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When the
Romans met the Fidenates in battle their supposed Alban allies abandoned
them.
Mettius
Fufenius’ though proved plans were in vain. Rome defeated the Fidenates on
her own.
The
Albans were soon crushed, their leader torn apart by two chariots and the
city of
Alba
Longa was destroyed. The Albans were thereafter moved to Rome where they were
given the
Caelian
Hill to settle on.
This increase in population made the senate’s meeting place too small to
contain the enlarged senate.
Tullus
Hostilius therefore decided a new senate house was needed. It was constructed
at the western
end of
the Forum at the foot of the Capitoline Hill. It remained there throughout
Roman history
and
continued to bear its builder’s name, the Curia Hostilia.
Tullus Hostilius is said to have thereafter campaigned successfully against
the neighbouring
Sabine
tribes, until a plague befell him as well as the people of Rome, forcing them
to make peace.
In seeking to avert the wrath of the gods, Hostilius now sought to emulate
his predecessor and took
greater
interest in his religious duties.
Yet his new found religious devotion fell well short of having the desired
effect.
King Tullus Hostilius was struck lighting
and died.
As with
other kings of Rome we are not sure if Tullus Hostilius ever existed at all.
The
family of the Hostilii did however appear in the records some one or two centuries
later.
So it is
well possible that their half-mythical ancestor existed.
As the destroyer of Alba Longa it may indeed have been Hostilius, not Numa
Pompilius,
who brought the religious orders, including
the Vestal Virgins, to Rome. Either way,
the fall of Alba Longa and Rome’s assumption
of all her religious festivals greatly increased
the victorious city’s prestige throughout
the region.
Ancus
Marcius
Rome’s
fourth king was Numa Pompilius’grandson and therefore another Sabine. Ancus
Marcius was
chosen
as a ruler to restore the peace and quite the Romans had enjoyed under the
rule of his grandfather.
This in turn gave Rome’s neighbours the impression that the city’s new leader
was a pushover, eager for
peace
at any price and therefore unlikely to retaliate.
The first to test this premise were the so-called Old Latins (prisci
latini), an ancient tribe who even
predated
Aeneas.
Yet king Ancus Marcius, perhaps to everyone’s surprise, proved to be as much
of a warrior as he was
an
administrator, priest and diplomat.
The prisci latini were defeated, their city destroyed and their people
absorbed into Rome.
Ancus Marcius is also said to have settled the Aventine Hill. Given this new
influx of people, this may
indeed
Tradition
has it that Ancus Marcius founded the city of Ostia. Archaeology appears to
say otherwise,
suggesting
the founding of Ostia to be of a later era.
Rome’s interest in the mouth of the river Tiber will most likely have been
due to the presence of salt-pan.
Occupying
the later site of Ostia granted Rome control over the pans on the southern
bank of the river
Tiber.
Those to the north remained in Etruscan
hands.
Building the first bridge over the Tiber, the wooden Sublician Bridge,
Ancus
established a bridgehead to the Janiculan Hill, which he fortified, though
most likely did not as
part of
the city. This may well have been to help protect the salt route from Ostia
and to deny the growing
threat
of Etruscans the strategic strongpoint on the western side of the river.
Ancus Marcius died widely respected and was deemed a truly good king by later
Roman historians.
As with
Tullus Hostilius, King Ancus Marcius does have much later descendants make an
entrance into
the
Roman records. By 357 BC the Marcii reached the consulship.
Again this suggests the existence of this ruler of Rome’s semi-mythical
history may indeed have existed.
Tarquinius
Priscus
Tarquin the Elder
The
fifth king of Rome was one Lucius Tarquinius Priscus (Priscus in this case
simply signifies him as
Tarquin ‘the
Elder’ and it was a title attributed to him much later by Roman historians).
The stories
surrounding
this monarch show us that we are still deeply reliant on legend and myth to
paint any sort
of
picture of his rule. Tarquin the Elder, as Tarquinius is generally called,
moved to Rome from the
Etruscan
town of Tarquinii. His father, Demaratus, was a nobleman from Corinth who was
forced to
leave
his city (655 BC) when the tyrant Cypselus assumed power there.
The link
to Greece is indeed possible as there is evidence of Greek traders in
Tarquinii.
But it
nonetheless sounds like a somewhat strained effort by later Romans to avoid
admitting that
Rome had
in fact been ruled by Etruscans.
Legend
has it that on his entering the city of Rome an eagle swooped down and
snatched Tarquin’s
cap with
his talons, only to place on his head again before flying away. Evidently
Tarquin was a man
favoured
by fate.
Nontheless he deemed it wise to change his forename from the Etruscan Lucumo
to the Latin Lucius
in order
to smooth his transition from Etruscan to Roman nobility. Tarquin’s wife
Tanaquil was of
aristocratic
Etruscan blood.
If by his own right, or by that of his wife’s connections, Tarquin soon rose
to be a figure of significant
influence
in Rome.
He further assumed an influential position with the reigning king, Ancus
Marcius. So much so in fact,
he was
made guardian of King Ancus’ two sons.
This proved a position of vital importance when Ancus Marcius died. Tarquin
persuaded the two sons to
go
hunting while he made arrangements for their father’s funeral ceremony. When
they returned
it was
to find Tarquin on the throne. He’d used their absence to win over the Romans
to grant him their
votes.
The Roman monarchy was not hereditary. Ancus Marcius’ sons had been in a
prime position to
win
the favour of the Roman people, but Tarquin had outmanoeuvered them.
Tarquin’s
means of accession to the throne may have been underhand, but his record as
monarch
seems to
have been impressive.
First he was to see off the military challenges by neighbouring tribes which
seemed always to flare
up at
the accession of anew monarch.
Though in battle Tarquin seems to have achieved much more than merely holding
his ground. Tarquin’s
many
campaigns led to victories over the Sabines, Latins and Etruscans. According
to Dionysius,
it was a
deputation of Etruscan cities defeated in battle which brought him the
symbols of sovereignty:
A gold
crown, an ivory chain, an eagle headed scepter, a purple tunic and robe and
twelve fasces
(axes
enclosed in bundles of rods).
Tarquin
the Elder may have begun the construction of the great Temple of Jupiter
Capitolinus,
but this
is uncertain. The introduction of the Circus Games to Rome is ascribed King
Tarquin the Elder.
He is traditionally
believed to have been the ruler who laid out the Circus Maximus.
Tarquin
is also credited with the initial drainage of the forum and the creation of
the Cloaca Maxima.
Though
it must be added that what was eventually to become the main sewer of Rome,
was
at this early stage merely a large drainage ditch to make usable the marshy
ground in the
shallow
between the hills of Rome. Later further drainage was added by his
successors.
He also added 100 members of the lesser nobility (minores gentes) to
the senate.
These
were most likely lesser Etruscan nobles whom he’d encouraged to settled in
the city.
Their
promotion will no doubt have helped to strengthen his grip on power.
Tarquin’s
end, when it came, was a violent one. The scorned sons of King Ancus
finally
sought revenge and hired two assassins. As one approached from the front
posing as
a party
in a legal dispute, the other came up behind and struck at his head with an
axe.
