later
Roman Empire. Cambridge University Press. p.697. ISBN0-521-07233-6.
87
Anthemius
88
Regnal titles
Precededby
Libius Severus

467472
Succeededby
Olybrius
Political offices
Precededby
Flavius Aetius,
Flavius Studius

455
with Imp. Caesar Flavius Placidus Valentinianus Augustus
VIII
Succeededby
Flavius Iohannes,
Flavius Varanes,
Imp. Caesar Eparchius Avitus
Augustus
Precededby
Illustrius
Pusaeus,
Iohannes

468
Succeededby
Flavius Marcianus,
Flavius Zeno
Olybrius
89
Olybrius
Olybrius
Emperor of the
Coin of Emperor Olybrius

Reign
March 23 or July 11 October 23 or November 2, 472
Full name
Anicius Olybrius
Died
October 22, 472 or November 2, 472 (aged 41)
Predecessor Anthemius
Successor
Glycerius
Wife
Placidia
Issue
Anicia Juliana
Anicius Olybrius[1] (died October 22 or November 2, 472) was Western Roman Emperor from April or May 472 to
his death. He was in reality a puppet ruler, put on the throne by the Roman general of Germanic descent Ricimer,
and was mainly interested in religion, while the actual power was held by Ricimer and his nephew Gundobad.
Biography
Family and early career
Olybrius was born in Rome, in the ancient and powerful gens Anicia,[2] of Italian descent.
According to the consensus of historians, he was related to the Consul Anicius Hermogenianus Olybrius, whose wife
and cousin, Anicia Juliana, had the same name that Olybrius gave to his own daughter. Other historians consider this
questionable, as "Juliana" was a common name in the gens Anicia, and because Hermogenianus seems to have
begotten only one daughter, who took chastity vows. Other possible fathers have therefore been proposed: either
Flavius Anicius Probus (suggested by Settipani) or, according to some clues, Petronius Maximus.[3]
Olybrius married Placidia, younger daughter of Western Emperor Valentinian III and his wife Licinia Eudoxia, thus
creating a bond between a member of the senatorial aristocracy and the House of Theodosius. The year of their
wedding is not recorded, although the historian Priscus implies it took place before the Vandal sack of Rome (June
216, 455).[4] Oost has pointed out that in his chronicle Hydatius wrote Placidia was unmarried as of 455.[5]
Olybrius
90
Steven Muhlberger points out that many of the events in the chronicle of Hydatius are based on hearsay, that
problems with his chronology "resulted from delays and distortions in the best information to which he had access,"
and thus the evidence from Hydatius is not as decisive as Oost believed.[6] Regardless, the powerful Magister
militum Aetius had forced Valentinian to betroth Placidia to his own son Gaudentius, so Olybrius could not have
married her before Aetius' death.
Aetius' death came 21 September 454, when the
Emperor Valentinian provoked a quarrel with him that
ended with the Emperor killing Aetius with his own
sword.[7] The following year, Valentinian was killed by
some soldiers who had served under Aetius, probably
instigated by the Patricius Petronius Maximus, who
succeeded to the throne. Petronius, who was a
high-ranking imperial officer and a member of a family
belonging to the senatorial aristocracy, married
Empress Licinia Eudoxia, widow of Valentinian. He
also elevated his own son Palladius to the rank of
Caesar and had him marry to Eudocia, elder daughter
of Valentinian.[3]
Gaiseric sacks Rome, by Karl Briullov. After the sack of Rome

(455), the Vandals took Licinia Eudoxia and her two daughters,
among which also Olybrius' wife Placidia, to Africa; at that time
Olybrius was in Constantinople.
According to those historians who believe that Olybrius

was Petronius' son, it was in 455 that Olybrius married
Placidia, between April 17, when Petronius was
acclaimed Emperor, and May 31, when he died; this would explain the marriage between Olybrius and Valentinian's
younger daughter as a move to secure Petronius' legitimacy as emperor.[3]
Another possibility is that Olybrius and Placidia were engaged in 455, and only after Gaiseric freed her from his
possession in the early 460s were they at last married. Oost mentions this possibility in his book Galla Placidia
Augusta.[8] The surviving evidence is not sufficient to allow us to decide between these alternatives.
Twice candidate for the throne

The Vandals, led by King Gaiseric, took advantage of the confusion and weakness of the Western Empire in the
wake of Valentinian's turbulent succession, moving into Italy and sacking Rome. Before returning to Africa, the
Vandals took Licinia Eudoxia and her two daughter as hostages. According to the 6th century historian John
Malalas, Olybrius was in Constantinople at the time.[9] On the other hand, the chronicler Evagrius Scholasticus
writes that Olybrius had fled Rome on the approach of Gaiseric's army.[10]
During his residence in the Eastern capital, Olybrius expressed his interest in religious matters. He met Daniel the
Stylite, who, according to Christian tradition, prophesied the liberation of Licinia Eudoxia. In the meantime, the
Western Empire went through a rapid succession of Emperors. After Petronius, the Gallic-Roman senator Avitus was
proclaimed Emperor by the Visigoth king Theodoric II and ruled for two years; he was deposed by Majorian, who
ruled for four years before being killed by his general Ricimer in 461.
Gaiseric supported Olybrius to assume the vacant Western throne because Gaiseric's son Huneric and Olybrius had
married the two daughters of Valentinian III, and with Olybrius on the throne, Gaiseric could exert great influence
on the Western Empire. Therefore Gaiseric freed Licinia Eudoxia (fulfilling Daniel's prophesy) and her daughter
Placidia (Olybrius' wife), but he did not cease his raids on Italy's coasts. His project failed, however, as Ricimer, who
had become the Magister militum of the West, chose Libius Severus as new Emperor (461465). Placidia was now
free, however, joining her husband at Constantinople, where she bore him a daughter, Anicia Juliana, in 462.
Olybrius
91
Olybrius was nearly chosen for the Western throne again in 465, after Libius Severus died. Gaiseric was again his
major supporter yet again his hopes were shattered as the Eastern Emperor Leo I the Thracian chose the noble
Procopius Anthemius. Olybrius' association with Gaiseric did not harm career, however, as the Eastern court chose
him for the high honour of the consulate in 464.
Rise to the throne, rule, and death

