Chapter 35
The Roman Empire was radically transformed during the fifth century, which effectively extends from 395 to 518. Theodosius the Great had recognized that simultaneous pressure from Persian kings in the East and migrating German tribes in the West required a continual imperial presence on both fronts. That and a desire for imperial unity necessitated sharing the imperial office between two or more colleagues dynastically linked by marriage, blood, or both. Therefore, Theodosius made one of his two sons emperor in the East and the other emperor in the West when he died in 395.
Unfortunately, this arrangement was not sufficient to meet all of the Empire’s challenges. The rapid rise and fall of emperors, usurpers, power brokers, and tribal kings make the fifth century even more chaotic and difficult to study than the third. After all is said and done, however, the eastern emperors managed to preserve their half of the Empire intact, while the western emperors gradually lost power until they finally disappeared. Local Germanic kings holding imperial titles that legitimized their rule over “Roman” territory preserved the shadow, but not the substance, of the Roman Empire in the West.
Sources for Roman history from 395 to 518 c.e.
With the notable exception of Ammianus Marcellinus and far less so of the fourth-century epitomators, the sources for the first twenty-five years of this period are much the same as for the fourth century (pp. 564–6). Zosimus and Orosius, however, end their histories in 410 and 417, respectively. After them, there are no general narrative sources of even their limited breadth on which to rely. The more narrowly focused, though useful, ecclesiastical histories of Theodoret, Sozomen, and Socrates end in 408, 425, and 439, respectively. Evagrius began his Ecclesiastical History with the Council of Ephesus (431) and carried it down to 594. Its attempt to be impartial is sometimes marred by credulity. It and the other ecclesiastical histories have one great virtue, however: they often quote official documents, a practice that secular historians usually avoided. The letters and essays of Synesius of Cyrene provide valuable contemporary evidence for the early fifth century (p. 708).
From 439 onward, there are some thin chronicles. Prosper of Aquitaine continued Jerome’s Chronicle from 378 to 455. Chronicles of the Byzantine scholar John Malalas and the learned Spanish Bishop Isidore of Seville (Hispalis) both cover the fifth century. Another Spanish bishop, Hydatius, continued Jerome to 468. Gennadius of Massilia continued Jerome’s De Viris Illustribus to ca. 500. Medieval Byzantine compilers like Photius and Constantine Porphyrogenitus preserve many valuable fragments from lost works. For example, Porphyrogenitus’ compilation of diplomatic sources preserves Priscus of Panium’s fascinating account of an embassy to Attila the Hun. Isidore of Seville gives a sympathetic view of Germanic invaders in his History of the Goths, Vandals, and Suevi. Also important for the non-Roman side of events is Jordanes. He was of Gothic lineage and served as a secretary (notarius) to an Ostrogothic military commander. He became a monk or cleric and wrote two brief historical works. His variously titled summary of Roman history (or, simply, Romana) includes the unsettled tribes of northern Europe. His Getica (or On the Origin and Deeds of the Goths) is based on the lost twelve-volume History of the Goths by Cassiodorus (p. 705). Cassiodorus’ extant Chronica covers world history from Adam to 519. The British monk Gildas covers the Anglo-Saxon invasions of Britain in his De Excidio et Conquestu Britanniae (On the Destruction and Conquest of Britain).
FIGURE 35.1 Germanic kingdoms about 562 c.e.
Important documentary evidence is supplied by the various compilations of Roman law beginning with the Code of Theodosius II, which was published in 438. It contains many laws issued during the previous forty years. Subsequent collections of new laws, novellae, issued by Valentinian III and Theodosius II also contain valuable explanations for their issuance. Summaries of other laws issued by Theodosius II are contained in Justinian’s Code. The Notitia Dignitatum (p. 566) gives important insights into the administrative structure and military dispositions of the time. Other useful contemporary writings are the poems of Rutilius Namatianus and Claudian and the poems and letters of Sidonius Apollinaris (p. 702). The numerous biographies of saints, churchmen, and upper-class individuals that begin to appear in this period also help. What they lack in breadth they make up in detail about social, economic, and cultural conditions.
The amount of archaeological, epigraphical, and numismatic evidence is rapidly expanding and constantly adding new insights into this crucial period of Roman history.
Western weaknesses and Eastern strengths
Various problems and weaknesses contributed to the undermining of Roman power more in the West than in the East. The West faced a greater number of external threats along more permeable frontiers and could no longer depend on surplus revenues from the East. The East could pursue war and diplomacy more effectively with the centralized Persian Empire on the long eastern frontier. The West was exposed to the more volatile tribal peoples on a frontier that stretched along the Rhine and the Danube for 1000 miles. The East, however, had to guard only the last 500 miles of the Danube. The East could use its surplus wealth to buy off attacking tribes and induce them to go elsewhere, usually west. The East also had a more deeply rooted unity in the culture of more densely populated, urbanized Greek-speaking provinces. Latin culture had not achieved comparable penetration in a number of western areas that were less densely populated and urbanized.
Weak child emperors and strong Imperial women
Upon Theodosius’ death in 395, Arcadius (395–408), then seventeen or eighteen, obtained sole authority in the East. The ten-year-old Honorius (395–423), who had been summoned to Milan when Theodosius fell ill, was left as the western emperor. Their accessions illustrate the unfortunate pattern of child heirs that weakened the whole dynasty of Theodosius in both East and West. When Arcadius died in 408, his successor was his seven-year-old son, Theodosius II (408–450). Honorius was succeeded in 423 by his five-year-old nephew Valentinian III (423–455). Theodosius’ sons and grandsons could not rule independently. They depended on older advisors and regents and were unable to break away from them after reaching maturity. As powerful individuals vied for influence and dominance at court, the general welfare was often sacrificed to personal interests. Moreover, the women of the dynasty were the more capable and interesting characters: Galla Placidia, half-sister of Honorius and Arcadius and mother of Valentinian III; Placidia’s daughter, Honoria; Galla Placidia the Younger, daughter of Valentinian III; Empress Eudoxia, wife of Arcadius; Pulcheria, sister of Theodosius II; the latter’s wife, Eudocia; and their daughter, Eudoxia, wife of Valentinian III. Holding the keys to succession through birth and inheritance, they became public players in the political arena and were particularly successful in the East.