Tarquin
died instantly. Yet that was not what the Romans were told. Tarquin’s
wife
Tanaquil
informed the people that she was tending to his wounds and that the king
meanwhile
wished
to see the little known Servius Tullius, a protégé of Tanaquil’s and
Tarquin's son-in-law,
act on
his behalf until he had recovered.
Naturally Tarquin the Elder never recovered. But by the time the Romans
became
aware of
their king’s demise, the new man was already firmly on the throne.
Servius
Tullius
The
sixth king, Servius Tullius, was a monarch celebrated for particularly high achievement
by
the
Romans. Yet to modern eyes, it appears as though several achievements of
early
Roman
history have somehow been attributed to him as a means of attributing them to
someone.
For it
seems doubtful that Servius was really responsible for all ascribed to him.
Servius
Tullius’ origins are uncertain. His name may in fact be a corruption of the
word servus (slave).
The
name itself was later only used by plebeians.
One story tells of him being the son of a household slave.
(Though
Livy writes he was a prince from the Sabine city of Corniculum held captive
by the Romans.)
Interestingly, there was also an Etruscan tradition, which claimed that
Servius was in fact an
Etruscan
named Mastarna.
Legend
also states that, when Servius was still a boy, his parents discovered him
asleep in
bed with
his head covered by flames. Yet the sleeping child suffered no harm.
Word of
this momentous portent eventually reached Tanaquil, the wife of
King
Tarquin the Elder, who deemed it a sign that the boy was marked out for great
things.
Thenceforth
Servius was a protégé of Rome’s powerful queen.
At the
death of King Tarquin the Elder it was Tanaquil who assured Servius’ ascent
to the throne.
The
sons of Ancus Marcius being implicated in Tarquin’s murder made it impossible
for
them to
now contest the throne. They retired into exile.
Tarquin the Elder however had three sons; Tarquin, Lucius and Arruns.
To win
their support, Servius shrewdly married them to his own daughters.
His
position though was soon secured, when a war against the Etruscan city of
Veii proved him
to be an
able military commander. In fact so impressive was his victory that in
his
44 years
in power he had no need to take to the field again.
The
Romans believed Servius’ reign to have seen the first use of coinage in the
city.
Unlike the Greeks, early Roman society did not use money.
Far more
they bartered - salt for pottery, grain for wood, etc...
Where the system proved inadequate the Romans expressed value in for of
'heads of cattle'.
One
such head of cattle was worth ten sheep.
The head of cattle (pecus) became the first Roman monetary unit.
From
this came the first Latin word for money - pecunia.
A
primitive monetary system evolved based on ingots of raw copper of the Roman
pound (libra) of 327 g.
Such an ingot could then be broken up into yet different sizes and values.
King Servius was the first to have a stamp put onto the copper, until then it
was just the raw metal.
The
design to have been used supposedly was either an ox or sheep.
King
Servius Tullius is said to have enlarged the city. Romans also attributed the
‘Servian Wall’ to him,
though
it is most likely that he was this city wall was a product of the 4th century
BC.
It is widely believed though that the agger, a set of defensive
earthworks on the Quirinal,
Viminal
and Esquiline Hills were a legacy of his. It is therefore possible that,
although not the Servian Wall,
some
lesser defensive cordon may have been set up around the city by King Servius
Tullius. After all,
archaic
Rome is believed to have possessed defences, albeit that we know very little
about them.
A major
achievement of his reign appears to have been the transfer of the regional
festival of Diana from
Aricia
to the Aventine Hill of Rome. A temple was dedicated to the goddess on the
Aventine Hill,
not
merely by the Romans but by the people of Latium. Archaeology seems to grant
this story some
support.
The
moving of a regional festival and the prestigious Temple of Diana to Rome
seems to show that the
city was
of rising importance to the
wider
region.
Perhaps
the most impressive idea ascribed to Servius Tullius is the census, which
counted the people
and
ranked them in five classes, according to wealth.
(This division of the people by wealth is often referred to as a ‘timocratic’
system, after the Greek timo
(worth)
and kratia (rule); so literally ‘rule by worth’.)
The classes were divisions created to decide the voting rights of the people
(with the rich enjoying most
votes)
and to help administer the levying of troops, as the higher a citizen’s
class, the better armour and
weaponry
he was able to afford.
Servius is further said to have made the division of the people into three
tribes for tax purposes:
the ramnes,
the luceres and the tities. (Hence the relation of the words
‘tribe’ and ‘tribute’.)
These
tribal divisions may have been ethnic in nature, though very little is known
about them.
A further change of constitutional importance credited to Servius Tullius is
his reform of the army,
in
particular his granting the army a political assembly in its own right, the comitia
centuriata.
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begun
the temple, most of its construction must have been completed under Servius
Tullius.
Especially
bearing in mind the length of Servius’ reign, it is perhaps doubtful that
Tarquin the
Proud
was the king to complete this great work, as tradition holds.
Legend
tells of an outrageous coup that overthrew King Servius Tullius in old age.
It was the ambitions
of
Servius’ daughter Tullia and her husband Lucius Tarquin which should prove
disastrous to the old king.
Servius
Tullius’ policies had made him unpopular with the senators and Lucius
Tarquin was quick to
exploit that. If the tale of the king’s
slave origins is true, this also will not have helped.
At some point a conspiracy was hatched to overthrow the king.
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One day
Tarquin simply arrived at the senate in royal robes and summoned the senators
to acknowledge him in
his position. Servius rushed to the senate,
but was bodily thrown from the hall. In the chaos that followed
King
Servius was stabbed to death by hired assassins. Roman legend adds a gruesome
note, describing how
Tullia
later returned from the senate, where she had seen her husband confirmed as
the new ruler.
When her
carriage drove down the street in which her father Servius had fallen it ran
across his dead body.
The
street in which King Servius Tullius was assassinated and run over was
henceforth known as the
vicus sceleratus, the ‘street of
guilt’.
Lucius
Tarquinius Superbus
Tarquin the Proud
The
seventh and final king of Rome was one Lucius Tarquinius Superbus
(Superbus
in this case simply signifies him as Tarquin ‘the Proud’ and it was a title
attributed to
him much
later by Roman historians).
Tradition holds that Tarquin ‘the Proud’ was the son of Tarquin ‘the Elder’,
though logic suggests
that he
more likely was a grandson. (Tarquin the Elder died in old age, his
successor,
Servius
Tullius ruled for 44 years and Tarquin himself ruled for another 24/25
years.)
Having
come to power by means of a violent conspiracy, Tarquin the Proud lacked any
kind of legitimacy.
He
therefore governed Rome by much the same methods than those he’d used to win
the throne.
Tarquin
was a tyrant similar to those which had seized power in many other
Hellenistic kingdoms.
His only
means of sustaining his position were violence and oppression.
He pronounced himself the supreme judge of Rome, granting himself complete
authority over capital
cases without the accused having any
recourse of appeal.
This privilege Tarquin now exploited to rid himself of any potential rivals.