Sources agree that Olybrius rose to the Western throne thanks to the Western Magister militum Ricimer. They differ
over the timing and order of the events leading to his ascent.
In the version provided by John Malalas, and championed by J.B. Bury, Olybrius was sent to Italy in 472 by the
Eastern Emperor, Leo I the Thracian, ostensibly to mediate between Ricimer and the Western Emperor, Anthemius,
whom Ricimer had trapped in a siege of Rome. Once he had accomplished this, Olybrius would then continue to
Carthage and offer a peace treaty to Gaiseric. Leo suspected that Olybrius favored the Vandal king, however, and
would secretly take his side and betray the suspicious Emperor. Leo had Olybrius followed by another envoy bearing
a letter for Anthemius stating:
I have removed Aspar and Ardaburius from this world, so that no one who might oppose me would survive.
But you also must kill your son-in-law Ricimer, lest there be anyone who might betray you. Moreover, I also
have sent the patrician Olybrius to you; I wish you to kill him, so that you might reign, ruling rather than
serving others.
Ricimer had placed a guard at Ostia who found the secret letter. Ricimer showed the document to Olybrius, which
convinced Olybrius to accept the purple. From Ricimer's point of view, Olybrius was a good candidate, as a member
of the Roman senatorial aristocracy and because of his marriage to Placidia; his marriage to her makes him the last
Emperor of the House of Theodosius. Ricimer had Anthemius killed and Olybrius acclaimed Emperor (July 11,
472).[11]
The competing version of events does not mention the secret letter. Instead, after arriving in Rome, Olybrius was
proclaimed emperor several months before Anthemius' death, in April or May 472. Ricimer then besieged the part of
Rome where Anthemius was for several months until the lawful Emperor was abandoned by his partisans, captured
in a church, and put to death by Gundobad, Ricimer's nephew.[12] This version implies that Olybrius was secretly
supported by the Emperor Leo, which explains why Leo sent him there. Three of our sources -- Theophanes, the
Paschal Chronicle, and Paullus Diaconus -- support this version. Edward Gibbon accepts this implication as fact,
although none of the three sources explicitly state that Leo supported Olybrius. What other reason could there be,
Bury asks, then answers his own rhetorical question: "the facts that Anthemius was Leo's chosen candidate, his filius,
and that Olybrius was the friend of his foe Genseric, are a strong counter-argument."[13]
The reign of Olybrius was short and uneventful. Soon after the death of Anthemius, Ricimer also died, on August 9
or 19; his nephew Gundobad was elevated to Magister militum in his place. Very little is known of Olybrius' policy;
in his Vita Epifanius, Ennodius describes him as a pious man who acted accordingly. As evidence, he had minted a
new series of gold coins bearing a cross and the new legend SALVS MVNDI ("Welfare of the World") instead of the
usual SALVS REIPVBLICAE ("Welfare of the State").[14] It is also noteworthy that Olybrius is depicted on his coins
without helm and spear, common symbols on his predecessors' coinage, suggesting he had little interest in military
matters.[15]
Olybrius died of dropsy after only seven months of rule. The sources do not agree on the day of his death, reporting
either October 22[16] or November 2.[17]
Olybrius
Olybrius in culture
Olybrius had a palace in the Tenth region of Constantinople at one end of the Mese, the main street, along the
Constantinianae. Olybrius also restored, at his own expense, the nearby church of Saint Euphemia, a famous church
that had been chosen by Pulcheria, sister of Theodosius II, for the Council of Chalcedon in 451. This choice was a
sign of the bond between Olybrius, a Roman senator, with the imperial House of Theodosius.[18]
In 1707, Apostolo Zeno and Pietro Pariati wrote a libretto entitled Flavio Anicio Olibrio. The story told in the opera
is quite different from the real one, despite the fact that Zeno claimed to use several historical sources (Evagrius
Scholasticus l.2.c.7, Procopius of Caesarea, Historia Vandalorum, l.1, Paul the Deacon, vi): Ricimer captures Rome,
frees his sister Teodolinda and enslaves Placidia, daughter of Valentinian III; a little later, Olybrius frees Rome and
Placidia, and marries her.[19]
The libretto was written for a dramma per musica in three acts by Francesco Gasparini, performed that same year in
the Teatro San Cassiano in Venice, but the same libretto was put in music also by Nicola Porpora (1711, in Neaples,
as Il trionfo di Flavio Anicio Olibrio),[20] by Leonardo Vinci (Naples, 1728, as Ricimero),[21] and by Andrea
Bernasconi (1737, Wien, as Flavio Anicio Olibrio o La tirannide debellata).[22] The libretto was also rewritten for
the Ricimero by Niccolo Jommelli, performed at the Teatro Argentina in Rome in 1740.[23]
Notes
[1] Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire II.796.
[2] His relationship with such a prominent family was so noteworthy, that on his coins he spelled his family name in full (Philip Grierson,
Melinda Mays, Catalogue of late Roman coins in the Dumbarton Oaks Collection and in the Whittemore Collection: from Arcadius and
Honorius to the accession of Anastasius, Dumbarton Oaks, 1992, ISBN 088402193, p. 262).
[3] T.S. Mommaerts and D.H. Kelley, "The Anicii of Gaul and Rome", in Drinkwater and Hugh Elton, Fifth-Century Gaul: A Crisis of Identity?,
pp. 119120.
[4] Priscus, fragment 29; translated by C.D Gordon, The Age of Attila: Fifth Century Byzantium and the Barbarians (Ann Arbor: University of
Michigan, 1966), p. 118
[5] Oost, "Atius and Majorian", Classical Philology (http:/ / www. jstor. org/ stable/ 266700), 59 (1964), p. 28
[6] Muhlberger, The Fifth-century chroniclers: Prosper, Hydatius, and the Gallic Chronicler of 452 (Leeds: Francis Cairns, 1990), p. 211
[7] John of Antioch, fragment 201.2; translated by C.D Gordon, The Age of Attila, p. 52
[8] Oost, Galla Placidia Augusta: (Chicago: University Press, 1968), p. 306
[9] Chronicle, 366; translated (http:/ / www. roman-emperors. org/ olybrius. htm) by Ralph W. Mathisen.
[10] Historia Ecclesiastica 2.7; cited in Oost, "Atius and Majorian", p. 28.
[11] John Malalas, Chronicon, 373375.
[12] John of Antioch, fragment 209.12, translated by C.D. Gordon, The Age of Attila, pp. 122f; Fasti vindobonenses priores, n. 606, sub anno
472; Cassiodorus, sub anno 472.
[13] Bury, "A note on the Emperor Olybrius", English Historical Review 1 (1886), pp. 507509
[14] Grieson and Mays, Chronology. It is possible that this theme was chosen to mark an opposition to Anthemius, who had studied in a
Neo-platonic school and was suspected to restore the Pagan cults.
[15] Grieson and Mays, Chronology
[16] Fasti vindobonenses priores, n.609: "et defunctus est imp. Olybrius Romae X kl. Novemb."
[17] Paschale campanum: et Olybrius moritur IIII non. Novemb.
[18] Necipolu, Nevra, Byzantine Constantinople: monuments, topography and everyday life, Brill Academic Publishers, ISBN 90-04-11625-7,
pp. 5860.
[19] Apostolo Zeno, Poesie drammatiche, Volume 10, Giambattista Pasquali, 1744, Venezia, p. 385.
[20] Performed in Rome in 1722, it was the dbut in that city of the then seventeen-years-old Farinelli (Philip H. Highfill, Kalman A. Burnim,
Edward A. Langhans, A Biographical Dictionary of Actors, Volume 5, SIU Press, 1978, ISBN 0-8093-0832-0, p. 146).
[21] Kurt Sven Markstrom, The operas of Leonardo Vinci, Napoletano, Pendragon Press, 2007, ISBN 1-57647-094-6, p. 259.
[22] Eleanor Selfridge-Field, A new chronology of Venetian opera and related genres, 16601760, Stanford University Press, 2007, ISBN
0-8047-4437-8, p. 284.
[23] Letizia Norci Cagiano, Lo specchio del viaggiatore. Scenari italiani tra Barocco e Romanticismo, Ed. di Storia e Letteratura, 1992, pp.
5455.
92
Olybrius
93
External links
Mathisen, Ralph W., "Anicius Olybrius" (http://www.roman-emperors.org/olybrius.htm), De Imperatoribus
Romanis
Further reading
F.M. Clover, "The Family and Early Career of Anicius Olybrius", Historia, 27 (1978), pp.16996.
Regnal titles
Precededby
Anthemius

472
Succeededby
Glycerius
Political offices
Precededby
Fl. Caecina Decius
Basilius,
Fl. Vivianus
Consul of the Roman

Empire
464
with Fl. Rusticius
Succeededby
Fl.
Hermenericus,
Fl. Basiliscus
Glycerius
94
Glycerius
Glycerius
Emperor of the
Solidus of Emperor Glycerius

Reign
c. March 3, 473 June 474
Full name
(Flavius) Glycerius
Born
c. 420
Died
After 480 (aged 60)
Predecessor
Olybrius
Successor
Julius Nepos
[1]
Glycerius[2] (c. 420 after 480) was a Western Roman Emperor from 473 to 474.[3] Elevated by his Magister
militum Gundobad, Glycerius was rejected by the court at Constantinople[4][5] and ousted by Julius Nepos. He later
served as the bishop of Salona in the early Catholic Church.
Rise to power
Sources on Glycerius are scarce and scanty. It is known that at the time of his elevation to the throne he was the
comes domesticorum,[2] the commander of the Imperial guard of the court at Ravenna. Previous to this posting, he
had been the military commander in Dalmatia.[6]
In 472, the Western Roman Empire was plagued by a civil war between Emperor Anthemius and his Magister
militum (commander-in-chief of the army), Ricimer.[7] Ricimer killed the Emperor and put Olybrius on the throne,
but in a short time both Ricimer and Olybrius were dead.[8] The Eastern Roman Emperor, Leo I the Thracian, tarried
in choosing his successor, so the Germanic elements of the army, represented by the new Magister militum and
Patrician Gundobad (a nephew of Ricimer's), elected Glycerius Emperor on March 3 or 5, 473 in Ravenna.[9]
Glycerius
Rule
Little is known about the short reign of Glycerius. In his biography of St. Epiphanius, bishop of Pavia, Ennodius
states that Glycerius made "many measures for the public good" but mentions only that he pardoned "the injury done
to his mother by certain of his subjects at the petition of bishop Epiphanius."[10] A single law issued by Glycerius
survives, concerning simony, dated 11 March 473 and addressed to Himilco, the Praetorian Prefect of Italy. Ralph
Mathisen speculates that Glycerius tried to stay on good terms with the Eastern Roman Empire.[7] For most of his
rule, Glycerius lived in Northern Italy, evidenced by the fact that the only mints issued in his name are from Milan
and Ravenna.[11]
Gothic menaces
In 473, Euric, King of the Visigoths, ordered the invasion of Italy, but his commander Vincentius was defeated and
killed by Glycerius' comites Alla and Sindila. Despite the victorious defence of Italy, Glycerius could do nothing to
prevent the Visigoths from conquering Arelate and Marseille, in Gaul.[7]
At the same time, the Ostrogoths led by King Widimir began marching to Italy. The possibility that the two Gothic
armies would merge was disastrous. Glycerius sent an envoy to Widimir and, through a combination of diplomacy
and a bribe of 2,000 solidi,[11] convinced Widimir that the territories he wanted were already occupied by the
Visigoths and that he should move to Gaul.[3] While this strategy prevented Vincentius from receiving
reinforcements, it also led to the convergence of both Gothic armies against Gaul.[7]
Relationship with the Eastern Roman Empire

The Eastern Roman Emperor Leo I had not recognised Olybrius and did not recognise Glycerius, as his election had
not been ratified by the Eastern court, and it was suspected that he was a puppet of Gundobad.[3] Therefore Leo
chose a candidate on his own, Julius Nepos, Magister militum in Dalmatia and related to the Eastern Empress
Verina.[9] The election was delayed, however, so Julius Nepos could not leave immediately, as the ports were closed
for the winter. Leo I died in January 474 and was succeeded by his grandson, the young Leo II, who chose his own
father Zeno as co-emperor after a short time.[12] Zeno continued the official position of Constantinople to deny any
recognition of Glycerius, whom the court continued to view as a usurper.[7]
Regardless, Glycerius tried to reconcile with the Eastern court or, at least, to avoid conflicts with it. For example, he
did not choose a second Consul in order to allow Leo II to be Consul alone for the year 474.[7]
Deposition and death