Under the youthful successors of Theodosius, the nominal unity of the Empire was maintained by having one of the two annual consuls nominated at Rome and the other at Constantinople. The facade of unity was reinforced by the public display of the emperors’ statues together and the publication of imperial laws with the names of both in the headings. Frequently, however, laws issued by one were not reciprocally issued by the other, and the administration of the East and the West went in separate ways despite instances of cooperation in times of military or dynastic crisis.
Germanic commanders in Imperial service
One of the outstanding features at the beginning of this period was the prominence of Germanic generals in the high imperial commands. The trend had become significant under Gratian. Practical reasons can explain it. The foremost probably was the sheer need for military manpower. Recruiting warlike bands of Germanic peoples became an attractive way to fill that need. Theodosius resorted to it by making the Visigoths federate allies after Adrianople. Although Theodosius had risen to power as a military leader, he was also a cultured aristocrat. He preferred to emphasize the civilian role of the emperor as head of state and to rely for military protection on “barbarian” generals whose loyalties were primarily to him, their patron. Thus, able chieftains and warlords gained the opportunity to win imperial favor and advance in rank. That was particularly true in the West, where the need for military manpower was greater than the Roman population could supply. Therefore, western emperors had to depend more heavily on Germanic mercenaries and federates.
Internal rivalries and shifting alliances
Unfortunately, the high positions achieved by Germanic officers often aroused the jealousy and hostility of high-ranking Roman military and civilian officials. Such positions also gave their Germanic holders a chance to pursue both personal and tribal animosities in the arena of imperial politics. Internal Roman rivalries and power struggles aggravated the situation. Rival Roman emperors and factions often granted imperial titles and conceded territory to one Germanic leader or another in return for help against fellow Romans. While the Romans were thus distracted by internal conflict, other tribes seized the opportunity to cross into Roman territory unopposed. When the Romans could not dislodge them, peace was bought with further titles and territorial concessions granted to them as federate allies. In the midst of it all, alliances and coalitions between Roman emperors or powerful commanders and various tribes or tribal kings were made, unmade, and remade with such abandon that it is nearly impossible to follow their course. Accordingly, as the following careers of Stilicho and Alaric under Honorius illustrate, all of these situations could prove dangerous to the peace and safety of the Empire, particularly in the West.
Stilicho and Alaric, 395 to 410 c.e.
Stilicho, son of a Vandal who had served in the Roman army, became one of the protectores, officer candidates who formed part of the emperor’s bodyguard. He soon caught the eye of Theodosius and married the latter’s niece, Serena. Stilicho had risen to the supreme military command as magister utriusque militiae, master of both cavalry and infantry, when Theodosius marched west against Arbogast. Finally, before dying, Theodosius entrusted Stilicho with protecting the young heirs to the throne.
Stilicho, however, hoped to elevate his own son to the purple. He soon came into conflict with Rufinus, the corrupt and powerful praetorian prefect of the eastern Emperor Arcadius. The immediate question at issue was control of the strategically important prefecture of Illyricum. Gratian had transferred it from the West to Theodosius in the East to aid him after the Battle of Adrianople. Stilicho claimed that Theodosius had intended to transfer it back to the West, but Rufinus persuaded Arcadius to reject Stilicho’s position.
In the spring of 395, Stilicho arrived in Illyricum with a large body of troops. He claimed to be returning them to Constantinople, whence they had come with Theodosius in 393. While Stilicho was in Illyricum, he captured the Visigothic king Alaric, who had recently ravaged Macedonia and Thrace before heading west. Rufinus feared that Stilicho would gain the credit for destroying the Visigothic menace and thereby would strengthen his claim to Illyricum. Rufinus persuaded Arcadius to order Stilicho to send the eastern legions immediately to Constantinople and return west. Stilicho obeyed. He also let Alaric go free. That move put the latter in his debt for the future and would earn Arcadius the displeasure of the defenseless Romans of the Illyrian prefecture.
The eastern troops returned under the command of Gainas, an Ostrogoth with whom Stilicho plotted the assassination of Rufinus. On November 27, 395, Rufinus appeared along with Arcadius to review the troops at Constantinople. Gainas and his accomplices crowded around Rufinus with friendly gestures and flattering talk. Then, with the trap closed tight, they cut him down.
Alaric and the downfall of Stilicho
For the next ten years, Alaric and Stilicho alternately fought and cooperated as each sought to increase his power at the expense of Honorius and Arcadius. Arcadius tried to undercut Stilicho by making Alaric a magister utriusque militiae, master of both cavalry and infantry, for Illyricum and stirring up trouble for Honorius. Alaric invaded Italy in 401 while Stilicho was fighting German tribes across the Alps. Stilicho had to strip the northern defenses to drive off Alaric. Subsequently, a mass of Ostrogoths and other Germans swept into Italy in 405. On the last day of 406, large numbers of Vandals, Suevi, Alans, and other tribes crossed the frozen Rhine into Gaul. They precipitated the usurpation of power in the westernmost provinces by a provincial commander in Britain, a man named Constantine, no relation to the earlier emperor of that name.
When Stilicho broke off his long-delayed invasion of Illyricum to put down this new Constantine, Alaric invaded Noricum and demanded 4000 pounds of gold as a subsidy plus military employment for his men. Stilicho persuaded a reluctant Roman senate to acquiesce. This action gave jealous Roman officials at court ammunition to attack him with charges of treasonable collusion with Alaric. They also rumored that he planned to set up his son as a third emperor in the Illyrian prefecture. Palace plotters turned Honorius against Stilicho and brought about the arrest and execution of Stilicho and his son in August of 408.
