DOCSLIB.ORG

Two Roman Generals: Flavius Stilicho and , Flavius Aetius

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Two Roman Generals: Flavius Stilicho and , Flavius Aetius Two Roman generals: Flavius Stilicho and Flavius Aetius Item Type text; Thesis-Reproduction (electronic) Authors Culbertson, James Thomas, 1944- Publisher The University of Arizona. Rights Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. Download date 25/09/2021 12:02:06 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/317966 TWO ROMAN GENERALS: FLAVIUS STILICHO AND , FLAVIUS AETIUS by James T. Culbertson A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of the DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of MASTER OF ARTS In the Graduate College THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA 19 6 6 STATEMENT BY AUTHOR This thesis has been submitted in partial fulfill­ ment of requirements for an advanced degree at The University of Arizona and is deposited in the University Library to be made available to borrowers under rules of the Library. Brief quotations from this thesis are allowable without special permission, provided that accurate acknowl­ edgment of source is made. Requests for permission for extended quotation from or reproduction of this manuscript in whole or in part may be granted by the head of the majob department or the Dean of the Graduate College when in his judgment the proposed use of the material is in the inter­ ests of scholarship. In all other instances, however, permission must be obtained from the author. APPROVAL BY THESIS DIRECTOR This thesis has been approved on the date shown below: T . W . PARKER Date Professor of History TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ABSTRACT ............................... ............. .. iv PART ONE: TWO ROMAN GENERALS -CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION .............. 2 II. THE LATER ROMAN EMPIRE ^ . 4 III. EARLY CAREER OF STILICHO ............ 11 IV. STILICHO'S DOMINANCE IN THE ROMAN WORLD . 18 V. DOWNFALL AND DEATH OF STILICHO .............. 31 VI. INTERIM PERIOD (4o8-423) 43 VII. EARLY CAREER OF AETIUS . 54 VIII. AETIUS ' DOMINANCE IN THE WEST . 6? IX. DEATH OF AETIUS ............................. 83 X. COLLAPSE IN THE WEST (455-476) .............. 88 PART TWO: MEN AND MEASURES XI. A MILITARY PROBLEM ............... 93 XII. THE STRUGGLE WITH 'BARBARIANS"................ 10 4 XIII. THE PLACE OF THE SENATE ....................... 122 XIV. THE PLACE OF THE EMPEROR ................ 135 XV. CONCLUSION AND EVALUATION .......... l4l SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY ....... ................ l48 iii ABSTRACT This thesis examines and compares the careers and policies of two fifth century Roman generals of barbarian ancestry« After tracing in detail the lives and actions of the two leaders in the proper setting of the confused, climactic, final period (A„D„ 378-476) of the Western Roman Empire, the writer attempts to show that Stilicho and Aetius acted in response to the demands of contemporary military, political, and social problems in the West, as well as within the framework of established Roman policies ° Their efforts to settle and pacify barbarian invaders in the West, to practice religious toleration, and to establish a satisfactory balance of power between the Senate and the Emperor, represent the inclination of the practical Roman military mind to seek a stable basis for the preservation of the Empirep Faced with probably inevitable barbarian invasions and civil discord, the two generals tried for a military and political settlement which might have preserved the Western Empire as a limited monarchy» Their barbarian ancestry led them to accept the Teutonic invaders of the West as part of the Imperial system, but did not cause them to betray the Empire; their deaths and the collapse of their system were key steps in the fall of the Western Roman Empire• XV PART ONE TWO ROMAN GENERALS 1 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION This master’s thesis is a continuation and expan­ sion of a paper entitled nFlavius Stilicho^ Master of the Soldiers, !t submitted in May, 1 9 6 5 ^ as the writer’s Senior Honors Thesis at the University of Arizona« The present paper examines the careers and policies of Flavius Stilicho and Flavius Aetius, the two most prominent political and military leaders of the Western Roman Empire in the fifth century A «D„ Utilizing the principal