In spring 474, the ports re-opened and Julius Nepos crossed the Adriatic Sea to Italy to depose Glycerius.[11]
Glycerius probably left Ravenna for Rome to resist the invader; he had a silver coin minted in Rome, claiming
himself as Emperor together with Leo II and Zeno, and not recognising Julius Nepos.[7] However, Julius Nepos
disembarked at Portus in July 474 and deposed Glycerius without a fight.[3] Glycerius was sent to Dalmatia as
Bishop of Salona.[11]
Glycerius' deposition was thus without any bloodshed, and historians investigated the possible reasons why the
Western Emperor, who had Gundobad and his army at his command, did not try to resist. One possible reason is that
Glycerius' elevation, not recognised by Eastern court, received the support of neither the Roman Senate nor the
Gallic-Roman aristocracy; resisting Nepos without the support of the Senate would have been a bad choice for
Gundobad.[13] It is possible that Gundobad, who was absent from Italy when Glycerius was deposed, had gone to
Gaul to gather some more troops or to receive the legacy of his father Gundioc as King of the Burgundians, thus
effectively leaving Glycerius alone.[4]
Glycerius took up residence at Salona, to which Julius Nepos retreated in 475 in the face of a coup attempt by
Magister militum Orestes;[14] Nepos was still in Salona in 476 when Orestes' son, the usurper Romulus Augustus,
95
Glycerius
96
was deposed by Odoacer, King of the Heruli.[15] The historian Malchus maintains that in 480 Glycerius was a
member of the conspiracy that led to the death of Emperor Nepos and thus sought the favour of Odoacer;[2] however,
the appointment of Glycerius to the prestigious rank of Bishop of Milan, which would support the theory of the
collaboration between Glycerius and Odoacer, is usually considered a rumor.[7] It is assumed that Glycerius died at
Salona.[4]
References
[1] Branger, Jean, L'abdication de l'empereur romain, (Comptes-rendus des sances de l'Acadmie des inscriptions et belles-lettres, 1979, Vol.
123, No. 2), pgs. 357-379. However, the Prosopography of the Late Roman Empire does not mention the name Flavius for him, and it may not
be contemporary.
[3] Bury, pg. 274
[5] The mid-sixth-century historian Jordanes made it clear that as far as the eastern court was concerned, Nepos was the direct successor of
Anthemius: "After Anthemius had been killed at Rome, Zeno, through his client Domitianus, named as emperor at Ravenna Nepotianus' son
Nepos, who had been joined in marriage to his niece. Nepos, having taken legal possession of the Empire, deposed Glycerius, who had
imposed himself upon the Empire in a tyrannical manner, and made him bishop of Salona in Dalmatia"
[6] Meijer, Fik, Emperors Don't Die in Bed, Routledge, 2004, ISBN 0-415-31201-9, p. 159.
[7] Mathisen, Glycerius
[8] Bury, pg. 249
[9] Norwich, Byzantium: The Early Centuries, 1990, pg. 171
[10] Ennodius, Vita Epifani, 79; translated in Sr. Genevieve Marie Cook, The Life of Saint Epiphanius by Ennodius: A translation with an
introduction and commentary (Washington: Catholic University of America, 1942), p. 63.
[11] Dumbarton Oaks, pg. 263
[13] O'Flynn, John Michael, Generalissimos of the Western Roman Empire, University of Alberta, 1983, ISBN 0-88864-031-5, p. 130.
[14] Norwich, Byzantium: The Early Centuries, 1990, pgs. 171-172
[15] Bury, pg. 277
Sources
Jones, A. H. M., Martindale, J. R. The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire, Vol. II: AD395-527,
Cambridge University Press, 1980
Mathisen, Ralph W., " Glycerius (3/5 March 473 June 474)", De Imperatoribus Romanis (http://www.
roman-emperors.org/glyceriu.htm)
Dumbarton Oaks, Catalogue of late Roman coins in the Dumbarton Oaks Collection and in the Whittemore
Collection: from Arcadius and Honorius to the accession of Anastasius, 1992
ISBN978-1-74196-598-8
External links
Glycerius (http://www.roman-empire.net/collapse/glycerius.html), Roman Empire net
Regnal titles
Precededby
Olybrius
Western Roman
Emperor
473474
Succeededby
Julius Nepos
Julius Nepos
97
Julius Nepos
Flavius Julius Nepos
Emperor of the
Tremissis of Emperor Julius Nepos

Reign
June 474 August 28, 475 (ruling from

Italy)
475480 (ruling from Dalmatia)
Born
c. 430
Died
April 25, May 9 or June 22, 480 (aged 50)
Place of death Spalatum, Dalmatia

Predecessor
Glycerius
Successor
Romulus Augustus
Wife
Niece of Leo I
Father
Nepotianus
Mother
A sister of Marcellinus
Julius Nepos[1] (circa 430-480) was Western Roman Emperor de facto from 474 to 475 and de jure until 480. He
was also the ruler of Roman Dalmatia from 468 to 480. Some historians consider Nepos to be the last Western
Roman Emperor, while others consider the western line to have ended with Romulus Augustulus in 476.
In contrast, the Eastern Roman Empire and its line of Emperors survived this period of history relatively intact.
Julius Nepos, already in control of a semi-autonomous Dalmatia, was appointed Western Roman Emperor in early
474 by the Eastern Roman Emperor Leo I; in an effort to replace the western emperor Glycerius, who was regarded
as an usurper. His agnomen of "Nepos" (nephew) was probably earned through a marriage to Leo's wife's niece; this
relationship likely also played a significant part in his selection for the western throne.
In June 474, shortly after Nepos' arrival in Italy, Glycerius surrendered. Nepos spared his life and appointed him
bishop of Salona. After this Nepos ruled, briefly, over the whole of the remaining Western Roman Empire; centered
in Italy, still the Empire's heartland, and including his native Dalmatia, and the remaining parts of Roman Gaul.
Nepos' rule in Italy ended in 475, when he was deposed by his magister militum, Orestes. Fleeing from Italy and
Orestes without opposition, Nepos returned to Dalmatia; over which he retained control.
Julius Nepos
In the same year, following Nepos' departure, Orestes enthroned his own teenage son as the new western emperor
with the regnal name Romulus Augustus; in reference to whom, the second element is often used in the diminutive
"Augustulus" (little Augustus). The reasons for Orestes' decision to crown his son as a puppet-emperor, rather than
become Emperor himself, are somewhat unclear. In the eyes of Roman law and of the eastern court in
Constantinople, however, Romulus' position as Emperor was unconstitutional. His short reign ended in 476 with the
execution of his father, and his own subsequent forced abdication; both the result of an uprising led by Odoacer,
head of the Germanic Foederati in Italy. Odoacer, the new ruler of the Italian peninsula, sent the teen-aged former
emperor to Campania in exile or retirement, after which Romulus Augustulus disappears from the historical record.
Although his successor had been deposed, Nepos never returned to Italy; however the "Emperor of the West"
continued to reign from Dalmatia, and he still enjoyed some support from Constantinople. Odoacer, attempting to
bypass Nepos, used the Roman Senate to petition the newly-restored Eastern Emperor, Zeno; he requested the title of
Patrician, and sought to end the separate line of Western Emperors. Patrician rank was granted, but at Zeno's
insistence Odoacer also grudgingly acknowledged Nepos' Imperial status, and even issued coinage in Nepos' name.
As Patricius, Odoacer ruled over Italy and an expanding sphere of related territories as a viceroy, theoretically under
Zeno's authority as the head of a "re-united" Imperium Romanum, while still technically acknowledging Nepos as
Emperor of the West. In practical terms, Odoacer was an increasingly independent rex Italiae, nominally recognizing
the Eastern Empire's suzerainty; Nepos retained claim to the Imperial title, but exercised no real power outside of
Dalmatia.
This political solution lasted approximately 4 years. Julius Nepos, still residing in Dalmatia, was murdered by
members of his own military in 480; possibly as a result of machinations by Odoacer and/or Glycerius, possibly
aggravated by ambitions on Nepos' part to regain control of Italy. The competing desires of various persons to
replace him as ruler of Dalmatia probably also played a part in his assassination. The instability in the West
continued; and Nepos' death ended the last serious legal claims of a Western Roman Empire, independent of the
Roman East, until the coronation of Charlemagne as "Imperator Romanorum" in 800.
Family
As is the case with many Roman Emperors who reigned for only a short period of time, particularly those from the
final decades of the western empire, there is only limited information about Nepos available in surviving records.
It is generally accepted[2] that Julius Nepos was son of the comes Nepotianus, a general (magister utriusque militiae)
who served the Western Roman Empire between 458 and 461 during the reign of Majorian. Nepotianus is mentioned
as having been active in southern Gaul and in Hispania, eventually dying in 465.[3] His unnamed mother was a sister
of Marcellinus, magister militum of Dalmatia.[4]
This identification has been denied by historian R. W. Burgess, who starts by observing that the claim reposes on a
single passage from Jordanes' Romana. He then proceeds to argue that, while Nepos came from an important family,
the general Nepotianus was a mercenary commander working for the Visigoths; from which came his title of
magister militiae. Thus, Burgess concludes his argument that Nepotianus father of Nepos, and the military
commander Nepotianus, should be considered as two different individuals.[2]
The 6th-century chronicler Marcellinus Comes mentions Nepos as "son of the sister of Marcellinus, once
patrician".[5] This identification of Nepos is confirmed by a passage in Jordanes' Getica.[1][6] Since Jordanes often
uses Marcellinus Comes as a source, the passage might have been copied verbatim.[5]
Marcellinus was a powerful figure in the Western Roman Empire, rebelling in 454 against the Emperor Valentinian
III after the latter's assassination of Flavius Aetius. He established himself as an autonomous ruler in Dalmatia,
despite accepting the authority of the emperors Majorian and Anthemius. Under Anthemius he was raised to the rank
of patrician, becoming a possible threat to Ricimer, the powerful kingmaker behind the western throne. In 468,
Marcellinus died in Sicily, probably at the hands of Ricimer.[7][8][9] Nepos inherited control of Dalmatia from his
98
Julius Nepos
uncle, gaining the title magister militum Dalmatiae,[10] and with it a powerbase which would be integral to his future
career.
Nepos may have been a member of an enduringly-prominent Dalmatian family. Four memorial inscriptions
commemorating similarly-named individuals, from the same region and falling within an appropriate time-frame,
have been identified: Aelia Nepotes, Aelia Nepos, Julius Nepos, and Nepotes. The name also seems to be preserved
in a church inscription of Salona, dating to the early 5th century.[11] Although the association of the agnomen
"Nepos" with his connection to the Leonid dynasty seems to be fairly clear, the origins of and relationships between
all these simillar-sounding names, including his father's, are less clear. Also unclear is what role Nepos' ties of
kinship with Marcellinus might have played in the acquisition of his agnomen.
Rise to power
Nepos was married to the niece of Eastern Roman Emperor Leo I, hence his nepos "nephew" agnomen, and
was named as Emperor in the West by Leo in 474, in order to end the reign of the usurper Glycerius, who had been
raised to the throne by the Burgundian magister militum Gundobad in the western capital of Ravenna. Under Roman
law, Leo was the sole legitimate Emperor and had the right to select a new western counterpart. He chose Nepos, a
relative and already governor of the province of Dalmatia, technically a part of the western empire but in practical
terms an autonomous region since at least the time of Marcellinus' rule there. In June 474 Nepos entered Ravenna,
forced Glycerius to abdicate, and secured the western throne for himself. Glycerius was exiled to Dalmatia as bishop
of the city of Salona, where he and Nepos may have crossed paths again.
Rule
As emperor, Nepos sought to consolidate the Western Empire's remaining holdings, which consisted of Italy, Illyria
and the remaining parts of Roman Gaul. He was able to re-negotiate a recently concluded peace settlement with the
Visigoths and their king Euric, under which he restored the Provence region of Gaul to imperial control in exchange
for other, minor territories where the empire was unable to maintain firm control and their strategic position was less
sustainable. But he was less successful in negotiating with Geiseric, the king of the Vandals, who was once again
launching pirate attacks on the Italian coast. Having recently made peace with the Eastern Empire, Geiseric saw no
need to make new concessions to the recently-appointed Augustus of the weakened and unstable West.
Nepos was, by all accounts, one of the more capable of the late Western Emperors, but he was unpopular with the
Roman Senate, whose members disliked him for his close ties to the East. When Nepos made the mistake of
appointing the untrustworthy but well-established Orestes as his magister militum, Nepos' lack of a solid core of
support in Italy would work against him.
Fall and rule from Dalmatia