Alaric attacks Rome
Internal power struggles merely made relations between Honorius and Alaric worse. Honorius now refused to honor the agreement with Alaric. The latter immediately invaded Italy and besieged Rome while Honorius cowered in the safety of Ravenna’s swamps. Lacking aid from Honorius, the Roman senate negotiated with Alaric. He agreed to lift the siege in return for a huge payment. This ransom was approved through communication with Honorius, who also agreed to hand over hostages as a token of good faith. Again, however, Honorius did not live up to his promises, and in late 409 Alaric marched on Rome once more. Negotiations resulted in the city’s being spared. With senatorial approval, the urban prefect, Priscus Attalus, was declared emperor and agreed to cooperate with Alaric. Alaric himself was given Stilicho’s old post as supreme magister utriusque militiae, while his brother-in-law, Athaulf (Adolph), became count of the domestics. Other important posts were filled by friends of Attalus, all of whom belonged to the circle of powerful pagan senators that had been headed by the late Quintus Aurelius Symmachus, who had clashed with St. Ambrose about the Altar of Victory (p. 655).
A terrified Honorius offered to negotiate for a joint rule, but Attalus refused. Just as Honorius was about to flee Ravenna for Constantinople, 4000 troops arrived from the East and gave him the resolve to stay. Differences arose between Attalus and Alaric about using non-Romans to fight Romans. Alaric decided to revoke his support of Attalus and come to terms with Honorius. Unfortunately, Sarus, a Visigothic rival of Alaric, intervened on behalf of Honorius and destroyed any chance of peace. Alaric then besieged Rome again and did not spare it this time (August 24, 410). For the first time in 800 years, foreign invaders sacked Rome. For two or three days, Alaric allowed his men to plunder, loot, and burn. Although contemporary sources exaggerated the physical damage to the city, much valuable loot and many captives, including Honorius’ half-sister, Galla Placidia, were carried off.
Alaric did not long enjoy what he had seized. After marching south and having a fleet wrecked before he could get to Sicily, he died at Consentia (Cosenza). His followers diverted the nearby Busentus River, buried him in its exposed bed, and then turned the river back into its natural course so that his final resting place could never be desecrated.
The Visigothic migration and settlement after Alaric
The Visigoths elected Alaric’s brother-in-law, Athaulf, as their new king. After spending almost a year in raiding Italy, they crossed the Alps into Gaul in 412 and supported a rebellion there. Later, they switched support to Honorius’ efforts to regain control of the province. Honorius, who had not learned his lesson before, refused to reward them afterward. Athaulf promptly seized Narbo, the capital of Narbonese Gaul, along with other important towns. He then married Honorius’ captive half-sister, Galla Placidia. She shrewdly cooperated in his attempt (ultimately futile) to gain recognition and cooperation from Honorius. Honorius sent out his supreme commander, Constantius, who had long wanted Placidia for himself, to dislodge the Visigoths. They fled to Spain, where Athaulf was assassinated (415).
After a few days of turmoil, Wallia was elected to succeed Athaulf. He failed in an attempt to lead his people to Africa. Faced with starvation because of a Roman blockade, he negotiated with Constantius. In return for food, Wallia agreed to return the widowed Placidia, become allied with Rome, and attack Vandals and Alans who had invaded other parts of Spain. His success against them frightened Constantius. He recalled the Visigoths to Gaul (where he could more easily oversee them) and settled them in southern Aquitania (Aquitaine).
The Visigoths settled as federate allies governed by their own kings and bound to serve Rome militarily. Lands of Roman owners were partially divided among the Visigoths, whereas the Romans retained the rest of their property and remained subject to Honorius without any Visigothic control. The Visigoths wanted an independent kingdom, however, and eventually Wallia’s successor, Theoderic I, forced the Romans to grant him sovereignty over Aquitania.
The Vandals, Alans, and Suevi
After the Vandals, Alans, and Suevi had crossed the frozen Rhine in 406, they raided and plundered their way south into Aquitania. They remained there until 409 when the usurper Constantine drove them across the Pyrenees to Spain. After a Roman blockade of supplies denied them food, they agreed to settle as Roman federates in return for land. Then, the Romans persuaded Wallia and the Visigoths to attack these unwelcome guests. Eventually, only the Asding branch of the Vandals, which absorbed the remnants of the other tribes, remained free under the leadership of King Gunderic. In 428, Gunderic was succeeded by his able and ambitious brother Gaiseric.
Galla Placidia, Valentinian III (423 to 455 c.e.), and Aetius
Constantius had finally succeeded in marrying Placidia (417) and producing an heir, Theodosius’ grandson Valentinian III. After the death of Constantius (421), Placidia and Honorius became estranged, and followers loyal to each rioted against one another. In 423, Placidia and her children took refuge at Constantinople with Theodosius II, who had succeeded his father, Arcadius. The childless Honorius died a few months later. No immediate successor was available in the West. Consequently, a high-ranking court official, John, was proclaimed emperor at Ravenna. Theodosius II supplied a large force to reconquer the West for the five-year-old Valentinian III. To tie the western branch of the Theodosian dynasty more firmly to the eastern, a betrothal was arranged between Valentinian III and the infant daughter of Theodosius II. She was named Eudoxia after her famous paternal grandmother, the Empress Eudoxia (p. 663).
Instead of fighting outsiders, the Romans now fought among themselves. Placidia, who served as regent for Valentinian III, was also supported by Boniface, count of Africa. A talented officer named Aetius supported John, the rival emperor at Ravenna. He raised an army of Huns, with whom he had spent his youth as a hostage. They arrived too late to save John from his enemies but secured favorable terms for Aetius as count and master of the cavalry to defend the Gallic provinces against the Franks and Visigoths (425). Aetius was able to force Placidia to appoint him master of cavalry and infantry in 429. In the meantime, Boniface had revolted in Africa and called in Gaiseric’s Vandals, who began to seize North Africa for themselves in 429. Nevertheless, Boniface became reconciled with Placidia, and she replaced Aetius with him. Aetius called in the Huns again and secured restoration to power with the rank of patricius (p. 613) in 434.
