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The Epitome De Caesaribus and the Thirty Tyrants

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The Epitome De Caesaribus and the Thirty Tyrants View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by ELTE Digital Institutional Repository (EDIT) THE EPITOME DE CAESARIBUS AND THE THIRTY TYRANTS MÁRK SÓLYOM The Epitome de Caesaribus is a short, summarizing Latin historical work known as a breviarium or epitomé. This brief summary was written in the late 4th or early 5th century and summarizes the history of the Roman Empire from the time of Augustus to the time of Theodosius the Great in 48 chapters. Between chapters 32 and 35, the Epitome tells the story of the Empire under Gallienus, Claudius Gothicus, Quintillus, and Aurelian. This was the most anarchic time of the soldier-emperor era; the imperatores had to face not only the German and Sassanid attacks, but also the economic crisis, the plague and the counter-emperors, as well. The Scriptores Historiae Augustae calls these counter-emperors the “thirty tyrants” and lists 32 usurpers, although there are some fictive imperatores in that list too. The Epitome knows only 9 tyrants, mostly the Gallic and Western usurpers. The goal of my paper is to analyse the Epitome’s chapters about Gallienus’, Claudius Gothicus’ and Aurelian’s counter-emperors with the help of the ancient sources and modern works. The Epitome de Caesaribus is a short, summarizing Latin historical work known as a breviarium or epitomé (ἐπιτομή). During the late Roman Empire, long historical works (for example the books of Livy, Tacitus, Suetonius, Cassius Dio etc.) fell out of favour, as the imperial court preferred to read shorter summaries. Consequently, the genre of abbreviated history became well-recognised.1 The word epitomé comes from the Greek word epitemnein (ἐπιτέμνειν), which means “to cut short”.2 The most famous late antique abbreviated histories are Aurelius Victor’s Liber de Caesaribus (written in the 360s),3 Eutropius’ Breviarium ab Urbe condita4 and Festus’ Breviarium rerum gestarum populi Romani.5 Both Eutropius’ and Festus’ works were created during the reign of Emperor Valens between 364 and 378. The Epitome de Caesaribus was 1 JARECSNI (1996: 149). 2 GAUVILLE (2005: 86–92). 3 ROHRBACHER (2002: 42–48); SCHLUMBERGER (1974: 1–2). 4 ROHRBACHER (2002: 49–56); SCHLUMBERGER (1974: 1–2). 5 ROHRBACHER (2002: 57–63); SCHLUMBERGER (1974: 1–2). Márk Sólyom written in the late 4th or early 5th century by an unknown pagan author, who may have been in contact with the non-Christian senatorial resistance of Rome led by the pagan senator, Quintus Aurelius Symmachus. The composition’s terminus post quem is the cited burial of Emperor Theodosius in 395 and its terminus ante quem is the death of Emperor Arcadius in 408, who is mentioned in the work as a living person.6 The Epitome begins with the time of Augustus, ends with the death of Theodosius, and contains 48 chapters.7 Jörg Schlumberger conducted a complete analysis of the work in 1974, but he did not pay very close attention to the counter-emperors. He wrote about the rebelling usurpers only in connection with the legitimate emperors. If we read Schlumberger’s analysis about the usurpators of Gallienus, Claudius Gothicus and Aurelian, who were mentioned by the Epitome, we can find several errors. Indeed, the book of the German historian is old, so it does not include the latest modern works and evidence. In 1974, Schlumberger dated Postumus’ rebellion and the murder of Saloninus to 261,8 although after the founding of Postumus’ “Augsburger Siegesaltar” in 1992, we know that the correct date is 260.9 The German historian mentioned no more dates in connection with the rebelling warlords, so the reader has no help in dating the usurpers found in the Epitome. Another shortcoming is that Schlumberger did not use newer terminologies to differentiate or group the counter-emperors, so his work did not explain that Postumus, Victorinus, and Tetricus were the rulers of the same separate state, the so called “Gallic Empire” (“Gallisches Sonderreich”). The German historian states that the existence of Septimius, the counter-emperor from “Dalmatia” is verified by Zosimos’ work, the Historia Nova.10 This is not exactly true, because the Greek historian mentions only Epitimios,11 although the Epitome’s Septimius and Zósimos’ Epitimios are probably the same person. The goal of my paper is to analyse the Epitome’s chapters about Gallienus’, Claudius Gothicus’ and Aurelian’s counter-emperors with the help of the ancient sources and modern works. I will try to include as many dates as 6 Epit. de Caes. 48,20. – The burial of Emperor Theodosius; Epit. de Caes. 48,19. – The mentioning of Arcadius as a living person: sicque in pace rebus humanis annum agens quinquagesimum apud Mediolanum excessit utramque rempublicam utrisque filiis, id est Arcadio et Honorio, quietam relinquens. 