On August 28, 475, Orestes took control of the government at Ravenna and forced Nepos to flee by ship to Dalmatia.
Unable to appoint himself as the Western Roman Emperor, Orestes instead appointed his son Romulus Augustus as
Romulus was a citizen of Rome. The boy was probably around 12 years old when he became Emperor and is
ironically known to history as Romulus Augustulus, meaning Romulus the Little Augustus.
However, Romulus' position was not constitutional inasmuch as he had not been recognised by the Emperor at
Constantinople, in whose eyes Nepos was still the sole Augustus of the West.[12] The latter thus continued to rule in
Dalmatia as Emperor, recognized as such in Dalmatia and in the eastern court. When Odoacer captured Ravenna,
killed Orestes, and deposed Romulus on September 4, 476, he proclaimed himself ruler of Italy and asked the
Eastern Roman Emperor Zeno to legalize his position as Patricius of the Roman Empire and Zeno's viceroy in Italy.
Zeno did so, but insisted that he recognize Nepos as Western Roman Emperor. Odoacer did this, and even issued
coins in Nepos' name throughout Italy. In name at least, the Western Roman Empire continued to exist after 476, but
99
Julius Nepos
only as a legal formality and as a sop to Imperial tradition.
Through the Roman Senate, Odoacer requested that he be named a Patrician by the Emperor Zeno, ruler of the
eastern half of the Roman Empire. This request was granted and technically Odoacer, as Patrician, ruled Italy and an
expanding sphere of related territories under Zeno's authority as the head of a "re-united" Imperium Romanum. In
practical terms, Odoacer was an increasingly independent king, nominally recognizing the Eastern Emperor's
suzerainty, with Nepos retaining a tenuous claim on the Imperial rank.
Similar arrangements might have continued for many years had events not taken another course. First, in about 479,
Nepos began to plot against Odoacer, hoping to regain control of Italy for himself. Another possibility, (according to
some sources) is that Glycerius, who continued as bishop of Salona, was plotting his revenge. What is certain is that
Odoacer perceived Nepos as a threat, and was determined to get rid of him.
Assassination
Nepos was assassinated by his own soldiers on one of three possible dates April 25, May 9 or June 22 of 480.
The April 25 date is probably the correct one.[13] He was reportedly stabbed to death in his villa, near Salona. Since
Diocletian also had a residence in the area, it might have been the same building. Marcellinus Comes blames "the
treachery of his comes Viator and Ovida" for the murder. Malchus also implicates the former Emperor Glycerius in
the conspiracy. Glycerius was after all Bishop of Salona at the time, placing him in the vicinity of the murder.[14]
Ovida served as the next ruler of Dalmatia for a few months, but Odoacer used Nepos' murder as a pretext to invade
Dalmatia.[14] Odoacer defeated Ovida's forces on December 9, and added the province to his own kingdom. Adding
to the suspicions about Glycerius is a report that Odoacer then made him bishop of Milan.
Notes
[1]
[2]
[3]
[4]
Martindale 1980, s.v. Iulius Nepos (3), pp. 777778

Drinkwater & Elton 2002, pp. 24-25
Martindale 1980, s.v. Nepotianus (2), p. 778
Ralph W. Mathisen, "Julius Nepos (19/24 June 474 [28 August 475 25 April/9 May/22 June 480)" (http:/ / www. roman-emperors. org/
nepos. htm)
[5] MacGeorge (2002), p. 29
[6] Jordanes, "The Origins and Deeds of the Goths". Chapter XLV (45). 1915 translation by Charles C. Mierow (http:/ / people. ucalgary. ca/
~vandersp/ Courses/ texts/ jordgeti. html#XLV)
[7] Martindale 1980, pp. 708-710, s.v. Marcellinus (6)
[8] A. Kazhdan 1991, p. 1081, s.v. Julius Nepos
[9] O'Flynn 1983, pp. 116-118
[10] PLRE II, pp. 777
[11] MacGeorge (2002), p. 42
[12] J. B. Bury, History of the Later Roman Empire, 4, p. 408. (http:/ / penelope. uchicago. edu/ Thayer/ E/ Roman/ Texts/ secondary/
BURLAT/ 12*. html#4)
[13] Ensslin, Wilhelm, Julius Nepos, in Paulys Realencyclopdie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft, Band XVI,2 (1935), S. 15051510.
[14] MacGeorge (2002), p. 62
100
Julius Nepos
101
References
MacGeorge, Penny (2002). Late Roman warlords. Oxford University Press. ISBN0-19-925244-0. Unknown
parameter |http://books.google.gr/books?id= ignored (help)
Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Nepos, Julius". Encyclopdia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University
Press.
Ralph W. Mathisen, "Julius Nepos (19/24 June 474 [28 August 475 25 April/9 May/22 June 480)" (http://
www.roman-emperors.org/nepos.htm)
Arnold Hugh Martin Jones: The Later Roman Empire 284602. A Social, Economic and Administrative Survey. 3
Volumes, Oxford 1964, S. 244 f. (Reprinted in 2 Volumes, Baltimore 1986).
Martindale, John R. (ed.), Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire: Volume II A.D. 395-527, 1980
R. W. Burgess, "From Gallia Romana to Gallia Gothica: the view from Spain" in Drinkwater, J.F. & Elton, Hugh
(eds.), Fifth-Century Gaul: A Crisis of Identity?, 2002, pp.1927
A. Kazhdan (ed.), The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium, Oxford University Press, 1991
O'Flynn, John Michael. Generalissimos of the Western Roman Empire
External links
Media related to Julius Nepos at Wikimedia Commons
Ralph W. Mathisen, "Julius Nepos (19/24 June 474 [28 August 475 25 April/9 May/22 June 480)" (http://
www.roman-emperors.org/nepos.htm)
http://www.acsearch.info/record.html?id=52935
Julius Nepos
House of Leo
Born: 430 Died: 480
Regnal titles
Precededby
Glycerius

474475
Succeededby
Romulus Augustulus
Precededby
Glycerius
Roman Emperor
474480
Succeededby
Zeno as Emperor of the whole empire
Precededby
Marcellinus
Military governor or ruler of

Dalmatia
468480
Succeededby
Ovida
Romulus Augustulus
102
Romulus Augustulus
Augustus
Emperor of the
Tremissis of Emperor Romulus Augustus

Reign
31 October 475 4 September 476
Full name
Flavius Momyllus Romulus Augustulus
Died
unknown, after 476, before 488
Place of death unknown, probably Castellum Lucullanum