original sources and the major secondary works on the period together with a few of the varied new thoughts or hypotheses of recent students of the Later Roman Empire, this thesis discusses (1) the significance of Stilicho and Aetius with regard to the so-called nbarbarizationn of army, government, and society in the Late Empire; (2) their probable policies as the dominant Roman leaders in their time; and (3 ) the importance of their deaths as factors in the collapse of the Western Roman Empire« These matters will be dealt with in the context of the problems and events of late Roman history» Specifically, the writer will attempt to demonstrate that Aetius and Stilicho acted under the influence of Roman policies established in earlier centuries 5 as well as in response to the exigencies of their own period, and that their barbarian ancestry did not lead them to betray the interests of their fellow Romans. Because of the limited scope and fragmentary nature of many of the source materials on late Roman history, some of the original sources pertinent to a study of the careers of Stilicho and Aetius are not available in the University of Arizona Library. In the case of these sources, the writer has been obliged to rely on the citations, and to some extent the interpretations, offered in the principal secondary works on the Later Roman Empire. CHAPTER II THE LATER ROMAN EMPIRE On August 9, AoDo 378, a hot summer day, Visigothlc horsemen smashed Roman legions into the dust near the city of Adrianople, in Thrace northwest of Constantinople. Valens, Emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire, died with many of his officers and men; and with them the greatness of the Roman infantryman passed away forever. Wryly surveying the Battle of Adrianople after an interval of many centuries, modern historians have decided that the defeat resulted on a great increase of the importance of the Roman cavalry.^ In earlier centuries Adrianople might indeed have had no greater consequences than a shift in Roman military tactics. After all, Roman troops had been decisively defeated before, even by the barbarians, and indeed these very Visigoths had crossed the Imperial frontier only to escape from the scourge of the Huns, and with Valens f explicit permission. Rome had survived the Gauls, the Cimbri, and Hannibal; surely Rome would survive this recent disaster. 1 . John Bo Bury, The Invasion of Europe by the Barbarians (London: Macmillan and Co., Limited, 192871 p. 59 o 4 Yet in fact Adrianople was a blow from which the Empire never recovered. Roman officials had received the Visigoths as guests«, then cheated and plundered them, Roman justice could no longer punish such men, and the Roman Army was unable to salvage victory in the war which 2 followed. Decay had set in. The story of the decline of the Empire is a familiar one. The impoverishment of the Western Empire, the rise of great landowners, the declining fortunes of colon! (peasants) and curiales (middle class), the barbari- zation of culture, the flow of gold to the East, the tendency to natural economy, and the depletion of popula- tion have all been pointed out by recent historians.3 The rise of the Roman cavalry, it seems, was a prelude to the age of the mounted, armored knight. The cost of military defense,of the Empire was becoming prohibitive. While the emperors spent heavily, declining population vacated many lands on the frontier, and the ranks of the Army had to be filled up with "barbarians^ from the frontiers and beyond. Many of these outsiders 2. Ferdinand Lot, The End of the Ancient World and the Beginnings of the Middle Ages (New York: Harper & Brothers, I96I ), p « 195° 3« William Carroll Bark, Origins of the Medieval World (Garden City, N. Y .: Doubleday and Company, Inc., I9 6 0 ), pp. 4l-93 passim. 6 settled inside the borders which had previously been held against them« The idea of Empire was still strong, but it was a dream of the old Empire of Augustus and the Antonines« The k practice of Empire was slipping« The senatores still sat in the Senate, but they were now a class of aristocratic landowners, and they used the higher offices of the bureauc­ racy in the West to line their own pockets and protect their own interests= 5 They did not regard the Germanic ^barbar­ ians tl as a serious threat to those interests, and so would not provide troops for service against them, since devasta­ tion of the great estates might result, and in any case a too-powerful Imperial Army could be used to bring the senatores under close Imperial control. But these aristocrats failed to keep the peace in their own areas, so that wandering bands of soldiers, deserters from the Imperial Army, were always causing trouble. Perhaps these highwaymen were an important cause of the depopulation of the cities in the West. Certainly neither they nor the 4. J. M . Wallace-Hadrill, The Barbarian West, 400- 1000 (Rev. ed.; London: Hutchinson and Co., Ltd., 1957) 9 pp. 10 -1 1 . 