Attila and the Huns, 443 to 454 c.e.
The Germanic tribes had invaded the Roman Empire partly because of pressure from the Huns (p. 601). Pastoral nomads, the Huns may have originated on the steppes of what is now Kazakhstan. Depicted in the sources (mostly hostile) as short, dark, and wiry, they were excellent horsemen, fierce fighters, and inured to hardship by a nomadic life. They terrified the more settled Germans in their path. By the time of Theodosius the Great, they had halted in the old Roman province of Dacia and exacted tribute from the Germanic tribes living in southern Russia: the Ostrogoths, Heruli, and Alans. Sometimes, they raided Roman territory; sometimes, they served in Roman armies. Under Attila, who became king in 443, they continued to harass the Balkans and demand increasingly larger subsidies. About 450, Attila suddenly turned his attention to the West in an attempt to create a vast European empire of his own. Honoria, sister of Valentinian III, had called on Attila to help her gain a position of power in the West for herself. At the same time, the Vandal Gaiseric was encouraging the Huns to attack his Visigothic enemies in Gaul.
Attila was overextended when he attacked Gaul in 451 and was already in retreat when Aetius, King Theoderic of the Visigoths, and other Germans, such as the Burgundians and Franks, fought him to a draw on the Mauriac Plain. Aetius, however, allowed the Huns, who had been very useful to him in the past, to escape. Attila then attacked Italy to demand the hand of Honoria. The diplomacy of Pope Leo, the timely outbreak of a plague among the Huns, and the arrival of an army from the East induced Attila to withdraw in 453 without Honoria. In 454, before he could attack again, he died while consummating his marriage to the sister of a Burgundian king. Without Attila’s forceful leadership, his empire quickly broke up under the attacks of the eastern Germanic tribes that he had dominated.
The Burgundians
The Burgundians had followed the wake of the Vandals, Alans, and Suevi. In 407, they crossed into Gaul from the east bank of the Rhine. They had settled near Worms and cooperated with a Roman usurper. Subsequently, Honorius recognized them as federates. Later, Aetius enlisted their enemies the Huns to attack them for not supplying promised troops to the Roman army. In 443, however, he settled them in southeastern Gaul in what is now Savoy between Lake Geneva, the Rhône River, and the Graian Alps (map, p. 652). They, in turn, fought for him when he had to battle Attila in 451. After the deaths of Aetius and Valentinian III, the Burgundians extended their domain down the Rhône to where it is joined by the Druentia (Durance). Officially, their kings remained federate allies of Rome because they valued the prestige derived from imperial titles. In fact, however, they were autonomous rulers who served the emperor at their own discretion, not his.
The Franks
Just as the Burgundians had taken advantage of the disturbed conditions in Gaul during 407 to carve out territory there for themselves, so did the Franks. There were two groups of Franks: Ripuarians and Salians. The Ripuarians had been settled along the middle Rhine on the German side for some time. They now crossed over and established themselves on the left bank as well. They, too, used their arms to serve Rome and were among those who fought Attila in 451.
More numerous and important were the Salian Franks. They had been expanding southward from the shores of the North Sea near the mouth of the Rhine. They had already crossed the lower Rhine and seized control of Toxandria, between the Mosa (Meuse) and the Scaldis (Scheldt) rivers, before 350. The Emperor Julian had halted their expansion and made them federates of Rome. Later, they were able to take advantage of the problems in Gaul after 406 to expand farther south to the Samara (Somme). As federates again, they aided Aetius against Attila’s Huns in 451 and remained loyal until 486. At that point, Clovis (Chlodovechus), king of the Franks and founder of the Merovingian dynasty, overthrew the last vestiges of Roman power in Gaul and extended his rule to the Liger (Loire), which was the border of the Visigothic kingdom (map, p. 652).
Angles, Saxons, and Jutes
While these events took place on the Continent, Germanic tribes along the North Sea—the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes—began to raid Britain. In 408, the Saxons made a devastating raid that undermined British loyalty to the usurper Constantine, who was operating in Gaul by that time. Eventually, Roman political and military authority was reestablished, but the western emperors could never really spare the resources to provide adequate security. By 428, Angles, Saxons, and Jutes were making permanent settlements along the English coast. Around 442, the Roman garrison left Britain and never returned. Therefore, the Germanic invaders steadily gained ground in the whole area north to the Tweed and west to the Severn (map, p. 652).
The Vandals in Africa
By 431, only Cirta and Carthage held out against Gaiseric in Africa, despite the reconciliation of Count Boniface and Galla Placidia. A grant of federate status in Numidia bought only temporary peace in 435. Gaiseric seized Carthage in 439 and then began to raid Sicily and other islands. In 442, Valentinian III recognized the Vandals as an independent kingdom.
The end of Imperial power in the West, 454 to 500 c.e.
For twenty years, Aetius had been the power behind the throne. He preserved what was left of the western Empire by skillfully playing off the Huns and Germanic tribes against each other. He was also able to betroth a son, probably Gaudentius, to one of Valentinian III’s daughters, the younger Galla Placidia. Understandably, however, neither the elder Placidia nor Valentinian III appreciated being dominated by Aetius. After all, he had once supported the usurper John against them and thwarted their earlier attempts to get rid of him. It was easy, therefore, for Petronius Maximus, head of an old and powerful senatorial family at Rome, and the chamberlain Heraclius to enlist Valentinian III in a scheme to assassinate Aetius. The plot succeeded on September 21, 454. With his own hand, the foolish Valentinian III slew the one man really capable of defending his throne. Chaos ensued.