Predecessor
Julius Nepos
Successor
Odoacer (as King of Italy)
Father
Orestes
Romulus Augustus (born perhaps around 460 died after 476, possibly alive around 500), is sometimes considered
the last Western Roman Emperor (although by other accounts the last Western Roman Emperor was Julius Nepos,
deeming Romulus' reign unconstitutional), reigning from 31 October 475 until 4 September 476. His deposition by
Odoacer traditionally marks the end of the Western Roman Empire, the fall of ancient Rome, and the beginning of
the Middle Ages in Western Europe.
He is also known by his nickname "Romulus Augustulus", though he ruled officially as Romulus Augustus.[1] The
Latin suffix -ulus is a diminutive; hence, Augustulus effectively means "Little Augustus".[]
The historical record contains few details of Romulus' life. He was installed as emperor by his father Orestes, the
magister militum (master of soldiers) of the Roman army after deposing the previous emperor Julius Nepos.
Romulus, little more than a child, acted as a figurehead for his father's rule. Reigning for only ten months, Romulus
was then deposed by the Germanic chieftain Odoacer and sent to live in the Castellum Lucullanum in Campania;
afterwards he disappears from the historical record.
Romulus Augustulus
Life
Romulus' father Orestes was a Roman citizen, originally from Pannonia, who had served as a secretary and diplomat
for Attila the Hun and later rose through the ranks of the Roman army.[2] The future emperor was named Romulus
after his maternal grandfather, a nobleman from Poetovio in Noricum. Many historians have noted the coincidence
that the last western emperor bore the names of both Romulus, the legendary founder and first king of Rome, and
Augustus, its first emperor.[3]
Orestes was appointed Magister
militum by Julius Nepos in 475.
Shortly after his appointment, Orestes
launched a rebellion and captured
Ravenna, the capital of the Western
Roman Empire since 402, on 28
August 475. Nepos fled to Dalmatia,
where his uncle had ruled a
semi-autonomous state in the 460s.[4]
Orestes, however, refused to become
emperor, "from some secret motive",
The Western and the Eastern Roman Empire by 476.
according to historian Edward
Gibbon.[5] Instead, he installed his son on the throne on 31 October 475.
The empire Augustulus ruled was a shadow of its former self and had shrunk significantly over the previous 80
years. Imperial authority had retreated to the Italian borders and parts of southern Gaul: Italia and Gallia
Narbonensis, respectively.[6] The Eastern Roman Empire treated its western counterpart as a client state. The Eastern
Emperor Leo, who died in 474, had appointed the western emperors Anthemius and Julius Nepos, and
Constantinople never recognized the new government. Neither Zeno nor Basiliscus, the two generals fighting for the
eastern throne at the time of Romulus' accession, accepted him as ruler.[]
As a proxy for his father, Romulus made no decisions
and left no monuments, though coins bearing his name
were minted in Rome, Milan, Ravenna, and Gaul.[]
Several months after Orestes took power, a coalition of
Heruli, Scirian and Turcilingi mercenaries demanded
that he give them a third of the land in Italy.[5] When
Orestes refused, the tribes revolted under the leadership
of the Scirian chieftain Odoacer. Orestes was captured
near Piacenza on 28 August 476 and swiftly executed.
Odoacer advanced on Ravenna, capturing the city and
the young emperor. Romulus was compelled to
abdicate the throne on 4 September 476. This act has
been cited as the end of the Western Roman Empire,
although Romulus' deposition did not cause any
significant disruption at the time. Rome had already
lost its hegemony over the provinces, Germanics
dominated the Roman army and Germanic generals like
Romulus Augustus resigns the Crown.
Odoacer had long been the real powers behind the
throne.[7] Italy would suffer far greater devastation in the next century when Emperor Justinian I re-conquered it.
103
Romulus Augustulus
After the abdication of Romulus, the Roman Senate, on behalf of Odoacer, sent representatives to the Eastern Roman
Emperor Zeno, whom it asked to formally reunite the two halves of the Empire: "the west no longer required an
emperor of its own: one monarch sufficed for the world".[8] He was also asked to make Odoacer a Patrician, and
administrator of Italy in Zeno's name. Zeno pointed out that the Senate should rightfully have first requested that
Julius Nepos take the throne once more, but he nonetheless agreed to their requests. Odoacer then ruled Italy in
Zeno's name.[]
Later life
The ultimate fate of Romulus is a mystery. The Anonymus Valesianus wrote that Odoacer, "taking pity on his youth",
spared Romulus' life and granted him an annual pension of 6,000 solidi before sending him to live with relatives in
Campania.[][9] Jordanes and Marcellinus Comes say Odoacer exiled Romulus to Campania but do not mention any
reward from the Germanic king.[][9]
The sources do agree that Romulus took up residence in the Lucullan Villa, an ancient castle originally built by
Lucullus in Campania.[9] From here, contemporary histories fall silent. In the History of the Decline and Fall of the
Roman Empire, Edward Gibbon notes that the disciples of Saint Severinus of Noricum were invited by a "Neapolitan
lady" to bring his body to the villa in 488 "in the place of Augustulus, who was probably no more."[10] The villa was
converted into a monastery before 500 to hold the saint's remains.[9]
Cassiodorus, then a secretary to Theodoric the Great, wrote a letter to a "Romulus" in 507 confirming a pension.[]
Thomas Hodgkin, a translator of Cassiodorus' works, wrote in 1886 that it was "surely possible" the Romulus in the
letter was the same person as the last western emperor.[11] The letter would match the description of Odoacer's coup
in the Anonymus Valesianus, and Romulus could have been alive in the early sixth century. But Cassiodorus does not
supply any details about his correspondent or the size and nature of his pension, and Jordanes, whose history of the
period abridges an earlier work by Cassiodorus, makes no mention of a pension.
Last emperor
As Romulus was an usurper, Julius Nepos claimed to
legally hold the title of emperor when Odoacer took
power. However, few of Nepos's contemporaries were
willing to support his cause after he ran away to
Dalmatia. Some historians regard Julius Nepos, who
ruled in Dalmatia until being murdered in 480, as the
last lawful Western Roman Emperor.[12]
Following Odoacer's coup, the Roman Senate sent a
Julius Nepos on a gold Tremissis.
letter to Zeno stating that "the majesty of a sole
monarch is sufficient to pervade and protect, at the
same time, both the East and the West".[13] While Zeno told the Senate that Nepos was their lawful sovereign, he did
not press the point, and he accepted the imperial insignia brought to him by the senate.[][13]
104
Romulus Augustulus
In popular culture
The 2007 film The Last Legion, and the novel on which it is based, includes a heavily fictionalized account of the
reign and subsequent life of Romulus Augustus; escaping captivity with the aid of a small band of loyal Romans,
he reaches Britain, where he eventually becomes Uther Pendragon.
The Marvel Comics character known as Tyrannus has the "real name" of "Romulus Augustus", and originates in
ancient Rome.
The play Romulus the Great (1950), by Friedrich Drrenmatt, an "Ungeschichtliche historische Komdie"
(unhistorical historical comedy) about the reign of "Romulus Augustus" and the end of the Roman Empire in the
West.
Notes
[1] Older literature (appr. up to 1850) also refers to him as Romulus Momyllus, Momyllus Augustulus, etc., Momyllus being a corruption of
Romulus. Cf. Gibbon, Decline and Fall, 4.36.
[2] Gibbon, Edward, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, David Womersley, ed. London; Penguin Books, 1994. Vol. 3, p.
312.
[3] For a famous example, cf. Gibbon, p. 405.
[4] Gibbon, pp. 391, 400.
[5] Gibbon, p. 402.
[6] Hollister, C. Warren, Medieval Europe: A Short History. New York; McGraw Hill, 1995, 32.
[7] Norwich, 54.
[8] Bryce 1961, p.25
[9] Gibbon, p. 406
[10] Gibbon, p. 407
[11] Cassiodorus, Variae, iii, 35. (http:/ / www. gutenberg. org/ catalog/ world/ readfile?fk_files=237769& pageno=166)
[13] Gibbon, p. 404.
Sources
Bryce, James Bryce.The Holy Roman Empire, Schocken Books, 1961.
Gibbon, Edward. The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Vol. 3, David Womersley, ed.
London; Penguin Books, 1994.
Heather, Peter. The fall of the Roman Empire, 2005
Hollister, C. Warren, Medieval Europe: A Short History. New York; McGraw Hill, 1995.
Murdoch, Adrian, The Last Roman: Romulus Augustulus and the Decline of the West, Stroud; Sutton, 2006.
Norwich, John Julius. Byzantium: A Short History. New York, Vintage, 1997
Sandberg, Kaj. The So-Called Division of the Roman Empire. Notes On A Persistent Theme in Western
Historiography, Arctos 42 (2008), 199-213.
Ralph, and Geoffrey Nathan, "Romulus Augustulus (475476 A.D.)--Two Views", De Imperatoribus Romanis
(http://www.roman-emperors.org/auggiero.htm)
105
Romulus Augustulus
106
External links
Media related to Romulus Augustus at Wikimedia Commons
Project Gutenberg: Cassiodorus, Variae (http://www.gutenberg.org/catalog/world/readfile?fk_files=237769&
pageno=166)
Regnal titles
Precededby
Julius Nepos

Succeededby
475476
None
with Julius Nepos in Dalmatia (475476) As Western Roman Emperor
Odoacer
as Roman governor
Julius Nepos
Roman Emperor in Dalmatia

Orestes[1] (died 28 August AD 476) was a Roman general and politician of Germanic ancestry, who was briefly in
control of the Western Roman Empire in 4756.
Early life
Born an aristocrat of Pannonia Savia, Orestes was probably at least partly of Germanic descent. He was son of
Tatulus, a pagan, and son-in-law to Romulus who served as comes in the Western Roman Empire. After Pannonia
was ceded to Attila the Hun, Orestes joined Attila's court, reaching high position as a secretary (notarius) in 449 and
452. In 449 Orestes was sent by Attila twice to Constantinople as envoy to Emperor Theodosius II.
In 475, Orestes was appointed magister militum and patricius by Western Roman Emperor Julius Nepos. This
proved to be a mistake on the part of Nepos. By August 28, 475, Orestes, at the head of the foederati, managed to
take control of the government in Ravenna, which had acted as the capital of the Western Roman Empire since 402.
Julius Nepos fled without a fight to Dalmatia, where he would continue to reign until his assassination in 480. With
the emperor far away, Orestes elevated his son Romulus to the rank of Augustus, so that the last Western Roman
emperor is known as Romulus Augustulus meaning "little Augustus" as the emperor was only a 12 year old boy.
Short reign
The new administration was not recognized by the rival Eastern Roman Emperors Zeno and Basiliscus, who still
considered Julius Nepos to be their legitimate partner in the administration of the Empire. But as they were engaged
in a civil war with each other, neither emperor was about to oppose Orestes in battle.
Orestes was free to issue new solidi in the mints of Arles, Milan, Ravenna and Rome, enabling him to pay the
barbarian mercenaries who constituted most of the Roman Army at the time.
However Orestes denied the demands of Heruli, Scirian and Torcilingi mercenaries to be granted Italian lands in
which to settle. Before he overthrew Nepos, the Roman general promised his barbarian soldiers a third of Italian
territory in exchange for assisting with the deposition of the emperor. After being turned down by Orestes, the
dissatisfied mercenaries revolted under the Germanic chieftain Odoacer, whom they declared to be their king on
August 23, 476. Odoacer led them against their former employer, ravaging every town and village in northern Italy
and meeting little resistance. Orestes fled to the city of Pavia, where the city's bishop gave him sanctuary within the
city walls. Despite the protection he received from the bishop, Orestes was forced to flee for his life when Odoacer
and his men broke through the city defenses and ravaged the church, stealing all the money that the bishop had
107
collected for the poor and razing many of the city buildings to the ground.
After escaping from the city of Pavia, Orestes rallied the few surviving units of Roman troops stationed in northern
Italy and was able to move his small army to the city of Piacenza. The forces of Odoacer and Orestes finally met on
the battlefield, but the inexperienced Roman commander and his few and sparse Imperial troops, disorganized and
unprepared, stood no chance against the savagery of Odoacer's mercenary army. The majority of the Roman soldiers
were either killed, captured, or driven off, while Orestes was captured near the city on August 28 and was swiftly
executed. Within weeks, Ravenna was captured and Romulus Augustus was deposed. Eighteenth century historian
Edward Gibbon attached great significance to this event due to Odoacer's foreign birth. Gibbon's romantic
description of the events of 476 as the fall of the Western Roman Empire was influential for two centuries but
modern scholarship has discredited this view. Nevertheless, Odoacer's defeat of Orestes and his son are often still
used to demarcate the transition from Classical Antiquity to the Middle Ages.
In popular culture
Orestes was played by Andrew Pleavin in the 2001 miniseries Attila, which depicts his time in service of the
Hunnic king.
The character of Orestes was played by Iain Glen in the 2007 historical-fiction film The Last Legion, which
shows the character during his period of rule in Rome, although the film deviates significantly from the historical
record of these events.
Orestes is portrayed as the primary villain in Michael Curtis Ford's novel The Fall of Rome
References
[1] No other names are known, according to J.R. Martindale The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire vol.II p.811-812. Cambridge
University Press, 1980
External links
Gibbon, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (http://annourbis.com/Decline-and-Fall-of-the-Roman-Empire/
vol-3/dfre310h_U38.html) part v, chapter xxxvi
Military offices
Precededby
Gundobad
In 473