5. George R. Monks, "The Administration of the Privy Purse: An Inquiry into Official Corruption and the Fall of the Roman Empire," Speculum, XXXII (1957), 748-79 passim. 6 . Emil Lucki, "The Role of the Large Landholders in the Loss of Roman Gaul," American Journal of Economics and Sociology, XX (i9 6 0 ), 89-98 . limitanei ? the frontier troops who had degenerated into a sort of local militia9 were particularly efficient in keeping order or maintaining the great fortresses along the Rhine and Danube.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Eunuchs in the East, Men in the West? 147
    Eunuchs in the East, Men in the West? 147 Chapter 8 Eunuchs in the East, Men in the West? Dis/unity, Gender and Orientalism in the Fourth Century Shaun Tougher Introduction In the narrative of relations between East and West in the Roman Empire in the fourth century AD, the tensions between the eastern and western imperial courts at the end of the century loom large. The decision of Theodosius I to “split” the empire between his young sons Arcadius and Honorius (the teenage Arcadius in the east and the ten-year-old Honorius in the west) ushered in a period of intense hostility and competition between the courts, famously fo- cused on the figure of Stilicho.1 Stilicho, half-Vandal general and son-in-law of Theodosius I (Stilicho was married to Serena, Theodosius’ niece and adopted daughter), had been left as guardian of Honorius, but claimed guardianship of Arcadius too and concomitant authority over the east. In the political manoeu- vrings which followed the death of Theodosius I in 395, Stilicho was branded a public enemy by the eastern court. In the war of words between east and west a key figure was the (probably Alexandrian) poet Claudian, who acted as a ‘pro- pagandist’ (through panegyric and invective) for the western court, or rather Stilicho. Famously, Claudian wrote invectives on leading officials at the eastern court, namely Rufinus the praetorian prefect and Eutropius, the grand cham- berlain (praepositus sacri cubiculi), who was a eunuch. It is Claudian’s two at- tacks on Eutropius that are the inspiration and central focus of this paper which will examine the significance of the figure of the eunuch for the topic of the end of unity between east and west in the Roman Empire.
    [Show full text]
  • Roman-Barbarian Marriages in the Late Empire R.C
    ROMAN-BARBARIAN MARRIAGES IN THE LATE EMPIRE R.C. Blockley In 1964 Rosario Soraci published a study of conubia between Romans and Germans from the fourth to the sixth century A.D.1 Although the title of the work might suggest that its concern was to be with such marriages through- out the period, in fact its aim was much more restricted. Beginning with a law issued by Valentinian I in 370 or 373 to the magister equitum Theodosius (C.Th. 3.14.1), which banned on pain of death all marriages between Roman pro- vincials and barbarae or gentiles, Soraci, after assessing the context and intent of the law, proceeded to discuss its influence upon the practices of the Germanic kingdoms which succeeded the Roman Empire in the West. The text of the law reads: Nulli provineialium, cuiuscumque ordinis aut loci fuerit, cum bar- bara sit uxore coniugium, nec ulli gentilium provinciales femina copuletur. Quod si quae inter provinciales atque gentiles adfinitates ex huiusmodi nuptiis extiterit, quod in his suspectum vel noxium detegitur, capitaliter expietur. This was regarded by Soraci not as a general banning law but rather as a lim- ited attempt, in the context of current hostilities with the Alamanni, to keep those barbarians serving the Empire (gentiles)isolated from the general Roman 2 populace. The German lawmakers, however, exemplified by Alaric in his 63 64 interpretatio,3 took it as a general banning law and applied it in this spir- it, so that it became the basis for the prohibition under the Germanic king- doms of intermarriage between Romans and Germans.