More so, the possessions
of the
convicted were then seized by the monarch.
One of the victims of these seizures was the father of one Lucius Iunius
Brutus, the very man who
should
come to eventually overthrow him.
If
Tarquin governed Rome as a petty, sometimes vindictive tyrant, his
performance as a military
commander and diplomat was more impressive.
He harassed and cajoled the Latin League into accepting Rome as its official
head (the so-called ‘
Treaty
of Ferentia’), thereby tying the Latins into the Roman military machine,
effectively doubling
Rome’s
military
power in a single stroke.
This new military power was then put to use against the neighbouring tribe of
the Volcians.
Two
cities were conquered; one by storm, the other, the city of Gabii, by deceit.
The
spoils of this successful campaign were put to use in public works. Roman
tradition ascribes
the
completion of the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus to Tarquin ‘the Proud’,
although today it is widely
believed
to have been completed by Servius Tullius.
But Tarquin is further thought to have continued the process of draining the
forum, built and improved
roads
and strengthened the city’s defences.
Such public construction was, however, also the product of Tarquin’s
oppression.
Much of
the labour was forcibly obtained from the plebeians.
A legend
of considerable importance which attached itself to Tarquin was that of the
Sibylline Books.
The
story goes that the famous Sibyl, a mythical prophetess known throughout the
Hellenistic world,
appeared before King Tarquin and offered him
nine books, containing great wisdom.
The
price she demanded was astronomical. Tarquin declined. Unflustered, the Sibyl
then threw three
of the
book sin the fire, only to demand the same price for the remaining six books.
Unnerved,
Tarquin though again declined only to see another three of the books tossed
into the flames.
Once more the Sibyl demanded the price. Tarquin
relented, if only to save what knowledge was left.
If the Sibyl was legend, the Sibylline Books are indeed thought to have
existed, though their origin is
unknown.
The books were repeatedly consulted for
divine guidance in the republican era during times of crisis
and were
eventually destroyed when fire consumed the Temple of Jupiter Capitolinus in
83 BC.
With the
wealthy living in fear of prosecution, should Tarquin deem them a threat or
take a fancy
to their
possessions, and the poor being used to labour in public construction, all
Rome have been
seething
with resentment towards her ruler.
When finally revolution occurred, Tarquin was not in the city, but engaged in
another military campaign.
The final straw had been the rape of the noblewoman Lucretia by Tarquin’s son
Sextus set the city alight.
The
nobles made their move, led by Lucius Iunius Brutus, declared themselves
against Tarquin and
instead announced Rome to be a republic
(510/509 BC).
The army quickly came over to the rebels and Tarquin the Proud was forced
into exile.
The early days of the Roman republic saw a bitter struggle for independence
against
Tarquin’s
attempts to regain his throne. Nonetheless Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, the
tyrant of Rome,
would
never achieve control again. The Roman monarchy had fallen.
Epilogue
It goes
without saying that we have to take much of the history of the Roman kings
with a pinch of salt.
Much of this is mere myth and legend, though
it evidently contains kernels of truth.
Some of the myths, may indeed be of considerable significance to the very
nature of Rome and its future
achievement.
The very seed that created the Roman mentality which was to create the
republic may indeed have lain in
that
heartfelt belief that they were a breed of refugees, criminals and runaway
slaves who sought shelter
at the asylum
on the Capitoline Hill under king Romulus. Such an identity may have fostered
the
communal
feeling
of equality which we find reflected again and again in Roman history.
Rome was
divided by wealth and privilege, yet she believed in the essential equality
of men.
Albeit
that some later claimed nobility or divine descent, the Romans were not
pretentious about their
origins.
The ambiguities surrounding the she-wolf who
suckled Romulus and Remus, the refuge on the
Capitoline Hill and the legend regarding the
‘Rape of the Sabine Women’ demonstrate that very aptly.
Believing themselves at least spiritual descendents of the uprooted, the
fleeing and criminals in search
of a
second chance, it is perhaps not surprising that they should form a society
which should eventually
rid
itself of its king and forge ahead with a government by the people for the
people.
As with
so much of Roman history changes to the constitution tended to be gradual. We
find aspects
republican
constitution emerged under the kings.
Not least the fact that monarchy was never deemed to be hereditary in Rome
most have had a important
part to
play in the development of republican ideals.
Far more the king was elected by the people, formerly appointed by the
senate, an advisory body of
patricians.
However, the Roman monarch's rule was a total one. He possessed the right of
capital punishment,
was
responsibility for foreign relations and war, for public security, public
works, justice and proper
maintenance
of religion.
The very symbol of this total power were the fasces; the rods to
scourge and the axe with which to behead
the condemned.
But this royal power was tempered by the principle of consultation with the
senate.
This was
the tradition that Tarquin the Proud ignored to his peril. Early Rome would
simply not bear
the
arbitrary use of power by a tyrant.
Nonetheless it remains questionable how much longer a monarchy could have
lasted were Tarquin to
have been a wise and benign ruler. Most
likely its time was up. Rome had evolved.
Rome’s
growing power and influence meant that her elite were growing richer and more
powerful.
The
total rule of one could simply no longer be sustained with the patricians
demanding a role
for
themselves in the running of affairs.
In all this we should perhaps also not underestimate the influence of the
Greeks. Greek traders living
in Rome
may have introduced democratic ideas which the Romans, ever pragmatic, shaped
into something
of their
own.
Perhaps the very notion of Rome’s growth to a substantial town of rising
regional power and prestige
meant
that it became subject to the influence of ‘dangerous foreign ideas’, such as
democracy.
These
would weaken the monarchy, sapping its support from the nobles and the people
alike.
So with
a egalitarian spirit at the heart of Roman mentality, an ever more confident
and ambitious
elite
seeking to have a share of power and Greek ideas undermining its standing
among the people,
the
Roman monarchy may indeed have been doomed at the end of the sixth century.
Rome’s future was
to be a republic.
The
Collapse
Flavius Claudius Constantinus
born
in February AD ca. 317. Consul AD 320, 321, 324. Became emperor in AD 337.
Died near Aquileia, AD 340.
Flavius Julius Constantius
born
in August AD 317. Became emperor in AD 337. Died at Mopsucrene in Cilicia, AD
361.
Flavius Julius Constans
born
in AD 320. Became emperor in AD 337. Died on in Gaul, on the way to Spanish
border, January AD 350.
At Constantine's death at Nicomedia in AD 337, three sons
and two of his nephews were destined by
the late emperor to succeed him. Though two of those sons
were absent from Nicomedia.
With the consent of the third, Constantius, the other
members of the imperial family, except two
young cousins were slaughtered by the soldiery.
The empire was thereafter by agreement parted between the three sons.
Constantine taking the west,
Constans the centre and Constantius the east. The eldest
of the three new emperors was twenty one;
their two cousins, Gallus and Julian, the nephews of the
great Constantine, were in AD 337 aged twelve
and six respectively.