Army
475-476
Succeededby
Post Abolished
Odoacer
108
Odoacer
Flavius Odoacer
King of Italy
Coin of Odoacer, Ravenna, 477, with Odoacer in profile, depicted with a "barbarian" moustache.
Reign
476494
Born
c. 433
Died
493 (age 60)
Place of death
Ravenna
Predecessor
None (Title created after abolishment of Western Roman Empire)
Successor
Theoderic the Great
Father
Edeko
Religious beliefs
Arianism
Flavius Odoacer (433[1]493), also known as Flavius Odovacer (German: Odoaker), was a Germanic soldier, who
in 476 became the first King of Italy (476-493). His reign is commonly seen as marking the end of the Western
Roman Empire.[2] Though the real power in Italy was in his hands, he represented himself as the client of Julius
Nepos and, after Nepos' death in 480, of the Emperor in Constantinople. Odoacer generally used the Roman
honorific patrician, granted by the Emperor Zeno, but is referred to as a king (Latin rex) in many documents and he
himself used it at least once and on another occasion it was used by the consul Basilius.[3] Odoacer introduced few
important changes into the administrative system of Italy. He had the support of the Senate at Rome and was able to
distribute land to his followers without much opposition. Unrest among his warriors led to violence in 477478, but
no such disturbances occurred during the later period of his reign. Although Odoacer was an Arian Christian, he
rarely intervened in the affairs of the orthodox and trinitarian state church of the Roman Empire.
Probably of Scirian descent, Odoacer was a military leader in Italy who led the revolt of Herulians, Rugians, and
Scirians soldiers that deposed Romulus Augustulus on 4 September AD 476. Augustulus had been declared Western
Emperor by his father, the rebellious general of the army in Italy, less than a year before, but had been unable to gain
allegiance or recognition beyond central Italy. With the backing of the Roman Senate, Odoacer thenceforth ruled
Italy autonomously, paying lip service to the authority of Julius Nepos, the last Western emperor and Zeno the
emperor of the East. Upon Nepos' murder in 480 Odoacer invaded Dalmatia, to punish the murderers. He did so,
executing the conspirators, but within two years also conquered the region and incorporated it into his domain. When
Odoacer
Illus, master of soldiers of the Eastern Empire, asked for Odoacers help in 484 in his struggle to depose Zeno,
Odoacer invaded Zenos westernmost provinces. The emperor responded first by inciting the Rugi of present Austria
to attack Italy. During the winter of 487488 Odoacer crossed the Danube and defeated the Rugi in their own
territory. Zeno also appointed the Ostrogoth Theoderic who was menacing the borders of the Eastern Empire, to be
king of Italy, turning one troublesome, nominal vassal against another. Theoderic invaded Italy in 489 and by August
490 had captured almost the entire peninsula, forcing Odoacer to take refuge in Ravenna. The city surrendered on
March 5, 493; Theoderic invited Odoacer to a banquet of reconciliation and there killed him.
Odoacer is the earliest ruler of Italy for whom an autograph of any of his legal acts has survived to the current day.
The larger portion of a record of Odoacer granting properties in Sicily and the island of Melita on the Adriatic coast
to Pierius and issued in 488, was written in his reign.
Ethnic affiliation
Except for the fact that he was not considered "Roman," Odoacer's ethnic origins are not completely known.[4] Both
the Anonymus Valesianus and John of Antioch state his father's name was Edeko. However, it is unclear whether this
Edeko is identical to oneor bothmen of the same name who lived at this time: one was an ambassador of Attila
to the court in Constantinople, and escorted Priscus and other Imperial dignitaries back to Attila's camp; the other,
according to Jordanes, is mentioned with Hunulfus as chieftains of the Scirii, who were soundly defeated by the
Ostrogoths at the river Bolia in Pannonia sometime in the late 460s.[5] Since Sebastian Tillemont in the 17th century,
all three have been considered to be the same person. Jordanes describes Odoacer as king of the Turcilingi
(Turc-ilingi or Torcilingorum rex).[6] However, in his Romana Jordanes also describes him as a member of the Rugii
(Odoacer genere Rogus).[7] The Consularia Italica calls him king of the Heruli, while Theophanes appears to be
guessing when he calls him a Goth.[] Marcellinus Comes calls him "the king of the Goths" (Odoacer rex
Gothorum).[8]
More recently Reynolds and Lopez explored the possibility that Odoacer was not Germanic in their 1946 paper
published by the American Historical Review, making several convincing arguments that his ethnic background
might lie elsewhere. One of these is that his name, "Odoacer", for which an etymology in Germanic languages had
not been convincingly found, could be a form of the Turkish "Ot-toghar" ("grass-born" or "fire-born"), or the shorter
form "Ot-ghar" ("herder"). "If Ratchis could become Radagaisus, why could Ot-toghar or Ot-ghar not have become
Odoacer or Odovacer?" they ask.[9] Other sources believe the name Odoacer is derived from the Germanic
Audawakrs, from aud- "wealth" and wakr- "vigilant".[10]
Odoacer's identity as a Hun was then accepted by a number of authorities, such as E. A. Thompson and J. M.
Wallace-Hadrilldespite Otto J. Maenchen-Helfen's reasonable objection that personal names were not an infallible
guide to ethnicity.[11] Subsequently, while reviewing the primary sources in 1983, Bruce Macbain pointed out
several uncomfortable silences in the primary sources, and proposed that while his mother might have been Scirian
and his father Thuringian, in any case he was not a Hun.[12]
Most sources today claim that he was most likely of Germanic stock.[13][14][15]
Before Italy
Possibly the earliest recorded incident involving Odoacer is from a fragment of a chronicle preserved in the Decem
Libri Historiarum of Gregory of Tours. Two chapters of his work recount, in a confused or confusing manner, a
number of battles fought by King Childeric I of the Franks, Aegidius, Count Paul, and one "Adovacrius" or
"Odovacrius". If this is an account of Aegidius' victory over the Visigoths, otherwise known from the Chronicle of
Hydatius, then this occurred in 463. Reynolds and Lopez in their article mentioned above, suggested that this
"Adovacrius" or "Odovacrius" may be the same person as the future king of Italy.[9] This suggestion has been
accepted by some scholars; it appears to explain why Lewis Thorpe named this person "Odoacer" in his translation
109
Odoacer
of Gregory's work.[16]
The first certain act recorded for Odoacer was shortly before he arrived in Italy. Eugippius, in his Life of Saint
Severinus, records how a group of barbarians on their way to Italy had stopped to pay their respect to the holy man.
Odoacer, at the time "a young man, of tall figure, clad in poor clothes", learned from Severinus that he would one
day become famous. When Odoacer took his leave, Severinus made one final comment which proved prophetic: "Go
to Italy, go, now covered with mean hides; soon you will make rich gifts to many."[17]
Leader of the foederati

By 470, Odoacer had become an officer in what remained of the
Roman Army. Although Jordanes writes of Odoacer as invading
Italy "as leader of the Sciri, the Heruli and allies of various
races",[6] modern writers describe him as being part of the Roman
military establishment, based on John of Antioch's statement that
Odoacer was on the side of Ricimer at the beginning of his battle
with the emperor Anthemius in 472.[18] Procopius goes as far as
describing him as one of the Emperor's bodyguards.[19]
When Orestes was in 475 appointed Magister militum and
patrician by the Western Roman Emperor Julius Nepos, he became
head of the Germanic foederati of Italy (the Scirian Herulic
foederati). However, Orestes proved to be ambitious, and before
the end of that year Orestes had driven Nepos from Italy. Orestes
then proclaimed his young son Romulus the new emperor as
Romulus Augustus resigns the Crown (from an 1880
[20]
illustration).
Romulus Augustus, called "Augustulus" (31 October).
However, Nepos reorganized his court in Salona, Dalmatia and
received homage and affirmation from the remaining fragments of the Western Empire beyond Italy and, most
importantly, from Constantinople, which refused to accept Augustulus and branded him and his father traitors and
usurpers.
About this time the foederati, who had been quartered on the Italians all of these years, had grown weary of this
arrangement. In the words of J. B. Bury, "They desired to have roof-trees and lands of their own, and they petitioned
Orestes to reward them for their services, by granting them lands and settling them permanently in Italy".[21] Orestes
refused their petition, and they turned to Odoacer to lead their revolt against Orestes. Orestes was killed at Placentia
and his brother Paulus outside Ravenna. The Germanic foederati, the Scirians and the Heruli, as well as a large
segment of the Italic Roman army, then proclaimed Odoacer rex Italiae ("king of Italy").[21] In 476 Odoacer
advanced to Ravenna and captured the city, compelling the young emperor Romulus to abdicate on September 4.
According to the Anonymus Valesianus, Odoacer was moved by Romulus' youth and his beauty to not only spare his
life but give him a pension of 6,000 solidii and sent him to Campania to live with his relatives.[22]
Following Romulus Augustus' deposition, according to the historian Malchus, upon hearing of the ascension of Zeno
to throne, the Senate in Rome sent an embassy to the Eastern Emperor and bestowed upon him the Western imperial
insignia. The message was clear: the West no longer required a separate Emperor, for "one monarch sufficed [to
rule] the world". In response, Zeno accepted their gifts observing "the Western Romans had received two men from
the Eastern Empire and had driven out one and killed the other, Anthemius." The Eastern Emperor conferred upon
Odoacer the title of Patrician and granted him legal authority to governing Italy in the name of Rome. Zeno also
suggested that Odoacer should receive Nepos back as Emperor in the West "if he truly wished to act with justice."[23]
Although he accepted the title of Patrician, Odoacer did not invite Julius Nepos to return to Rome, and the latter
remained in Dalmatia until his death. Odoacer was careful to observe form, however, and made a pretence of acting
110
Odoacer
111
on Nepos' authority, even issuing coins with his image. Following Nepo's murder in 480, Zeno legally abolished the
co-emperorship and ruled as sole Emperor.
Bury, however, disagrees that Odoacer's assumption of power marked the fall of the Roman Empire:
"It stands out prominently as an important stage in the process of the dismemberment of the Empire. It belongs
to the same catalogue of chronological dates which includes A.D. 418, when Honorius settled the Goths in
Aquitaine, and A.D. 435, when Valentinian ceded African lands to the Vandals. In A.D. 476 the same
principle of disintegration was first applied to Italy. The settlement of Odovacar's East Germans, with Zeno's
acquiescence, began the process by which Italian soil was to pass into the hands of Ostrogoths and Lombards,
Franks and Normans. And Odovacar's title of king emphasised the significance of the change."[21]
King of Italy
Odoacer's Kingdom in 480 AD, after he annexed Sicily and Dalmatia.
Odoacer solidus struck in the name of Emperor