Valentinian sought the support of Olybrius, a senator from the powerful family of the Anicii (p. 615), by promising the younger Placidia to him in marriage. Maximus expected to become patrician in place of Aetius. Instead, he found himself blocked by Heraclius. Maximus then arranged with friends of the murdered Aetius to assassinate both Heraclius and Valentinian III (March 16, 455). Because Valentinian III had no male heirs, a struggle for the throne followed. Maximus’ money obtained the support of the soldiers against both Maximian, a friend of Aetius, and Majorian (Julius Valerianus Majorianus), a high-ranking officer eager for the purple. To strengthen his position, Maximus forced Valentinian III’s widow, Eudoxia (daughter of Theodosius II), to marry him and Valentinian’s elder daughter, Eudocia, to marry his son Palladius. Eudocia, however, previously had been pledged to Huneric, son of the Vandal king Gaiseric, a match that Gaiseric wanted badly. Therefore, perhaps even with the cooperation of Eudoxia, Gaiseric invaded Italy and sacked Rome (June 3, 455). He carried off Eudoxia and both of Valentinian III’s daughters (the younger Placidia and Eudocia) back to Africa. Soon thereafter, Huneric married Eudocia, who had been conveniently widowed when angry Romans slew Maximus and Palladius as they tried to flee the advancing Vandals.
The collapse of central authority, 455 to 476 c.e.
By the time Gaiseric sacked Rome in 455, the western emperor retained authority in only Italy, the islands of the western Mediterranean, and the parts of Spain and Gaul where powerful Roman aristocrats still held sway. By 476, even those places had generally fallen under German overlords. In that year, the eastern Emperor Zeno accepted reality and acknowledged the Vandals’ possession of Roman Africa, Lilybaeum in Sicily, Sardinia, Corsica, and the Balearic Isles. Meanwhile, East–West rivalries, internal factionalism, and ambitious Germanic generals and kings were also destroying imperial rule in Italy itself.
Majorian and the ascendancy of Ricimer, 457 to 472 c.e.
After the angry Roman populace had killed the usurper Petronius Maximus as he fled the Vandal advance in 455, there was a year and a half of chaos. The Visigothic king Theoderic II and Gallo-Roman aristocrats supported one of Aetius’ former subordinates, the praetorian prefect Avitus. The eastern emperor recognized Avitus, but Gaiseric and the Roman senators and soldiers opposed him. They favored Majorian.
Majorian also obtained the backing of Ricimer, grandson of the former Visigothic king Wallia. Ricimer recently had been appointed magister utriusque militiae under Avitus. As a Visigoth and an Arian Christian, however, Ricimer could never be accepted as an emperor himself. Therefore, he worked assiduously to be the power behind the throne for the next sixteen years. On April 1, 457, he succeeded in getting the eastern Emperor Leo I to make him a patrician and confirm Majorian as western emperor (457–461). Although Majorian succeeded in punishing his Visigothic and Gallo-Roman opponents, he suffered the same fate as many other emperors for failing to recapture Africa. The Roman populace would not long support an emperor who could not guarantee the vital flow of grain from Africa. Therefore, Ricimer stripped him of office and executed him (August 21, 461).
After three months, Ricimer persuaded the Roman senate to elect Libius Severus as emperor (461–465). The eastern emperor, Leo, would not concur, and Severus died amid suspicions of being poisoned by Ricimer. Leo eventually appointed a Greek named Anthemius as western emperor (467–472 [p. 666]). He also arranged a marriage between Ricimer and Anthemius’ daughter. Leo even obtained the release of Valentinian III’s widow (Eudoxia) and her daughter Placidia the Younger from Gaiseric. Then, he turned on Gaiseric with a vast three-pronged attack against Vandal North Africa in 468. Intrigues and jealousies among the constituent forces caused the expedition to fail. Gaiseric was left more firmly entrenched than ever.
As western emperor, Anthemius also enjoyed little success. He was unable to stop Euric, king of the Visigoths, from seizing more territory in Spain and Gaul. As a Greek, moreover, Anthemius was merely tolerated by the Romans in preference to the “barbarian” Ricimer. In 472, Ricimer overthrew Anthemius and raised up Olybrius. Gaiseric also supported Olybrius, who seems finally to have married the younger Galla Placidia while she was still at the Vandal court. Ricimer soon died. Olybrius reigned for only a few months in 472 before he died, too.
Gundobad, Orestes, and Romulus Augustulus
After the deaths of both Ricimer and Olybrius, the situation became even more chaotic. Leo and the magister utriusque militiae Gundobad, Ricimer’s Burgundian nephew, struggled to appoint their candidates to the western throne. Gundobad succeeded in elevating Glycerius (473–474), who commanded the corps of officer candidates known as the domestics. Gundobad, however, left to become king of the Burgundians. Leo then appointed his own relative Julius Nepos, master of the soldiers in Dalmatia, to the western throne. Nepos marched on Rome in 474 and supplanted Glycerius as emperor in the West.
To replace Gundobad, Nepos chose as the new Germanic commander in Italy a certain Orestes, who had been a secretary (notarius) to Attila the Hun. Orestes then replaced Nepos with Romulus, his own twelve-year-old son. Romulus not only had the name of Rome’s legendary founder, but he also received the nickname Augustulus (little Augustus), which mocked his title Augustus, the name of Rome’s first emperor. Romulus Augustulus, nominally the last western Roman emperor, was never recognized in the East. Nepos returned to Dalmatia and remained the official Roman emperor of the West until his murder in 480.
Odovacer (Odoacer), the Ostrogoths, and Theoderic the Amal (476 to 493 c.e.)
Trying not to alienate powerful Roman landowners, Orestes refused to grant German mercenaries land in Italy. They overthrew him and Romulus Augustulus in 476. Then, they proclaimed one of their officers, Odovacer, as their king. He, however, obtained the support of the eastern Emperor Zeno and the Roman nobility by accepting Zeno’s appointment as patricius (patrician). Zeno, nevertheless, did not trust Odovacer and wanted to get rid of him.