From the outset Constantius was thoroughly occupied in coping with the
activities of the
Persian King Sapor II. Was Constantius engrossed in the
quarrel with the Persian Sapor II over Armenia,
then the real seat of the struggle soon was in
Mesopotamia, where the war raged for some years
without any decisive result. Both sides called into action
Arab horsemen, who raided and wrought havoc
far and wide; nine pitched battles were fought, in which,
by admission of roman historians, the advantage
generally lay with
the Persians. Constantius himself was twice present; but it is safe to assume
that his
officers,
not he, were
responsible for the military direction. Meanwhile Constantius' brothers,
Constantine and
Constans, were quarreling and then actually fighting over
the possession of Illyria.
The elder, Constantine, was slain in an ambush near
Aquileia (AD 340), and the younger, Constans,
was recognized throughout the western dominion. But
Constans now conducted himself as an
irresponsible tyrant. Loyalties soon waned and when
Magnentius was acclaimed by the legions
while the emperor was away hunting, Constans could only
flee for his life, only to be overtaken and
slain on the Spanish coast.
Magnentius
Flavius Magnus Magnentius
born
in February AD ca. 303. Became emperor on 18 January AD 350. Died at Lugdunum
(Lyons), AD 353.
If Magnentius in AD 350 was recognized immediately in the
prefectures of Gaul and Italy, then in Illyria
another general Vetranio was set up as emperor.
In the east Constantius still locked horns with Sapor II. Alas the King of
Persia was called to see to other
problems in the east of Persia, as news reached
Constantius of the death of Constans and two new emperors
being in place in
the west. Both Sapor II and Constantius left Mesopotamia, leaving behind a
devastated
no-man's-land. The two new emperors meanwhile made haste
to come to terms and to proffer their equal
amity to the surviving son of Constantine in the east. But
for Constantius reconciliation with his brother's
murderer Magnentius
was impossible. Far more won over Vetranio as his ally and took to war
against
Magnentius, defeating him at the grueling Battle of Mursa
in Pannonia where 50'000 of the best troops
of the imperial armies were left dead. Though Magnentius
himself was not dead, he sought to continue
the war, but his troops gradually deserted him. By the
time those who remained were ready to deliver
him to the enemy, if only to spare themselves, he chose
suicide. Had Constantius left his cousin Gallus
in charge of ruling the east, it was only to learn that
Gallus was an irresponsible tyrant and was already
planning on treason. Gallus was summoned to Pannonia where
he met with an executioner's sword in
AD 354. Except for Constantius himself, the only surviving
male descendant of Constantine the Great
was Julian, the younger brother of Gallus. Julian lived in
Athens devoting himself to literary and
philosophical
studies. He had no practical experience of rule and sought none.
Yet against his will Julian was raised by Constantius to
Caesar with the souvereignty over transalpine
Europe.
The fact that the empire was too large to be managed
without viceroys was once more proving itself;
especially
since the Persian King Sapor II, having dealt with his
problems to the east of Persia, was now back at the
Roman borders to renew his ambitions.
The barbarians moreover were again swarming over the upper Danube.
Constantius occupied himself with the barbarian problem while his lieutenants
dealt with Sapor in
Mesopotamia.
Though the Persian army was vastly superior in numbers, it eventually
exhausted itself in several
vain attempts to conquer the stubbornly defended fortress
city of Amidia. Alas their numbers depleted
and, though the war went on, the great threat to the
eastern empire was averted. Meanwhile the reluctant
Julian was proving himself a valiant man of action in Gaul
and on the Gallic frontier. A strong man was
certainly needed in Gaul; for in the civil war Magnentius
had called to his aid hosts of Franks and Alemanni,
who promptly assumed the role not of auxiliaries but of
conquerors.
Despite his inexperience and his academic predilections, Julian proved
himself equal to the emergency,
winning battles against heavy odds with distinguished
personal valour, and restoring law and order
in the devastated districts.
Until the reputation he was winning aroused the jealousy of Constantius,
whose own credit was being
not at all enhanced by his operations in the east, neither
as soldier nor as ruler.
Jealousy rapidly developed into suspicion and probably into secret designs
against the life of the younger
man.
Constantius ordered an immediate dispatch of the best of the legions of
Julian to the Mesopotamian front.
The legions responded by calling upon Julian to save the
empire by assuming the purple of Augustus.
For some time Julian held out loyally, but the soldiery would take no denial
till he yielded,
at last convinced that loyalty to the empire was above
loyalty to the emperor.
Julian
the Apostate
Flavius
Magnus Magnentius
born in AD 332 at Constantinople.
Became emperor in February AD 360. Died in Mesopotamia, 26 June AD 363.
Though Julian professed to demand only his own recognition
as Western Augustus, Constantius
naturally refused to look on his as anything but a rebel.
When this was made clear to Julian and his
legions there
remained no alternative but civil war. And suddenly Julian with no more than
three
thousand men vanished into the forests and mountains of
south Germany to reappear on the lower Danube.
Constantius, returning from his inglorious campaign in the
east, was taken ill in Cilicia, and died AD 361.
There was no civil war.
Julian the Apostate crossed over to Asia, his title of Augustus undisputed,
and never returned to Europe.
Julian reigned for no more than two years. He bears the name 'Apostate'
because he renounced the
Christianity of his earlier years and proclaimed himself
the champion of the ancient gods.
Though, if Julian did refute Christianity, his method of suppressing the
religion he discarded was not
that of persecution in the ordinary sense. He went no
further than to exclude Christian teaching and
teachers from the schools.
For the rest of his reign Julian remained occupied with the Persian war. A
victorious campaign in
which he penetrated
beyond the Tigris ended in disaster. The army advancing under the direction
of rashly trusted guides, was lead into a trap. It was
almost overwhelmed by the myriads of foes by
which it found itself surrounded. Yet valour and skill
broke every onslaught. But in the pursuit which
followed the last
repulse, Julian was wounded by a javelin and was carried back to camp, only
to die.
(AD 363)
Flavius
Jovianus
born in AD 330 at Singidunum.
Became emperor in June AD 363. Died in Dadastana, winter AD 363/4.
There was no surviving male descendant of the imperial
house and Julian had named no successor.
The army chose an old soldier, Jovian, who lived long
enough to patch up a peace with Persia and withdraw.
But six months after his accession Jovian died.
Flavius
Valentinianus
born
in AD 321 at Cibalae, Pannonia. Became emperor early in AD 364. Wives: (1)
Marina Severa
(one son; Flavius Gratianus);
(2) Justina (one son; Flavius
Valentinianus). Died in Brigetio along the Danube, 17 November AD 375.
Flavius
Julius Valens
born
in AD ca. 328 at Cibalae, Pannonia. Became emperor early in AD 364. Wife;
Albia Domnica
(three children). Died near Hadrianopolis, 9 August AD 378.
Again the choice lay with the soldiery. In AD 364 a
barbarian of Pannonian stock and common descent
but proved capability was
elected to be Rome's new master, Valentinian.
By his first act the new emperor recognized the practical necessity for
partition. No one man could
successfully hold in his own hands for long the
responsibility for both east and west. Valentinian chose
for himself his
native west, and made his brother Valens Augustus of the east. This time the
division was
permanent, though the empire still remained nominally one.