7 GAUVILLE (2005: 13–14). 8 SCHLUMBERGER (1974: 149). 9 BAKKER (1993: 369–386). 10 SCHLUMBERGER (1974: 161). 11 Zos. 1,49. 180 The Epitome de Caesaribus and the Thirty Tyrants possible, focusing on the chronology as well as the historical events, themselves. Between chapters 32 and 35, the Epitome de Caesaribus tells the story of the Roman Empire under Gallienus, Claudius Gothicus, Quintillus, and Aurelian. This was the most anarchic time of the soldier-emperor’s era; the imperatores faced not only the German and Sassanid attacks, but also the economic crisis, the plague, and the counter-emperors. The Scriptores Historiae Augustae calls these counter-emperors the “thirty tyrants” (tyranni triginta) and lists 32 usurpers (30 men and 2 women), although there are some fictive imperatores in that list, too.12 The Epitome includes only 9 tyrants, mostly the Gallic and Western usurpers. The unknown author of the work was a pagan from the Western part of the Empire, probably from Rome (Schlumberger believed that he was a relative or a close friend of Virius Nicomachus Flavianus),13 so he did not know the Greek historical tradition and the past events of the Empire’s Eastern part. But what was the status of the Empire’s Western provinces in the 260’s and the early 270’s? In the spring of 260, Germanic (Frankish and Alemannian) tribes attacked the ripae of Germania Inferior, Germania Superior, and Raetia; they sacked the three Gallic provinces, Hispania, and Northern Italy; and Aurelius Victor informs us in the Liber de Caesaribus that some barbarian soldiers landed in Northern Africa.14 During these heavy barbarian attacks, Illyricum rejected the legitimate emperor and declared its support for Ingenuus and, after his death, for Regalianus.15 Marcus Cassianius Latinius Postumus, the praeses (governor) of Germania Inferior, usurped the purple too and killed Emperor Gallienus’ son, Saloninus. Britannia, the three Gauls, Hispania, Raetia, and the German provinces declared their support for Postumus. And although Raetia, in 265, and Hispania, in 270, returned to the loyalty of the legitimate emperor, the “Gallic Empire” and the last Gallic “tyrant” were finally crushed only in 274 by Aurelian.16 The Epitome mentions only two Eastern usurpers, Aemilianus from Egypt and Valens from Macedonia.17 They very likely existed, but the lack of numismatic evidence shows that they never wore the purple. In the summer of 260, the Sassanid king of kings, Shapor I, attacked the Eastern 12 SHA Tyranni Triginta. 13 SCHLUMBERGER (1974: 245–246). 14 Eutropius 9,8; Aur. Victor 33,3. 15 Eutropius 9,8; Aur. Victor 33,2; SHA Tyranni Triginta 9–10; FITZ (1966: 1–71). 16 Eutropius 9,9–9,10; 9,13; Aur. Victor 33,8–33,14; 35,3–35,5; SHA Tyranni Triginta 3–8; 14–15; DRINKWATER (1987: 92–108); KÖNIG (1981: 198–205). 17 Epit. de Caes. 32,4. 181 Márk Sólyom provinces of the Roman Empire, defeated the Roman legions, and imprisoned Emperor Valerianus. The author of the Epitome knows and mentions Shapor and his great victory, but does not write about the Palmyrene tyrants and the Eastern counter-emperors.18 What events and usurpers were not mentioned in the Epitome? After the Sassanid victory, two armies were organised in the East. Odenathus (Udaynath), the ruler of Palmyra’s oasis city and a Roman senator, had marched against Shapor with his heavy cavalry and, after some victorious battles, expelled the Sassanids from the Roman Empire.19 The other army was led by Roman generals, who made Macrianus and his sons (Macrianus Iunior and Quietus) emperors. The Macriani did not attack Shapor. Rather, they marched west and, in 261, were defeated and killed near Serdica by Aureolus and Domitian, who later became usurpers, as well.20 The sole Eastern power remained Palmyra and, after the death of Odenathus, his wife and son, Zenobia and Vaballathus, became augusta and augustus. The forces of the caravan city had conquered Egypt and Asia Minor between 270 and 272, and only Aurelian was finally able to crush Palmyra in 273.21 The usurpation of Postumus is mentioned in chapter 32 of the Epitome. This work is the only one in antiquity that tells the full name of the first Gallic counter-emperor, “Cassius Latienus Postumus”, although incorrectly. Indeed, the usurper’s real name is Marcus Cassianius Latinius Postumus, as we know it from the tyrant’s inscriptions.22 The Epitome includes only one detail about the counter-emperor’s uprising and reign: Cassius Latienus Postumus in Gallia Gallieni filio interfecto, Epit. de Caes. 32,3. The murder of the legitimate emperor’s son in Colonia Agrippinensis (in Cologne, and not in Gaul, as the Epitome indicates)23 meant Postumus’ success and the birth of the Gallic Empire. The work does not mention any other information about Postumus; we must read Aurelius Victor, Eutropius, the Historia Augusta, or Zosimos for more details.
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