    [Show full text]
  • Hunnic Warfare in the Fourth and Fifth Centuries C.E.: Archery and the Collapse of the Western Roman Empire
    HUNNIC WARFARE IN THE FOURTH AND FIFTH CENTURIES C.E.: ARCHERY AND THE COLLAPSE OF THE WESTERN ROMAN EMPIRE A Thesis Submitted to the Committee of Graduate Studies in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in the Faculty of Arts and Science. TRENT UNIVERSITY Peterborough, Ontario, Canada © Copyright by Laura E. Fyfe 2016 Anthropology M.A. Graduate Program January 2017 ABSTRACT Hunnic Warfare in the Fourth and Fifth Centuries C.E.: Archery and the Collapse of the Western Roman Empire Laura E. Fyfe The Huns are one of the most misunderstood and mythologized barbarian invaders encountered by the Roman Empire. They were described by their contemporaries as savage nomadic warriors with superior archery skills, and it is this image that has been written into the history of the fall of the Western Roman Empire and influenced studies of Late Antiquity through countless generations of scholarship. This study examines evidence of Hunnic archery, questions the acceptance and significance of the “Hunnic archer” image, and situates Hunnic archery within the context of the fall of the Western Roman Empire. To achieve a more accurate picture of the importance of archery in Hunnic warfare and society, this study undertakes a mortuary analysis of burial sites associated with the Huns in Europe, a tactical and logistical study of mounted archery and Late Roman and Hunnic military engagements, and an analysis of the primary and secondary literature. Keywords: Archer, Archery, Army, Arrow, Barbarian, Bow, Burial Assemblages, Byzantine, Collapse, Composite Bow, Frontier, Hun, Logistics, Migration Period, Roman, Roman Empire, Tactics, Weapons Graves ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would first like to thank my thesis advisor, Dr.
    [Show full text]
  • The Rhetoric of Corruption in Late Antiquity
    UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA RIVERSIDE The Rhetoric of Corruption in Late Antiquity A Dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Classics by Tim W. Watson June 2010 Dissertation Committee: Dr. Michele R. Salzman, Chairperson Dr. Harold A. Drake Dr. Thomas N. Sizgorich Copyright by Tim W. Watson 2010 The Dissertation of Tim W. Watson is approved: ________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ Committee Chairperson University of California, Riverside ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS In accordance with that filial piety so central to the epistolary persona of Q. Aurelius Symmachus, I would like to thank first and foremost my parents, Lee and Virginia Watson, without whom there would be quite literally nothing, followed closely by my grandmother, Virginia Galbraith, whose support both emotionally and financially has been invaluable. Within the academy, my greatest debt is naturally to my advisor, Michele Salzman, a doctissima patrona of infinite patience and firm guidance, to whom I came with the mind of a child and departed with the intellect of an adult. Hal Drake I owe for his kind words, his critical eye, and his welcome humor. In Tom Sizgorich I found a friend and colleague whose friendship did not diminish even after he assumed his additional role as mentor. Outside the field, I owe a special debt to Dale Kent, who ushered me through my beginning quarter of graduate school with great encouragement and first stirred my fascination with patronage. Lastly, I would like to express my gratitude to the two organizations who have funded the years of my study, the Department of History at the University of California, Riverside and the Department of Classics at the University of California, Irvine.
    [Show full text]
  • Black Sea-Caspian Steppe: Natural Conditions 20 1.1 the Great Steppe
    The Pechenegs: Nomads in the Political and Cultural Landscape of Medieval Europe East Central and Eastern Europe in the Middle Ages, 450–1450 General Editors Florin Curta and Dušan Zupka volume 74 The titles published in this series are listed at brill.com/ecee The Pechenegs: Nomads in the Political and Cultural Landscape of Medieval Europe By Aleksander Paroń Translated by Thomas Anessi LEIDEN | BOSTON This is an open access title distributed under the terms of the CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 license, which permits any non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided no alterations are made and the original author(s) and source are credited. Further information and the complete license text can be found at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ The terms of the CC license apply only to the original material. The use of material from other sources (indicated by a reference) such as diagrams, illustrations, photos and text samples may require further permission from the respective copyright holder. Publication of the presented monograph has been subsidized by the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education within the National Programme for the Development of Humanities, Modul Universalia 2.1. Research grant no. 0046/NPRH/H21/84/2017. National Programme for the Development of Humanities Cover illustration: Pechenegs slaughter prince Sviatoslav Igorevich and his “Scythians”. The Madrid manuscript of the Synopsis of Histories by John Skylitzes. Miniature 445, 175r, top. From Wikimedia Commons, the free media repository. Proofreading by Philip E. Steele The Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available online at http://catalog.loc.gov LC record available at http://catalog.loc.gov/2021015848 Typeface for the Latin, Greek, and Cyrillic scripts: “Brill”.