For twelve years Valentinian ruled the west with vigour and, apart from his
savage mercilessness toward any opposition, with justice and moderation.
Valentinian was rigid in his insistence on equal treatment for all religions,
he held the Gallic frontiers with
a strong hand against swarming Franks and
Alemanni who he defeated in successful campaigns beyond the
Rhine.
It was on a campaign against the Quadi on the upper Danube that one of those
outburst of ungovernable
rage which marred his character wrought his own
undoing inducing an apoplexy that killed him.
Flavius
Gratianus
born in AD 359 at Sirmium. Became
emperor 17 November in AD 367. Wives: (1) Constantia;
(2) Laeta. Died in Lugdunum (Lyons), August
AD 383.
Flavius
Valentinianus
born in AD 371 at Treviri. Became
emperor 22 November in AD 367. Died in Vianna in Gaul, 15 May AD 392.
On Valentinian's death, his elder son Gratian was at once
recognized as his successor.
Gratian's mother
had been discarded by Valentinian in favour of a wife who bore him another
son,
Valentinian II, whom Gratian immediately named as
co-emperor.
Had since Constantine Christian emperors always been able to accept several
religions in being within
their empire, then Gratian was the first to be unable to
tolerate this.
Had over time privileges been bestowed upon the church then the privileges
for the state religion
had still remained. The latter were now being withdrawn.
In consequence none-Christians were beginning
to grow restive,
whilst the Christian church was becoming increasingly intolerant of others.
Meanwhile in the east still ruled Valens. His appointment
as emperor of the east proved to be the
gravest error of
judgement Valentinian had ever made. The worst faults of Valens were
feebleness
and indecision, not brutality. And to these weaknesses it
was due that King Sapor II in his old age finally
was able to establish complete if detested mastery over
Armenia.
However, the great disaster in the reign of Valens did not befall the empire
till after the death of Valentinian.
About the middle of the century the widespread Gothic confederation had been
extending and consolidating
its territories
between the Baltic in the north and the Danube and Black Sea in the south,
under the
leadership of
Hermanaric the Amal, whom all tribes recognized as King. But during the same
period a
new and formidable
foe was pouring from Asiatic Scythia into European Scythia, the flood of the
terrible
Huns.
Now it rolled down on the Goths. Officially at the least the Goths were now
friends of Rome. Reeling
under the shock, the Visigoths sought the aid of Valens,
who granted them wide lands for settlement on
the southern side of the Danube barrier. Their vast
swarms, only in part disarmed, were ferried across the
river by hundreds of thousands, in numbers which had been
utterly underestimated.
The cramped starvation conditions to which they were
subjected were wholly intolerable.
Hence arose on the
hither side of the Danube defences a new enemy.
Valens had in effect created his own disaster. War now raged in the Balkans,
a war so critical
that Valens called upon Gratian to come to his aid.
But Gratian had hardly less serious embarrassment of his
own, for the Alemanni were upon him.
It was not until he had won a decisive crushing victory
over them that he could report himself as on
the march to effect a junction with the army in the east.
But Valens would not wait. In the neighbourhood of Adrianople he flung
himself upon the Goths
and in the battle that followed his army was annihilated,
he himself perished, and the triumph of the Goths
was complete (9 August AD 378).
The battle of Adrianoble stopped the advance of Gratian.
Tremendous though the disaster had been,
Adrianople and the greater capital on the Bosporus could
defy the onslaughts of the Goths, who were no
experts in siege warfare. But for Gratian to have marched
on the Goths would have meant to risk disaster in
both east and west. the Alemanni had been disposed of only
for the moment.
Gratian made haste to pronounce a new emperor in the east to take in hand the
Gothic problem.
His choice fell upon Theodosius, the son of a great captain and servant of
the state on whom in Gratian's
first year the intrigues of traitors had brought the
undeserved penalty of treason. The son, who had already
had time to prove his capacity, had been suffered to
retire into private life; and was now raised to the purple
at the age of thirty-three.
Theodosius
and Magnus Maximus
Flavius
Theodosius
born in
AD 347 at Cauca in Spain. Became emperor 19 January in AD 379. Wives: (1)
Aelia Flavia Flaccilla
(two sons; Arcadius;
Honorius);
(2) Galla (one daughter; Galla Placidia). Died in Mediolanum (Milan), January
AD 395.
Magnus
Maximus
probably
born at Callaecia, Spain. Became emperor AD 383. Died AD 388.
Theodosius took up his hard task with admirable skill and
prudence, but no lack of courage. Hermanaric
had fallen before the Gothic war began. The able successor
who had led the united Goths to victory died,
and with his death their unity departed. Theodosius made
no ambitious attempt to retrieve the position by
staking the fate of the empire on a pitched battle. He
risked no great engagements; but while he struck
minor
blows against their divided forces he encouraged their
internal divisions. His diplomacy attached some of
their leaders to the empire, for which they had an almost
superstitious reverence. In little more than four
years a comparatively enduring if precarious peace was
established.
Gratian meanwhile was losing the high reputation he had
won. Of his courage and his private virtues there
could be no question, but the appearance of high capacity
may have been due to his early submission
to wise direction. Further he made the mistake of
abandoning much of the cares of state for amusements,
which brought him into contempt with the soldiery.
Theodosius had hardly set the seal on his own reputation
in AD 382 by his much applauded treaty
with the Goths, when the army in Britain, as in the days
of Carausius, renounced its allegiance to Gratian
and proclaimed an emperor of its own choice. The Spaniard
Maximus reluctantly accepted the
dangerous honour.
In AD 383 Maximus crossed the Channel with a great force which depleted the
garrison of the island,
and marched upon
Lutetia (Paris) where Gratian was residing. The soldiery in Gaul refused to
move.
Gratian fled, but was overtaken at Lyons, where he was
treacherously assassinated, though without any
connivance of the British emperor.
The successful usurper had nothing to fear from the boy Valentinian II - or
rather from
his mother Justina - reigning at Milan. But he hastened to
send an embassy to Theodosius, repudiating and
condemning the
murder which had been so hastily committed in his name, but justifying his
own
assumption of the purple and inviting the friendly
alliance of the eastern emperor.
Theodosius may well have felt that the pacification he had
just effected was too precarious to warrant
him in plunging the
empire into a civil war, whose result would be doubtful, though justice and
honour demanded the punishment of Gratian's murderer. He
contented himself with recognizing the
title of Maximus in the Gauls and Britain as a third
Augustus, provided that the
souvereignty of Valentinian II in Italy, Africa and
western Ilyria were unquestioned.
And to those terms
Maximus agreed.
But the excessive ambition of Maximus brought about his
own downfall. Justina was unpopular as
Italy was
fanatically Christian orthodox, whereas she was an Arian heretic. Maximus
seized this
as an excuse to invade Italy. Justina fled to Theodosius
with Valentinian II and her daughter.
The emperor fell in love with the daughter and married
her.