In the meantime, the Ostrogoths had been plundering Illyricum, Dacia, and Thrace right up to the gates of Constantinople (p. 666). By 483, they had been united under a dynamic king named Theoderic. He is called Theoderic the Amal because he first rose as leader of the Amal clan. In 488, Zeno hit upon the idea of enlisting Theoderic the Amal to overthrow Odovacer and govern Italy as his representative. Persuaded by a subsidy of gold, Theoderic invaded Italy in 489. After four years, Odovacer surrendered in February of 493. A few weeks later, Theoderic slew Odovacer with his own hand on the pretext that Odovacer had been plotting against him. Officially, Theoderic ruled Italy as patricius appointed by Zeno. His position as a subordinate representative of the eastern emperor was confirmed and refined by Zeno’s successor, Anastasius, in 497. For all practical purposes, however, Italy had now become the newest Germanic successor state of the western Empire (map, p. 652).
By 500, therefore, the localization of imperial power in the West under Germanic kings was complete. Anglo-Saxon chiefs held sway in most of Britain, with the Romano-Celtic Britons confined to the far-western enclaves of Cornwall, Wales, and Cumberland. The Franks, under Clovis, held the old German provinces along the Rhine and Gaul south to the Loire. Soon, they would take much of Aquitania from the Visigoths, who would continue to rule a good portion of Spain for 200 years. The Burgundians would rule along the Rhône until they were conquered by successors of Clovis in 534. The Vandals, under the family of Gaiseric, would rule North Africa and the islands west of Sicily. The Ostrogoths, under Theoderic the Amal and his family, would rule Italy until the Emperor Justinian’s ultimately unsuccessful reconquest of the West (pp. 679–91).
The Theodosian dynasty in the East, 395 to 450 c.e.
Arcadius (395–408), Theodosius the Great’s seventeen- or eighteen-year-old heir in the East, had been dominated by the praetorian prefect Rufinus until Gainas the Ostrogoth assassinated Rufinus in November of 395 (p. 655). Gainas then aimed for the same power in the East as Stilicho enjoyed in the West. Many aristocrats and average citizens at Constantinople bitterly resented the power of the Germans in the army. On July 12 of 400, a major riot broke out in the city, and large numbers of German soldiers were massacred. Gainas himself fled for his life. His overthrow did not spell the end of powerful Germanic generals in the East. After that, however, they never became so numerous or entrenched as they became in the West.
Arcadius’ wife, Eudoxia (grandmother of Valentinian III’s wife of the same name), and the aristocratic praetorian prefect Aurelian led the anti-German faction at the eastern court. Eudoxia was determined that nothing would threaten the Theodosian dynasty. She made sure that the throne would pass to Theodosius II, her son by Arcadius. Her elevation to the rank of Augusta in 400 had been part of the attempt to rally public support for the dynasty against Gainas. Her forceful and highly public political activity brought her into conflict with the eloquent, popular, and austere bishop of Constantinople, St. John Chrysostom (Golden-Mouthed). Influenced by Christian asceticism, he had a very narrow view of women’s proper place and behavior.
Chrysostom’s harsh public criticisms of Eudoxia threatened to undermine the popularity of the dynasty. She cooperated with his rivals and jealous detractors within the Church to depose and silence him (p. 639). Shortly thereafter, she suffered a fatal miscarriage. She had, however, already stamped her powerful influence on her eldest daughter, the nine-year-old Pulcheria, who grew to be a worthy successor.
Pulcheria, Eudocia, and Theodosius II (408 to 450 c.e.)
When Arcadius died, Pulcheria’s brother, Theodosius II, was only seven and her two sisters even younger. The youth of all four tempted ambitious individuals to build up positions of power and influence in order to supplant the Theodosian dynasty. The very able and well-connected praetorian prefect Anthemius might have raised his own family to the purple in the East if it had not been for the strong and precocious Pulcheria. Indeed, Anthemius’ grandson and namesake eventually became the ill-fated Emperor Anthemius (467–472) in the West after both branches of the Theodosian dynasty perished.
By publicly swearing a vow of perpetual virginity at fourteen and by persuading her younger sisters to do likewise, Pulcheria prevented the elder Anthemius and his allies from establishing claims to the throne through marriage and inheritance. In 414, after age or intrigue had removed Anthemius, Pulcheria became an Augusta and regent for Theodosius II. She took control of Theodosius’ education to keep him from morally and politically corrupt influences and under her control. In the highly religious atmosphere of Constantinople, the dynasty’s reputation for piety was a powerful factor in its favor. Pulcheria’s formal regency may have ended officially when Theodosius came of age, probably on his fifteenth birthday. Nevertheless, she remained of paramount influence at court for several more years.
Powerful men in the senate of Constantinople opposed her. Many of them still championed traditional Hellenism, which radical Christians opposed. The Hellenists eventually undercut Pulcheria’s influence by finding Theodosius a wife in 421. Later romantic legend has Pulcheria initiate the marriage. Contemporary sources paint a different picture. Influential aristocrats and intellectuals connected with Anthemius and his friends contrived to find a wife for Theodosius II. The bride they chose was Athenais, daughter of the pagan philosopher Leontius, for whom they had obtained the chair of rhetoric at Athens. Although Athenais had to convert to Christianity and take the name Eudocia, her becoming empress was a great comfort to the Hellenists. Her brothers, her uncle, and their friends rapidly advanced to the highest offices.
Eudocia and her supporters helped to inspire two of Theodosius’ greatest accomplishments. In 425, he created a real university at Constantinople to compete with those of Alexandria and Athens. There were lecture rooms in the Capitol, and ten endowed chairs each in Greek and Latin grammar along with five in Greek rhetoric, three in Latin rhetoric, two in law, and one in philosophy. Four years later, Theodosius inaugurated his most famous work, the Theodosian Code. All the laws issued by emperors from Constantine to himself were collected and compiled into a single reference work. After nine years and the labor of sixteen jurists, it was jointly issued by Theodosius II and Valentinian III on February 15, 438.