    [Show full text]
  • Impact of the Justinian Code on Byzantine Society
    Danya Bubar Context Under Consideration: Byzantium 1. Hypothesis: The Justinian Code did not impact his Byzantine society. 2. Sources / Limitations of study Brownworth, L. (2007). 12 Byzantine Rulers: The History of the Byzantine Empire. [Audio podcast]. Retrieved from http://www.12byzantinerulers.com/rss.xml. Cameron, Averil. (2006). The Byzantines. Malden, Massachusetts: Blackwell Publishing. Canning, J. (1996). History of Medieval Political Thought, 300-1450. London, GBR: Routledge. Retrieved from http://site.ebrary.com.proxy.hil.unb.ca/lib/unblib/doc?id=10058158&ppg =23. Evans, J. A. S. (2000). Age of Justinian: The Circumstances of Imperial Power. London, GBR: Routledge. Retrieved from http://site.ebrary.com.proxy.hil.unb.ca/lib/unblib/doc?id=100 70712&ppg=23. Gibbon, E . (2001). Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Volume IV. London, GBR: ElecBook, 2001. p lxxiii. http://site.ebrary.com.proxy.hil.unb.ca/lib/unblib/doc? id=2001727&ppg=73. Gigantès, P. (2002). The Secret History of Rulers of the World. London: Magpie Books. Nicol, D. M. (1991). A Biographical Dictionary of the Byzantine Empire. London: Seaby. Stein, P. (1999). Roman Law in European History. Port Chester, NY, USA: Cambridge University Press http://site.ebrary.com.proxy.hil.unb.ca/lib/unblib/doc?id=10014895 &ppg=43. Tellegen-Couperus, O. (1993). Short History of Roman Law. London, GBR: Routledge, Retrieved from http://site.ebrary.com.proxy.hil.unb.ca/lib/unblib/doc?id=10060619 &ppg=153. Venning, T. (2006). A Chronology of the Byzantine Empire. Great Britain: Palmgrave MacMillian. Limitations of these sources may lie within the authors’ observations of the historical contexts being discusses; this may suggest the presence of author bias, given that the information provided is subjective to their interpretation.
    [Show full text]
  • The Great European Empires: British and Roman Rule Edward A
    Union College Union | Digital Works Honors Theses Student Work 6-2013 The Great European Empires: British and Roman Rule Edward A. Tomlinson Union College - Schenectady, NY Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalworks.union.edu/theses Part of the Ancient History, Greek and Roman through Late Antiquity Commons, European History Commons, and the Military History Commons Recommended Citation Tomlinson, Edward A., "The Great European Empires: British and Roman Rule" (2013). Honors Theses. 746. https://digitalworks.union.edu/theses/746 This Open Access is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Work at Union | Digital Works. It has been accepted for inclusion in Honors Theses by an authorized administrator of Union | Digital Works. For more information, please contact [email protected]. The Great European Empires: British and Roman Rule By Edward A. Tomlinson Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for Honors in the Department of History Union College June 2013 Tomlinson 1 Introduction: The greatest European imperial forces ever to exist were Rome and Britain. They controlled much of their known world and subjugated many foreign peoples to their rule. Rome ruled lands from India to the Atlantic Ocean, while Britain had colonies across the entire globe. The British Empire was at the height of its power in the Nineteenth Century, nearly 1200 years after the city of Rome was sacked by invading barbarian tribes. Even with more than a millennia passing between the fall of one empire and the rise of the other; they still shared many similarities in their manner of rule. They had to balance military might and political action to prevent rebellions and to maintain profitable colonies.