Zeno. This coin testifies to the formal submission
of Odoacer to Zeno.
In 476, Odoacer became the first barbarian

King of Italy, initiating a new era. Unlike
most of the last emperors, he acted
decisively. According to Jordanes, at the
beginning of his reign he "slew Count
Bracila at Ravenna that he might inspire a
fear of himself among the Romans."[24] He
took many military actions to strengthen his
control over Italy and its neighboring areas.
He achieved a solid diplomatic coup by
inducing the Vandal king Gaiseric to cede to
him Sicily. Noting that "Odovacar seized
power in August of 476, Geiseric died in
January of 477, and the sea usually became
closed to navigation around the beginning of
November", F.M. Clover dates this cession
to September or October 476.[25] When
Julius Nepos was murdered by two of his
retainers in his country house near Salona
(May, 480), Odoacer assumed the duty of
pursuing and executing the assassins, and at
the same time established his own rule in
Dalmatia.[21]
As Bury points out, "It is highly important to observe that Odovacar established his political power with the
co-operation of the Roman Senate, and this body seems to have given him their loyal support throughout his reign,
so far as our meagre sources permit us to draw inferences." He regularly nominated members of the Senate to the
Consulate and other prestigious offices: "Basilius, Decius, Venantius, and Manlius Boethius held the consulship and
were either Prefects of Rome or Praetorian Prefects; Symmachus and Sividius were consuls and Prefects of Rome;
another senator of old family, Cassiodorus, was appointed a minister of finance."[21] A. H. M. Jones also notes that
under Odoacer the Senate acquired "enhanced prestige and influence" in order to counter any desires for restoration
of Imperial rule. As the most tangible example of this renewed prestige, for the first time since the mid-3rd century
copper coins were issues with the legend S(enatus) C(onsulto). Jones describes these coins as "fine big copper
pieces", which were "a great improvement on the miserable little nummi hitherto current", and not only were they
copied by the Vandals in Africa, but they formed the basis of the currency reform by Anastasius in the Eastern
Odoacer
Empire.[26]
Although Odoacer was an Arian Christian, his relations with the Roman Catholic church hierarchy were remarkably
good. As G.M. Cook notes in her introduction to Magnus Felix Ennodius' Life of Saint Epiphanius, he showed great
esteem for Bishop Epiphanius: in response to the bishop's petition, Odoacer granted the inhabitants of Liguria a
five-year immunity from taxes, and again granted his requests for relief from abuses by the praetorian prefect. "One
wonders at [Ennodius'] brevity," observes Cook. "To the thirteen years of Odovacar's mastery of Italy... a period
which embraced nearly half the episcopate of Epiphanius -- Ennodius devotes but eight sections of the vita
(101-107), five of which are taken up with the restoration of the churches." Cook uses Ennodius' brevity as an
argumentum ex silentio to prove that Odoacer was very supportive of the Catholic Church. "Ennodius was a loyal
supporter of Theoderic. Any oppression, therefore, on the part of Odovacar would not be passed over in silence." She
concludes that Ennodius' silence "may be construed as an unintentional tribute to the moderation and tolerance of the
barbarian king."[27] The biography of Pope Felix III in the Liber Pontificalis openly states that the pontiff's tenure
fell during Odoacer's reign without any complaints about the king.[28]
In 487 Odoacer led his army to victory against the Rugians in Noricum, taking their king Feletheus into captivity;
when word that Feletheus' son, Fredericus, had returned to his people, Odoacer sent his brother Onoulphus with an
army back to Noricum against him. Onoulphus found it necessary to evacuate the remaining Romans and resettled
them in Italy.[29] The remaining Rugians fled and took refuge with the Ostrogoths; the abandoned province was
settled by the Lombards by 493.[30]
Fall and death

As Odoacer's position improved, Zeno, the Eastern Emperor, increasingly saw him as a rival. According to John of
Antioch, Odoacer exchanged messages with Illus, who had been in revolt against Zeno since 484.[31] Thus Zeno
sought to destroy Odoacer and promised Theoderic the Great and his Ostrogoths the Italian peninsula if they were to
defeat and remove Odoacer. As both Herwig Wolfram and Peter Heather point out, Theoderic had his own reasons to
agree to this offer: "Theoderic had enough experience to know (or at least suspect) that Zeno would not, in the long
term, tolerate his independent power. When Theoderic rebelled in 485, we are told, he had in mind Zeno's treatment
of Armatus. Armatus defected from Basilicus to Zeno in 476, and was made senior imperial general for life. Within a
year, Zeno had had him assassinated."[32]
In 489, Theoderic led the Ostrogoths across the Julian Alps and into Italy. On 28 August, Odoacer met him at the
Isonzo, only to be defeated. He withdrew to Verona, reaching its outskirts on 27 September, where he immediately
set up a fortified camp. Theoderic followed him and three days later defeated him again.[33] While Odoacer took
refuge in Ravenna, Theoderic continued across Italy to Mediolanum, where the majority of Odoacer's army,
including his chief general Tufa, surrendered to the Ostrogothic king.[34] Theoderic had no reason to doubt Tufa's
loyalty and dispatched his new general to Ravenna with a band of elite soldiers. Herwig Wolfram observes, "[b]ut
Tufa changed sides, the Gothic elite force entrusted to his command was destroyed, and Theoderic suffered his first
serious defeat on Italian soil."[35] Theoderic recoiled by seeking safety in Ticinum. Odoacer emerged from Ravenna
and started to besiege his rival. While both were fully engaged, the Burgundians seized the opportunity to plunder
and devastated Liguria. Many Romans were taken into captivity, and did not regain their freedom until Theoderic
ransomed them three years later.[35]
The following summer, the Visigothic king Alaric II demonstrated what Wolfram calls "one of the rare displays of
Gothic solidarity" and sent military aid to help his kinsman, forcing Odoacer to raise his siege. Theoderic emerged
from Ticinum, and on 11 August 490, the armies of the two kings clashed on the Adda River. Odoacer again was
defeated and forced back into Ravenna, where Theoderic besieged him. Ravenna proved to be invulnerable,
surrounded by marshes and estuaries and easily supplied by small boats from its hinterlands, as Procopius later
pointed out in his History.[36] Further, Tufa remained at large in the strategic valley of the Adige near Trent, and
received unexpected reinforcements when dissent amongst Theoderic's ranks led to sizable desertions.[37] That same
112
Odoacer
year, the Vandals took their turn to strike while both sides were fully engaged and invaded Sicily. While Theoderic
was engaged with them, his ally Fredericus, king of the Rugians, began to oppress the inhabitants of Pavia, whom
the latter's forces had been garrisoned to protect. Once Theoderic intervened in person in late August, 491, his
punitive acts drove Fredericus to desert with his followers to Tufa. Eventually the two quarreled and fought a battle
which led to both being killed.[38]
By this time, however, Odoacer had to have lost all hope of victory. A large-scale sortie out of Ravenna on the night
of 9/10 July 491 ended in failure with the death of his commander-in-chief Livilia along with the best of his Herulian
soldiers. On 29 August 492, the Goths were about to assemble enough ships at Rimini to set up an effective blockade
of Ravenna. Despite these decisive losses, the war dragged on until 25 February 493 when John, bishop of Ravenna,
was able to negotiate a treaty between Theoderic and Odoacer to occupy Ravenna together and share joint rule. After
a three-year siege, Theoderic entered the city 5 March; Odoacer was dead ten days later, slain by Theoderic while
they shared a meal.[39] Theoderic had plotted to have a group of his followers kill him while the two kings were
feasting together in the palace called Ad Laurentum ("At the Laurel Grove"); when this plan went astray, Theoderic
drew his sword and struck him on the collarbone. In response to Odoacer's dying question, "Where is God?"
Theoderic cried, "This is what you did to my friends." Theoderic was said to have stood over the body of his dead
rival and exclaimed, "There certainly wasn't a bone in this wretched fellow."[40]
According to one account, "That same day, all of Odoacer's army who could be found anywhere were killed by order
of Theoderic, as well as all of his family."[41] Odoacer's wife Sunigilda was stoned to death, and his brother
Onoulphus was killed by archers while seeking refuge in a church. Theoderic exiled Odoacer's son Thela to Gaul,
but when he attempted to return to Italy Theoderic had him killed.[42]
The events around the Battle of Ravenna were used in the Germanic heroic saga of Dietrich von Bern (Theoderic of
Verona). The event in which Theoderic kills Odoacer with his own hands is mirrored in the saga in the episode in
which Dietrich kills the Dwarf King Laurin.
Odoacer's donation to Pierius