Theodosius' cautious policy was blown to the winds,
Maximus was promptly wiped out and
Valentinian II was
restored to the empire of the west, where on his mother's death,
he fell completely under the influence of the orthodox
part (AD 388).
His reign was brief although he had barely emerged from
boyhood.
The supreme command in Gaul was conferred on the pagan
Frank, Arbogast, an able captain who
had stood loyal to
Gratian and had taken service with Theodosius instead of Maximus.
The Frank now gave way to aspirations of his own. After a
quarrel with Arbogast,
Valentinian II committed suicide or was murdered, and
Arbogast set up in hi place his own puppet,
Eugenius in AD 392.
In AD 394 Theodosius disposed of the usurper, and divided the succession in
east and west between
his own sons
Arcadius (382-408) and Honorius (AD 384-423). The latter at once became
western emperor,
and on the death of Theodosius in AD 395 Arcadius
succeeded him at Constantinople.
Flavius
Honorius
born in AD 383. Became emperor in
January AD 395. Wife: Maria. Died at Ravenna, AD 423.
Flavius
Claudius Constantinus
birthdate unknown. Became emperor
in AD 407. Died outside Ravenna, AD 411.
Flavius
Constantius
born in Naissus, birthdate
unknown. Wife: Aelia Galla Placidia
(one son; Flavius Valentinianus; one
daughter; Justa Grata Honoria).
Became emperor in AD 421. Died AD
421.
The young heirs of the powerful Theodosius were feeble and
incompetent.
From the death of Theodosius to the disappearance of the western empire,
mighty figures stalked across
the stage, but they were not of Roman or Byzantine
emperors but of barbarians: Vandal, Visigoth,
Ostrogoth, Frank, or - most terrible of all - Hun.
Theodosius had named as the guardian of his sons and chief
of his armies of the west a soldier of proven
ability and worth, the Vandal Stilicho, who discharged his
office with more loyalty than Arbogast the Frank.
Virtualy the rule of the west was in his hands. While he
was engaged in crushing the dangerous independence
of a Moorish prince and tyrant, Gildo, in Africa, the
misrule of prefect Rufinus at Constantinople brought
on a great rebellion of the Visigoths - that branch of the
Gothic race which had settled in Moesia and
Illlyria,
the Ostrogoths remaining beyond the Danube - led by Alaric
the Balt.
The Goths overran Greece practically unchecked and wrought
much destruction, till the appearance of
Stilicho,
his work in Africa
accomplished, stayed their conquering career. Alaric was in danger of being
enveloped,
but escaped with great skill, and in fact frightened the
court of Constantinople into buying him off by
appointing him to the command in Illyria as an imperial
officer.
The Goth accepted the position, but as a stepping stone.
Italy was the objective on which he had fixed his
ambitions. The were miscellaneous and for the most part
barbarian troops now at his disposal were ready
to follow him. And in AD 403 Honorius and Italy were
terrified by an apparently wholly unexpected
invasion.
The genius of Stilicho, who with amazing energy gathered
together troops from every possible quarter,
saved the situation. in the duel between the two great
captains Alaric met with a heavy defeat at Pollentia,
and the caution of the Gothic chiefs compelled him for the
time to abandon the contest.
Though the withdrawal of Alaric only left the way open for
a fresh flood of mixed barbarians to pour into
Italy in AD 406, under their chief Ragadaisus. They swept
over the plain of the Po, over the Apennines
into Tuscany on
their way to wipe out Rome. But while they delayed to besiege Florence
Stilicho again
gathered troops in
the north, spread them round the besieging hosts, cut off the supplies of the
barbarians
and reduced them by sheer starvation. Radagaisus with a
third of his forces was compelled to capitulate.
He himself was slain. The rest of the horde, Vandals,
Sueves, Burgundians, Ostrogoths, Huns and Alans
were deliberately allowed to retreat unmolested across the
Alps, and their various bands were soon spoiling
and looting in Gaul
on their way to Spain, reinforced by their respective homelands (AD 406).
Thus it was only Italy that was spared of the invaders,
who in AD 407 were harrying Gaul.
And the harrying of Gaul was the excuse for the army of Britain to proclaim
its own Augustus.
Constantine III, probably a native Briton, was raised to
the purple and set out to Gaul to save it
from the Germans and add it to his own empire, taking with
him a substantial part of the British garrison.
The Vandals, Sueves and Alans, however, did not seek to
remain permanently in Gaul to dispute possession
with Constantine, but took their devastating way through
the south to Spain, where they established
themselves.
On the middle Rhine the Burgundians appear to have
remained in effective possession.
Constantine III pushed into Spain, established his
dominion in Aragon, and succeeded in extorting from Honorius his own
recognition as a third Augustus.
Constantine's movement to Gaul in AD 407 is commonly referred to as the Roman
evacuation of Britain.
Meanwhile Stilicho's ambitions evidently centred on the
relations between the eastern and the western empires,
in both of which he sought to be the power behind the throne
(as he already was in the west).
The key to this position was the possession of the whole of Illyria, and he
meant Alaric to be his agent.
The eastern court had no inclination to be dominated by him, and the
relations between Constantinople a
nd Ravenna (Where for greater security Honorius had fixed
his residence) were strained. Stilicho could
not afford to wholly neglect the rebellion of Constantine
III, but he left him to Alaric, with whom he had
made his own bargain, and again Alaric only took as much
action as he considered sufficient.
Early in AD 408 Arcadius, leaving the throne to the six year old Theodosius
II. Almost everyone
believed that Stilicho, who had married the feeble
Honorius to his own daughter, meant to make
himself emperor. His enemies formed a plot and gained
ascendancy over the mind of Honorius.
At the height of his apparent power, Stilicho was suddenly
arrested, condemned without trial as a
brigand and an 'enemy of the state' and executed. But no
evidence of any treasonable designs on his
part was ever forthcoming. Among those most active in his
downfall was Heraclian, who was rewarded by
being made Count of
Africa.
Stilicho's fall opened the way on one hand to friendly
relations with Constantinople, and on the other to the
ambitions of
Alaric. It was the expression of the simmering hostility of Italy towards men
of barbarian blood,
in fact the
massacre of many of the foreigners in the country, which gave the Gothic king
more than adequate
excuse for swooping
on Italy before the year was out.
Alaric marched straight on Rome, ignoring Honorius in Ravenna. The city was
rapidly reduced to starvation,
and plague broke out. Alaric demanded all the treasure
within it and all the barbarian slaves.
For a brief period Alaric and Honorius existed alongside each other in Italy.
But in the next year the
emperor's evasions irritated the Goth into setting up the
prefect Attalus as puppet emperor.Honorius,
however, was made safe in Ravenna by the arrival of troops
from the east. Attalus was declined to be
altogether a puppet and was subsequently deposed. Further
negotiations with Honorius broke down.
Alaric lost
patience and on August 24, AD 410 he let loose his Goths and other followers
on Rome,
which was sacked
for three days.
Though Alaric did not proclaim himself emperor. He ravaged southward, and was
planning an invasion
of Africa, the granary of Italy, when at the end of the
year he died.
He was succeeded by his brother-in-law, Athaulf, who abandoned the designs on
Africa.