    [Show full text]
  • The Art of War in the Middle Ages, A.D. 378-1515
    Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2007 with funding from IVIicrosoft Corporation http://www.archive.org/details/artofwarinmiddleOOomanuoft otl^xan: ^rt§e ^ssag 1884 THE ART OF WAR IN THE MIDDLE AGES PRINTED BY HORACE HART, PRINTER TO THE UNIVERSITY THE ART OF WAR [N THE MIDDLE AGES A.D. 37^—15^5 BY C. W. C. OMAN, B.A. FELLOW OF ALL SOULS COLLEGE WITH MAPS AND PLANS OXFORD B. H. BLACKWELL, 50 BROAD STREET LONDON T. FISHER UNWIN, 26 PATERNOSTER SQUARE 1885 [^// rights reserved '\ O/M The Author desires to acknowledge much kind help received in the revision and correction of this Essay from the Rev. H. B. George, of New College, and Mr. F. York Powell, of Christ Church. 6/ 37 05 , — — CONTENTS. PAGE ' Introduction . i CHAPTER 1. The Transition from Roman to Medieval forms in War (a.d. 378-582). Disappearance of the Legion.—Constantine's reorgajiization. The German tribes . — Battle of Adrianople.—Theodosius accepts its teaching.—Vegetius and the army at the end of the fourth century. —The Goths and the Huns. Army of the Eastern Empire.— Cavalry all-important . 3— 14 CHAPTER n. The Early Middle Ages (a.d. 476-1066). Paucity of Data for the period.—The Franks in the sixth cen- tury.—Battle of Tours.—^Armies of Charles the Great. The Franks become horsemen.—The Northman and the Magyar.—Rise of Feudalism.—The Anglo-Saxons and their wars.—The Danes and the Fyrd.—Military importance of the Thegnhood.—The House-Carles.—Battle of Hastings . Battle of Durazzo 15 — 27 W — VI CONTENTS.
    [Show full text]
  • Notes on the Decorations of Central Vault Mosaic of Galla Placidia Chapel in Ravenna, Italy Prof
    مجلة العمارة والفنون والعلوم اﻻنسانية المجلد الخامس - العدد الثاني والعشرون Notes on the decorations of central vault mosaic of Galla Placidia chapel in Ravenna, Italy Prof. Khaled Gharib Ali Ahmed Shaheen Professor and Head of Greco-Roman Archaeology Department - faculty of Archaeology, Cairo University. Assist. Prof. Dr. Mona Gabr Abd El-Naby Hussein Assistant Professor of art history - Greco-Roman Archaeology Department - faculty of Archaeology, Cairo University. Lect. Asmaa Mamdouh Abdel-Sattar Hanafi Mohammed El-Nadi Demonstrator– Greco-Roman department– faculty of Archaeology, Cairo University. [email protected] Abstract: The Galla Placidia Chapel in Ravenna, or globally known as the "Mausoleum" of Galla Placidia, has been renowned for its exceptional mosaic decorations covering the surfaces of its interior walls. The entrance of the chapel represents a dramatic transition from the humble exterior to the grandeur and majesty of the interior; the chapel has retained its entire interior decoration program, which is uncommon for buildings from that late antiquity. This cross- planned chapel still raises many issues and questions that are difficult to answer decisively, as a result of the lack of any contemporary documentation, so it remains purely hypothetical. The interpretation of central vault mosaics of the chapel is one of the most important issues that have occupied the scholars for a long time over the years, due to the ambiguity and distinctiveness of its elements with regard to the iconographic traditions of the time, as it is the predecessor of a decorative subject that will continue over time in the early Christian structures. The central vault mosaic consists of 567 golden stars arranged in concentric circles against a dark blue background, all orbiting a Latin gold cross represented at the vault apex, while floating, over the heap of the clouds, in the pendentives area, winged bust-figures represent the four living creatures around the celestial throne.
    [Show full text]
  • Cassiodorus Chronicle Edition Mommsen, 1894; English Translation Bouke Procee, 2014
    Cassiodorus Chronicle Edition Mommsen, 1894; English translation Bouke Procee, 2014. Introduction Flavius Magnus Aurelius Cassiodorus Senator (c. 485 – c. 585), commonly known as Cassiodorus, was a Roman statesman and writer, serving in the administration of Theoderic the Great, king of the Ostrogoths at Ravenna, Italy. Senator was part of his surname, not his rank. His best known work is his Variae, a letter collection, written as an example book for high official scribes. Cassiodorus wrote his chronicle for Eutharic, husband of Amalasuintha, the daughter of King Theoderic the Great, and heir apparent to Theoderic's throne. Most likely he did this in 519, the year that Eutharic was consul, together with Justin, the Eastern emperor. He used as sources material from Livy, Jerome, Prosper of Aquitaine and Eutropius, which he epitomized and adapted for his own purpose. Two manuscripts of Cassiodorus' chronicle survive: Parisinus Latinus 4860, a tenth-century manuscript, kept in the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris; and Monacensis 14613, written in the eleventh century, and kept in the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek in Munich. Mommsen published an edition based on these manuscripts in 1894, in the Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Auctores Antiquissimi 11, pp. 109-1611. This edition is shown below, alongside the English translation. CHRONICA MAGNI AURELII CASSIODORI CHRONICLE OF MAGNUS AURELIUS CASSIODORUS SENATOR, vir SENATORIS v.c. et inl., ex questore sacri palatii, ex clarissimus and inlustris, ex-quaestor of the sacred palace, ex-consul, ex- cons. ord., ex mag. off., ppo atque patricii. magister officiorum, praetorian prefect and patrician. 1 PRAEFATIO. PREFACE Sapientia principali, qua semper magna revolvitis, in In your princely wisdom, in which you always consider important matters, ordinem me consules digerere censuistis, ut qui annum you directed me to set the consuls in order so that you, who had adorned the ornaveratis glorioso nomine, redderetis fastis veritatis year with your glorious name, might restore to the fasti the dignity of pristinae dignitatem.