Naturally, Pulcheria resented her loss of influence and sought to eclipse her rival. Pulcheria emphasized her virgin piety to gain the support of the populace and powerful bishops like Cyril of Alexandria. They all feared a resurgence of paganism. Eudocia, who bore two daughters, Eudoxia (wife of Valentinian III) and Flavilla (d. 430), was hampered by her failure to bear a son. The Council of Ephesus in 431, which declared the Virgin Mary to be Theotokos (Mother of God), represents a triumph for the maneuverings of the virgin Pulcheria and her allies. They wanted to promote Mary’s greater glory for their own various purposes (p. 665).
Theodosius’ chamberlain, the eunuch Chrysaphius, temporarily outmaneuvered both women. Pulcheria withdrew to the suburbs of Constantinople in 441. Eudocia’s downfall on suspicion of adultery followed in 443. Eudocia, who had become a friend of the famous Christian ascetic Melania the Younger (p. 620), spent the rest of her life doing pious works in Jerusalem. Pulcheria, however, would eventually reassert herself.
Persians and Huns, 408 to 450 c.e.
After the Persian treaty of 387 with Theodosius I, relations with the Persian Empire had become stable, even friendly. The Persian King Yazdgard (Yazdigird, Yezdegerd) I (399–420) was tolerant of Christians. About 409, the praetorian prefect Anthemius even obtained the king’s help in settling disputes among Persia’s Christian bishops. Subsequently, Yazdgard gave legal recognition to the bishop of Ctesiphon as head of the Church in Persia. There is even a credible story that the dying Arcadius asked Yazdgard to protect the young Theodosius II from Roman usurpers. Unfortunately, relations with Yazdgard soured in the last year of his reign when a fanatical Christian bishop demolished a fire altar belonging to Persia’s official Zoroastrian religion. Yazdgard’s son and successor Bahram V (Vahram, 420–439) instituted a persecution that produced a stream of Christian refugees begging for help. Persuaded by the pious Pulcheria, Theodosius II imprudently attacked Persia in 421.
The war did not go well. In 422, Huns took advantage of the situation to invade Thrace. Pulcheria’s policies were disgraced. Her aristocratic opponents, who had regained ascendancy through the marriage of Theodosius to Eudocia, negotiated a peace that many sources claim as a great victory for Theodosius. At the same time, a subsidy of 350 pounds of gold a year induced the Huns to keep the peace.
The Huns, particularly under Attila, knew a good thing when they saw it. Whenever the East’s forces were distracted on another front, they attacked Thrace. Constantinople itself was impregnable, thanks to the earlier actions of Anthemius. He had ordered the construction of a massive western wall from the Propontis (Sea of Marmara/Marmora) to the Golden Horn, strengthened the navy, and provided for a secure food supply. Nevertheless, the treasury was saddled with increasingly ruinous subsidies to get rid of the Huns. During a Persian attack in 441 and 442, for example, Attila extorted an immediate payment of 6000 pounds of gold and an annual tribute of 2100. The wealthy aristocrats’ resentment of taxes needed to pay these sums contributed to the downfall of the eunuch Chrysaphius after he bungled an assassination attempt against Attila.
Christian controversies and Imperial politics
In the late Roman Empire, Christian theological disputes always had great political significance. Nestorius, bishop of Constantinople (428–431), claimed that Christ had two separate natures, human and divine, in one person but not commingled. Therefore, he opposed calling Mary Theotokos (Mother of God). He thus threatened to lower the status of the Virgin Mary, with whom the virgin Pulcheria had associated herself in the minds of common people. After Pulcheria and her allies, particularly the contentious and unscrupulous Cyril of Alexandria, defeated Nestorius at the First Council of Ephesus (431), the latter was exiled (p. 709). Many of Nestorius’ persecuted followers were welcomed in Persia, where they spread the Nestorian sect of Christianity. Another theological dispute helped to undermine Pulcheria’s enemy Chrysaphius in 450. He supported the influential monk Eutyches, who held the Monophysite view that the human and divine had been combined into a single (monos) nature (physis) in Christ. Eutyches’ trial for heresy in 448 and the disgraceful politicking that led to his restoration at the Second Council of Ephesus in 449 ultimately hurt his patron Chrysaphius and helped Pulcheria.
German and Isaurian generals
The final nail in Chrysaphius’ coffin was the problem of ambitious Germanic generals. After the downfall of Gainas, Anthemius had kept Germanic officers out of high military commands. When Pulcheria eclipsed him, she revived the dynasty’s traditional practice of utilizing powerful Germanic generals. That led to the rise of Aspar, part Goth, part Alan, which displeased senatorial leaders at Constantinople. After thrusting aside Pulcheria, Chrysaphius tried to check Aspar by recruiting warlike mountain tribesmen from the province of Isauria on the south coast of Asia Minor. Their chief Tarasicodissa, who took the Greek name Zeno, soon realized that he was more powerful than Chrysaphius. When Chrysaphius refused to do his bidding, Zeno helped to procure his downfall in 450, and Pulcheria resumed her dominance in the court of Theodosius II. A little later in the same year, the emperor fell from his horse during a hunting party and died.
Pulcheria and Marcian (450 to 457 c.e.)
Backed by Aspar, Pulcheria firmly controlled political and religious affairs. Still, he, a “barbarian,” and she, a woman, could never be accepted as holders of the throne themselves. They chose, therefore, to elevate one of Aspar’s close subordinates, the tribune Marcian. As a Roman from Illyricum or Thrace, he was acceptable to the leading senators. A pro forma marriage with Pulcheria gave Marcian a dynastic claim and protected her politically crucial virginity. To forestall scandal among the pious, they issued a commemorative gold solidus depicting Jesus standing between the couple and sponsoring the marriage of his virgin “bride” to the new emperor.