In AD 412 the Visigoths crossed the Alps into Gaul.
While Athaulf was still lingering in Italy, the empire of Constantine III was
collapsing.
It extended from Britain to Aragon. It broke down, partly
owing to the revolt of one of his officers in Spain,
Gerontius, and partly because in AD 411 the place once
held by Stilicho was to some extent filled
by another able soldier, Constantius. Gerontius was
besieging Constantine III at Arles, when Constantius intervened on the
hypothesis that both were rebels.
Gerontius retreated to Spain, where he was murdered, Constantius captured
Arles, and with in
Constantine III, who was executed. No sooner had
Constantius returned to Italy, which Athaulf was evacuating, then a new
emperor, Jovinus, was proclaimed in Gaul. Yet another complication arose when
in early AD 413 Heraclian,
Count of Africa, proclaimed himself emperor, too. Worse
still, Heraclian, having already amassed
a great fleet, sailed for Italy.
Though Heraclian's rebellion proved an utter fiasco. He was captured and
executed in midsummer.
But meanwhile it had not been possible for Constantius and
Honorius to take direct action in Gaul.
Instead they had had to bargain with Athaulf, who then
crushed Jovinus.
Now the princess Galla Placidia enters the stage. Being
the sister of Honorius she was captured and
carried off for bargaining purposes by Alaric during his
sack of Rome. However, the princess had in
Constantius a devoted admirer, who wanted her back.
Naturally emperor Honorius also understood a
stain on his honour that his sister should be a hostage of
the barbarians.
It was part of the bargain with Athaulf that should be returned. But the
Roman part of the bargain,
the supply of corn to Athaulf's troops, had been foiled by
the rebellion of Heraclian.
Consequently Athaulf, instead of returning the princess,
married her himself in AD 414, apparently
with her own
willing consent, - but without that of her brother.
The marriage failed to draw Athaulf any closer to the
imperial court, and Athaulf set out with his Goths
and his bride to
conquer Spain. There he was murdered in AD 415, and his successor Wallia
struck a
bargain with Rome, to make war with the other barbarians
in Spain. Placidia was at last sent back to Ravenna,
where she reluctantly accepted the hand of Constantius.
The Vandals, Alans, and Sueves in Spain hastened to seek peace with the
empire, which they obtained;
Wallia and his Visigoths were settled in Aquitania instead
as 'federates'. This meant they occupied most
of the soil upon condition of military service to the empire,
under their king. A similar settlement was made
with the
Burgundians on the Rhine. In AD 417 Wallia was succeeded by Theodoric I,
probably a grandson
of Alaric.
The position in Britain by this time is by no means clear.
Constantine III had not left the island denuded
of troops but only depleted. The Roman magistrates and the
Roman government did not disappear,
but hey had to make the best they could of the situation,
utilizing their own resources. And the situation
became
progressively more difficult was the raids of the unsubdued Picts and Scots
on the north,
Irish Celts on the west coast and Saxon rovers on the east
and south coasts increased in intensity and frequency.
But many years were still to pass before the raiders
established a permanent footing.
In AD 421 Constantius was associated with Honorius as
western emperor, but died after a few months.
Princess Placidia quarrelled with her brother, who had
developed an embarrassing affection for her,
and retreated with her small children to Constantinople.
Honorius, after a reign of twenty-five years,
during which nothing whatever is recorded to his credit,
died at the age of forty in AD 423.
John
Johannes
birthdate
and place unknown. Became emperor in AD 423. Died May/June AD 425.
The obvious successor to Honorius was Placidia's child
Valentian III, but a usurper named John, a rival of
no particular merit, had to be suppressed before Placidia
could effectively take up the regency in AD 425.
Flavius
Placidus ValentinianusJohannes
born AD 419. Became emperor in AD
425. Wife: Licinia Eudoxia (one daughter; Placidia). Died 16 March AD 455.
The leading figure in the west, however, for nearly thirty
years to come was Aetius (AD395-454),
a native of Moesia, but of Italian descent. He possessed
Gothic connections, his wife being of noble
Gothic house, and Hun connections because he had passed
long time as a hostage among the Huns.
When John the usurper was overthrown, Aetius had been engaged in bringing a
Hun force to his aid.
But on John's death, Aetius made his peace with a
reluctant Placidia, and was entrusted with the rule of Gaul,
where he checked the aggressive expansion of the
Burgundian Gunther in the east and the Goth Theodoric
in the west and south, as well as the Salian Franks on the
Scheldt.
But the most notable movement during Placidia's regency
was that of the Vandal-Alan group which had
taken possession of
southern Spain. In AD 428 Boniface the Count of Africa, had broken with the
imperial
government, and
invited the help of the Vandals in his own ambitious projects. Africa offered
a more
promising field
than Spain. The Vandals, led by their crafty and able King Geiseric, crossed
to Africa
and proceeded to ravage Mauretania in a merciless fashion.
This was not what Boniface had intended. He returned to his allegiance to
Rome, but when he fought the
Vandals he was so
heavily defeated that he threw up the contest and retired to Italy, where his
rivalry with
Aetius brought about an armed conflict in which he was
killed (AD 432), while the entire province of Africa
was at the mercy of Geiseric. The position in Gaul was too
critical to permit a reconquest of Africa.
But Geiseric was quite ready to make peace in AD 435, on
terms which left him practically master of
Mauretania and part of Numidia.
In his conflict with Boniface, Aetius was in actual rebellion. But his
rival's fall restored his ascendancy,
which became a virtual supremacy when Placidia had to
surrender the regency on the marriage of
Valentinian III, at eighteen to his cousin Licina Eudoxia
at Constantinople in AD 437. The treaty had no
sooner been made with the Vandals, then Aetis found
himself forced to curb first the Burgundians and then
the Visigoths. The
former he broke by calling in aid from the Huns, with whose King Rugila he
had always
been on the most friendly terms. The Visigoths, who aimed
at establishing themselves at the Mediterranean
coast, were pushed back into Aquitania. But, stretched as
he was, Aetius could not spare the forces to check
the continued aggression
of the Vandals in Africa.
So the Vandal Geiseric, inspite of the treaty of AD 435, extended his African
dominion will he won Carthage.
Then, satisfied of
the weakness of Italy, he collected a fleet and attacked Sicily.
The menace brought the eastern empire to the aid of the
west. The arrival of the eastern fleet, saw
Geiseric willing to peacefully withdraw from Sicily,
returning to Carthage in AD 442.
Had the Hun King Rugila died in AD 434 then his two
nephews jointly inherited his powers. On of those sons,
Attila, in AD 441 had attacked the eastern empire,
overrunning the Balkans and devastating all he came across.
Constantinople
itself was not attempted, as it was deemed impregnable. In AD 443 Theodosius
II came to
terms, doubling his
annual subsidy to Attila and agreeing to a no-man's-land between the two
empires.
The conflict
erupted again in AD 447, only to be halted in AD 449 with unchanged
conditions.
In AD 450 Theodosius II died, succeeded by the able
Marcian.