Odoacer is the first ruler of Italy for whom the original text of any of his legal acts has survived. This is a grant by
Odoacer to Pierius of properties in Sicily near Syracuse and on the island of Melita in Dalmatia, worth in total 690
solidi. The grant itself was made 18 March 488, but this document, which is on papyrus, was written shortly
afterwards. The opening section is missing and the text is in two parts, one now in the Biblioteca Nazionale in
Naples and the other in the Austrian National Library in Vienna, but the bulk of the act itself and the subscriptions
by witnesses and officials survive.[43]
Pierius, comes domesticorum, was given these properties as a reward for his achievements in the war against
Theoderic. None of the parties involved in this transactionnot Pierius, Odoacer, nor the witnessescould foresee
that the recipient would die the following year in the battle of the Adda River.[44]
Pierius' grant is the lone surviving document which has survived from the civic scriptorium of Syracuse prior to the
Byzantine reconquest.[45] Scipione Maffei made the unconfirmed assertion that both pieces were owned by the poet
Giovanni Gioviano Pontano; it had already lost the beginning by then. The second part is known to have been in the
possession of Cardinal Pasquale de Aragon during the 1660s, but Tjder notes the two parts were reunited at the
library of the Monastery of San Paolo in Naples in 1702. In 1718, the second part was presented to Emperor Charles
VI in 1718, through whom that fragment found its way to Vienna.
113
Odoacer
Notes
[1] Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire, Vol. 2, s.v. Odovacer, pp. 791 793
[2] "Odoacer was the first barbarian who reigned over Italy, over a people who had once asserted their just superiority above the rest of
mankind." Edward Gibbon, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Chapter XXXVI
[3] Marcellinus, Cassiodorus, and some Papal documents, which come the closest to implying official use of the title, all refer to him as rex (or
one of its declensions). Jordanes at one point refers to him as Gothorum Romanorumque regnator: ruler of the Goths and the Romans. He is
called an autokrator (autocrat) and a tyrannos (usurper, tyrant) in Procopius' Bellum Gothicum. The only reference to Odoacer as "King of
Italy" is in Victor Vitensis: Odouacro Italiae regi.
[4] A more recent discussion of this question is part of Stefan Krautschick, "Zwei Aspekte des Jahres 476", Historia: Zeitschrift fr Alte
Geschichte (http:/ / www. jstor. org/ stable/ 4435971), 35 (1986), pp. 344-371
[5] Priscus, fragments 7 and 8, translated by C.D. Gordon, The Age of Attila: Fifth Century Byzantium and the Barbarians (Ann Arbor:
University of Michigan, 1966), pp. 70 - 93. Jordanes, Getica, ch. 277
[6] Jordanes, Getica 242
[7] Jordanes, Romana 344
[8] Marcellinus Comes, Chronicon, s. a. 476
[9] Robert L. Reynolds and Robert S. Lopez, "Odoacer: German or Hun?" American Historical Review (http:/ / www. jstor. org/ stable/
1845067), 52 (1946), p. 45
[11] "Communications", American Historical Review (http:/ / www. jstor. org/ stable/ 1842348), 53 (1947), p. 836. Reynolds and Lopez in the
same issue point out Maenchen-Helfen restated "so patently the position of the unflinching Germanizer, to whom it appears self-evident that
every barbarian who distinguished himself must have been a German in his inner being, no matter how deeply influenced by Huns or Alans as
to children's heads and weapon" (p. 841), then carefully respond to his other objections.
[12] Bruce Macbain, "Odovacer the Hun?," Classical Philology (http:/ / www. jstor. org/ stable/ 269961), 78 (1983), pp. 323-327
[13] http:/ / www. britannica. com/ EBchecked/ topic/ 425187/ Odoacer
[14] http:/ / ancienthistory. about. com/ od/ fallofrome/ a/ EndofRome. htm
[15] http:/ / www. historyfiles. co. uk/ KingListsEurope/ BarbarianScirii. htm
[16] Gregory of Tours, The History of the Franks, translated by Lewis Thorpe (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1974), p. 174
[17] Eugippius, Commemoratorium Severinus, chapter 6. Translated by Ludwig Bieler, Eugippius, The Life of Saint Severin (Washington:
Catholic University, 1965), pp. 64f. Bieler explains in a footnote that "make rich gifts to many" refers to the custom of Germanic war leaders
giving lavishly to their followers, because "generosity was one of the virtues which a king was supposed to have."
[18] John of Antioch, fragment 209; translated by C. D. Gordon, Age of Attila, p. 122
[19] History of the Wars, 5.1.6. Text and translation in H.B. Dewing, Procopius (London: Heinemann, 1968), vol. 3 p. 5.
[20] J.B. Bury, History of the Later Roman Empire (New York: Macmillan, 1923), vol. 1 p. 405
[21] Bury, History, vol. 1 p. 406
[22] Anonymus Valesianus, 8.38. Text and English translation of this document is in J.C. Rolfe (trans.), Ammianus Marcellinus (Cambridge:
Harvard University Press, 1972), vol. 3 pp. 531ff
[23] Malchus, fragment 10, translated in C. D. Gordon, The Age of Attila, pp. 127-129
[24] Jordanes, Getica 243
[25] Clover, "A Game of Bluff: The Fate of Sicily after A.D. 476", Historia: Zeitschrift fr Alte Geschichte (http:/ / www. jstor. org/ stable/
4436542) 48 (1999), p. 237
[26] Jones, The Later Roman Empire: 284 - 602 (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins, 1986), pp. 254f
[27] Sr. Genevieve Marie Cook, The Life of Saint Epiphanius by Ennodius: A translation with an introduction and commentary (Washington:
Catholic University of America, 1942), pp. 12f
[28] Translated in Raymond Davis, The Book of Pontiffs (Liber Pontificalis) (Liverpool: University Press, 1989), pp. 41f
[29] Eugippius, Commemoratorium Severinus, chapter 44
[30] Paul the Deacon, Historia Langobardorum, 1.19. Translated by William Dudley Foulke, History of the Lombards, 1904 (Philadelphia:
University Press, 1974), p. 31-33
[31] John of Antioch, fragment 214; translated by C. D. Gordon, Age of Attila, p. 152
[32] Peter Heather, The Goths (Oxford: Blackwell, 1996), p. 217
[33] Anonymus Valesianus, 11.50f. This follows how Thomas Hodgkins explains this confusing chronology of the Anonymus Valesianus; Italy
and her Invaders (Oxford, 1885), vol. 4 p. 214
[34] Anonymus Valesianus, 11.52
[35] Wolfram, History of the Goths, translated by Thomas J. Dunlap (Berkeley: University of California, 1988), p. 281
[36] History of the Wars, 5.1.18-23
[37] Heather, The Goths, p. 219
[38] Wolfram, History of the Goths, p. 282
[39] Wolfram, History of the Goths, p. 283
[40] John of Antioch, fragment 214a; translated by C. D. Gordon, Age of Attila, pp. 182f. Both the Anonymus Valesianus (11.55) and Andreas
Agnellus (Liber pontificalis ecclesiae Ravennatis, ch. 39) place the murder in Ad Laurentum. Herwig Wolfram explains Theoderic's claim of
114
Odoacer
115
avenging his "friends" as revenge for the death of the Rugian royal couple -- "it apparently did not matter that their son was at that very
moment in open rebellion against Theoderic" (Wolfram, History of the Goths, p. 283)
[41] Anonymus Valesianus 11.56
[42] John of Antioch, fragment 214a. However Wolfram writes that Sunigilda was starved to death. (History of the Goths, p. 283)
[43] Unless otherwise stated, this section is based on Jan-Olof Tjder, Die Nichtliterarischen Lateinischen Papyri Italiens aus der Zeit (Lund:
Gleerup, 1955), vol. 1 pp.279-293. An English translation of this document is in Thomas Hodgkin, Italy and her Invaders (Oxford,
18801899), vol. 3 pp. 150-154.
[44] Anonymus Valesianus, 11.53
[45] Tjder, Nichtliterarischen Lateinischen Papyri, vol. 1 p. 35
Further reading
Thompson, E. A. Romans and Barbarians: The Decline of the Western Empire. Madison: University of
Wisconsin Press, 1982. ISBN 0-299-08700-X.
The movie "476 A.D.", about Romulus Augustus's deposition by Odoacer, the Chieftain of the Ostrogoths, and
the End of the Roman Empire, will be released in 2013, by Ivan Pavleti.
Precededby
Romulus Augustus
as Western Roman Emperor
King of
Italy
476493
Succeededby
Theoderic the Great

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Avitus Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=567854173 Contributors: Abou Ben Adhem, Adam Bishop, AlephGamma, Am13gore, Arklys, Astynax, B-Machine, Babur, Barefact,
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116

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Majorian Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=567928648 Contributors: Abou Ben Adhem, Albmont, Alexander Domanda, Aloysius the Gaul, Astynax, Be Black Hole Sun,
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Glycerius Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=567928391 Contributors: 217.215.25.xxx, Aldux, Alexander Domanda, Arjayay, Astynax, BlaiseMuhaddib, Brambo, Catiline63,
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Romulus Augustulus Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=567928313 Contributors: A.r.neal, Adam Bishop, Aetheling1125, Ahoerstemeier, Ahrarara, Aldux, Alekjds, Alexander
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Orestes (father of Romulus Augustulus) Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=562977209 Contributors: Abou Ben Adhem, Aldux, Alexander Domanda, Baastuul, Bender235,
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Odoacer Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=557520594 Contributors: 66.47.62.xxx, A Nobody, Abou Ben Adhem, Adambiswanger1, Aldux, Alexf, Alksub, Alphasinus,
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Western Roman Emperors 395 476

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Western Roman Emperors 395 476

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Wstern Roman Emperors

Constantine III (Western Roman Emperor)

Orestes (father of Romulus Augustulus)

Image Sources, Licenses and Contributors

Honorius on the consular diptych of Anicius Petronius Probus (406)

23 January 393 15 August 423

Flavius Honorius (from birth to

15 August 423 (aged38)

The Western Roman Emperor Honorius,

Jean-Paul Laurens (1880). Honorius became

Stilicho and the defence of Italy

Constantius and the erosion of the Western Empire

Christian pendant of Empress Maria, daughter of

Northeastern Gaul became subject to even greater Frankish influence,