    [Show full text]
  • The Impact of the Roman Army (200 BC – AD 476)
    Impact of Empire 6 IMEM-6-deBlois_CS2.indd i 5-4-2007 8:35:52 Impact of Empire Editorial Board of the series Impact of Empire (= Management Team of the Network Impact of Empire) Lukas de Blois, Angelos Chaniotis Ségolène Demougin, Olivier Hekster, Gerda de Kleijn Luuk de Ligt, Elio Lo Cascio, Michael Peachin John Rich, and Christian Witschel Executive Secretariat of the Series and the Network Lukas de Blois, Olivier Hekster Gerda de Kleijn and John Rich Radboud University of Nijmegen, Erasmusplein 1, P.O. Box 9103, 6500 HD Nijmegen, The Netherlands E-mail addresses: [email protected] and [email protected] Academic Board of the International Network Impact of Empire geza alföldy – stéphane benoist – anthony birley christer bruun – john drinkwater – werner eck – peter funke andrea giardina – johannes hahn – fik meijer – onno van nijf marie-thérèse raepsaet-charlier – john richardson bert van der spek – richard talbert – willem zwalve VOLUME 6 IMEM-6-deBlois_CS2.indd ii 5-4-2007 8:35:52 The Impact of the Roman Army (200 BC – AD 476) Economic, Social, Political, Religious and Cultural Aspects Proceedings of the Sixth Workshop of the International Network Impact of Empire (Roman Empire, 200 B.C. – A.D. 476) Capri, March 29 – April 2, 2005 Edited by Lukas de Blois & Elio Lo Cascio With the Aid of Olivier Hekster & Gerda de Kleijn LEIDEN • BOSTON 2007 This is an open access title distributed under the terms of the CC-BY-NC 4.0 License, which permits any non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited.
    [Show full text]
  • Jordanes and the Invention of Roman-Gothic History Dissertation
    Empire of Hope and Tragedy: Jordanes and the Invention of Roman-Gothic History Dissertation Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Brian Swain Graduate Program in History The Ohio State University 2014 Dissertation Committee: Timothy Gregory, Co-advisor Anthony Kaldellis Kristina Sessa, Co-advisor Copyright by Brian Swain 2014 Abstract This dissertation explores the intersection of political and ethnic conflict during the emperor Justinian’s wars of reconquest through the figure and texts of Jordanes, the earliest barbarian voice to survive antiquity. Jordanes was ethnically Gothic - and yet he also claimed a Roman identity. Writing from Constantinople in 551, he penned two Latin histories on the Gothic and Roman pasts respectively. Crucially, Jordanes wrote while Goths and Romans clashed in the imperial war to reclaim the Italian homeland that had been under Gothic rule since 493. That a Roman Goth wrote about Goths while Rome was at war with Goths is significant and has no analogue in the ancient record. I argue that it was precisely this conflict which prompted Jordanes’ historical inquiry. Jordanes, though, has long been considered a mere copyist, and seldom treated as an historian with ideas of his own. And the few scholars who have treated Jordanes as an original author have dampened the significance of his Gothicness by arguing that barbarian ethnicities were evanescent and subsumed by the gravity of a Roman political identity. They hold that Jordanes was simply a Roman who can tell us only about Roman things, and supported the Roman emperor in his war against the Goths.
    [Show full text]