But this was no longer of interest to Attila who now had his eyes set on the
west.
A curious episode had perhaps determined Attila's course. The court at
Ravenna proposed to marry
Valentinian III's sister Honoria to a safe and
distinguished but elderly husband. She objected and sent secretly
to the mighty Hun, inviting him to rescue her.
Attila accepted the message as a betrothal and claimed his bride and half her
brother's empire as a dowry
(AD 450). Valentinian III raged and rejected the demand.
Meanwhile Attila marched on Gaul.
He told Ravenna that he was coming to save the Romans from
the Goths and he told the Goths that
he was coming to join them against the Romans. But the
diplomacy of Aelius and the intelligence of
Theodoric sufficed
to combine Romans and Visigoths against the Hun.
Attila swept, devastating all in his path, over the Gallic
frontier, with Orléans (the city of Aurelius) as
his objective. Theodoric effected a junction with Aetius;
Attila began to retreat, though turned near
Châlons, and suffered a crushing defeat (AD 451), while
Theodoric himself was killed.
Though already in the next year Attila was back, this time
throwing himself at Italy to enforce his
demand for Honoria's hand. Aetius, faced with a hugely
superior foe, could not afford a pitched battle,
leaving Atilla to
destroy Aquileia, before marching on Rome. Tradition says that Attila was
finally
overawed by Pope Leo, another story says that the plague
broke out in his camp, at any rate,
Rome was miraculously delivered from the Hun as he
suddenly withdrew without a fight.
In 453 Attila died and the whole terrifying, flimsy fabric
of his empire dissolved. the Huns were
helpless without a head. Ostrogoths, Gepids, Rugians,
Herulians arose and overwhelmed them at the
battle of Nedao in Pannonia in AD 454.
Aetius, often referred to as 'the last of the Romans',
met with the same reward as Stilicho the Vandal.
The mind of the emperor was poisoned against him and he
was charged with treason and was slain by
emperor Valentinian
III himself in AD 455.
Petronius
Maximus
Flavius
Petronius Maximus
born in
AD ca. 396. Became emperor March AD 455. Died at Rome, 31 May AD 455.
When Valentinian III was murdered in the same year,
Maximus bought the crown and forced the widowed
Eudoxia to marry him.Geiseric the Vandal - summoned to by
the widowed empress - arrived two months
later with a fleet. The mob tore Maximus limb from limb,
which though did not prevent Geiseric from
occupying Rome, sacking it with methodical and
conscientious thoroughness, and retiring with a host of
captives, including Eudoxia and her two daughters, the
younger of whom he married to his son Hunseric.
Avitus
Marcus
Maecilius Flavius Eparchius Avitus
born in Gaul. Consul AD 456.
Became emperor 9 July AD 455. Died on way to the Alps from Placentia, AD 456.
A few weeks later a new emperor was proclaimed by the
Goths at Tolosa (Toulouse), Avitus, the lieutenant
of the Aetius, who had been instrumental in forming the
alliance between Romans and Goths against Attila.
Marcian in the east and Avitus in the west both threatened
Geiseric , who defied them both. Avitus dispatched
his armies under the generalship of Ricimer, a Sueve and
grandson of the Visigoth Wallia, and Ricimer won
a naval victory over the Vandals.
Meanwhile Theodoric II, posing as imperial champion,
attacked the Sueves in Spain, breaking but not
destroying their
power. Avitus was bound closely to the Goths, while Italy detested them - and
Ricimer
was a Sueve !
Avitus had to beat a hasty retreat from Italy. Ricimer set up the Roman
Majorian, an officer of distinction,
as emperor, and the deposed Avitus was consoled with a
bishopric AD 457).
Majorian
Julius
Valerius Majorianus
Became emperor 1 April AD 457.
Died on 7 August AD 461 at Dertona.
Majorian bestowed on Ricimer the title of Patrician - in
effect first minister -
which had already been borne by Stilicho, Constantius and
Aetius before him.
Majorian declined to be Ricimer's puppet, but the fleet he collected against
the
Vandals met with disaster, giving Ricimer sufficient
excuse to depose him.
In his place the puppet emperor Libius Severus was set up.
Libius
Severus
Libius
Severus
Became emperor AD 461. Died on 14
November AD 465 at Dertona.
Though Libius Severus soon died and for a time there was
no emperor, save Leo at Constantinople.
In AD 467 Leo appointed the Greek Anthemius, son-in-law of
Marcian, as western Augustus.
Anthemius
Procopius
Anthemius
born in
Galatia. Consul AD 455. Became emperor AD 467. Wife: Euphemia (a daughter;
Alypia).
Died on
March/April AD 472 at Rome.
Ricimer was placated by receiving the new emperor's
daughter to wife.
Then east and west combined to crush the Vandals who were masters of the
Mediterranean.
Though Geiseric once more managed to keep the upper
hand and the joint Roman fleet under
Basiliscus met with disaster in AD 468.
With the Vandal controlling the sea, he consequently held
Mediterranean commerce at his mercy.
Meanwhile the Visigoths, under Euric, were bringing southern Gaul under their
control. Britain
had slipped away, Jutes and Saxons taking a grip of
her. The same fate was befalling northern Gaul.
To the east of Gaul
the Burgundian kingdom was gathering ever more strength.
In AD 472 Ricimer resolved to depose Anthemius, having
proclaimed Olybrius (husband of the
elder daughter of Valentinian III) emperor in his place.
Olybrius
Anicius
Olybrius
Became emperor March/April AD 472.
Wife: Placidia (one daughter; Juliana Anicia). Died November AD 472.
Anthemius was captured and put to death. But within a few
weeks Ricimer himself died.
For a time his place was taken by his Burgundian nephew Gundobad. Olybrius
died, and after
some delay in AD 473 Gundobad set up a puppet emperor,
Glycerius, whom Leo in Constantinople declined to recognize.
Glycerius
Glycerius
Became
emperor March AD 473. Deposed by Julius Nepos AD 474.
So Gundobad returned to Burgundy and Leo proclaimed Julius
Nepos emperor in AD 474.
Julius Nepos
Julius Nepos
Became emperor June AD 474. Died 9
May in Dalmatia AD 480.
Though already the following year Julius Nepos was a
fugitive from Rome, ejected by his
'master of the soldiers', Orestes, who made his own son,
contemptuously known as Romulus
'Augustulus', emperor.
Romulus Augustus
Romulus Augustus
Became
emperor 31 October AD 475. Abdicated 4 September AD 476. Date of death
unknown.
At the same time Zeno, the successor to Leo, was a
fugitive from Constantinople, ejected by
Basiliscus. Both usurpers fell in AD 476. In the
east Zeno was restored, but in the west the
Germanic mercenary Odoacer seized power.
Odoacer chose not to be Augustus himself, nor to serve
another western Augustus,
but to be the viceroy of one Roman emperor in
Constantinople.
The western Roman empire had ceased to be.
Reference:
- http://www.roman-empire.net/founding/found-index.html
- www.roman-empire.net/kings/kings-index.html
- http://www.roman-empire.net/collapse/collapse-index.html
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