Reversing the policies of Chrysaphius, Marcian and Pulcheria refused to continue payments to Attila. He was too involved in the West to retaliate before he died. His death and the breakup of his empire allowed them to resettle Germanic federates, particularly Ostrogoths, in abandoned territories along the Danube. Without having to pay the Huns anymore, they also tried to accommodate the senatorial class by reducing taxes, alleviating the expenses of holding offices, and trying to halt the sale of offices, too. The marriage of Marcian’s daughter by his first wife to Anthemius, grandson of the late praetorian prefect Anthemius (p. 663), also pleased the senate. When Pulcheria died in 453, she had overcome all obstacles to her control of dynastic power. Paradoxically, however, her reliance on her own virgin status for authority and her success in coming between Theodosius II and her rival Eudocia before they could produce a son meant that the dynasty could no longer continue in the East and would pass away altogether with the death of Valentinian III two years later in the West (p. 660).
Leo I (457 to 474 c.e.)
When Marcian died, most senators probably would have preferred to elect his son-in-law, the younger Anthemius, as his successor. Instead, Aspar forced them to elect one of his officers as Leo I. Leo, however, did not want to be Aspar’s puppet. He surrounded himself with Isaurian bodyguards and married his daughter Ariadne to Zeno. They worked to weaken Aspar.
In foreign policy, Leo asserted his independence by installing the younger Anthemius as emperor in the West and by mounting a massive joint expedition to North Africa against Gaiseric the Vandal in 467 (p. 661). The failure of that expedition weakened Zeno, so that Aspar and his two sons intrigued against him more boldly. In 471, Leo and Zeno lured them into the palace, where the emperor’s eunuchs ambushed them. Aspar and one son were killed. The other son was captured and allowed to live.
The Ostrogothic general Theoderic Strabo used Aspar’s murder as an excuse to demand appointment in his place and lands in Thrace for his Ostrogoths. They now elected him their king. Leo rebuffed Strabo, who then ravaged Thrace as far as Constantinople itself. In 473, they reached a compromise. Strabo received Aspar’s old post, and the Ostrogoths received a subsidy of 2000 pounds of gold a year.
Leo II (473 to 474 c.e.) and Zeno (474 to 491 c.e.)
In 473, Leo I named Leo II, Zeno’s son by Ariadne, his colleague and destined successor. Leo I died some months later in early 474. In turn, Leo II took his father, Zeno, as co-emperor. He died before the end of the year and thus left Zeno in sole possession of the throne. Zeno was resented because he was an Isaurian outsider. He soon had to face a serious revolt led by Theoderic Strabo and the widow of Leo I, Verina, another strong eastern empress. In 476, Zeno temporarily succeeded in defeating his domestic enemies. He still had to deal with Theoderic Strabo, whom he tried to fight with the rival Ostrogothic leader Theoderic the Amal. Zeno adopted Theoderic the Amal, made him master of the soldiers, and sent him to fight Strabo in Thrace. The Amal, however, turned the tables on Zeno and tried to play Strabo against him. More domestic plots involving Verina followed and were not completely suppressed until 488. Meanwhile, Theoderic Strabo had died. In 488, Zeno was also able to come to a satisfactory agreement with Theoderic the Amal, now king of all the Ostrogoths, whom he authorized to overthrow Odovacer in Italy (p. 662). Zeno had finally rid himself of serious foes and was free from plots for the remaining three years of his life.
Religious controversies continued
Theological disputes bedeviled the East from Theodosius II to the Arab conquest of Syria and Egypt two centuries later. They originated in questions raised about the nature of Christ in the Arian heresy (p. 587). They were exacerbated by the jealousies of rival bishops (patriarchs) vying for preeminence with each other at Rome, Constantinople, Alexandria, Jerusalem, and Antioch.
Cyril, bishop of Alexandria (d. 444), had been a powerful and violent ally of Pulcheria against Nestorius, bishop of Constantinople. Nestorius was an ally of Cyril’s archrival, John, bishop of Antioch (d. 441/442), who believed that Christ had distinct, but united, human and divine natures. Cyril supported the Monophysites, who argued that Christ’s two natures had been fully combined into a single nature. After the First Council of Ephesus in 431, Pulcheria had used her renewed influence to force John and Cyril to accept a compromise in 433 to preserve the unity of the Church. The resultant Formula of Union stated that there had been a “union of two natures” resulting in “one Christ, one son, one Lord.” Many Alexandrians had refused to accept the compromise. In 444, they elected the extreme Monophysite Dioscorus their bishop. He immediately persecuted Cyril’s old followers and instituted another attack on the views taught at Antioch. Dioscorus’ powerful ally at Constantinople was Chrysaphius’ friend Eutyches, who was convicted of heresy at Constantinople in 448. His restoration through Dioscorus’ blatant manipulation at the Second Council of Ephesus in 449 gave Alexandria primacy over religious affairs in the East and provoked further disorder and disharmony in the Church.
Emperor Marcian and Pulcheria could not ignore the political dangers of this situation. In cooperation with Pope Leo I, they brought about the Fourth Ecumenical Council, held at Chalcedon in 451, to try to settle the issue of Christ’s nature. Chalcedon condemned Eutyches for heresy once more, deposed Dioscorus, and adopted a theological position based on the Formula of Union from 433 and the views of Pope Leo I as set forth in The Tome of Leo—namely, that Christ is completely human and completely divine:
[He is] one and the same Christ, son, lord, only begotten, recognized as of (in) two natures without mixture, change, division or separation, the distinction of nature having in no way been taken away by union, but rather with the individual character of each nature being preserved and concurring into one person and one substance, not partitioned or divided into two persons but one and the same son and only begotten: God, word, lord Jesus Christ.
This Chalcedonian formula still prevails in the Greek and other eastern Orthodox churches as well as the Roman Catholic Church and many other Christian denominations in the West, but it was widely unpopular in Syria, Palestine, and Egypt, where the Monophysites had extensive appeal.
Disorder between Monophysites and Chalcedonians over control of major bishoprics multiplied after Marcian’s death in 457. Finally, in 482, Zeno and Acacius, bishop of Constantinople, tried to end the disruptive religious controversy by issuing a decree of union, the Henotikon. It asserted the orthodoxy of the view set forth at Nicaea in 325 and Constantinople in 381 (p. 605), condemned the views of Nestorius and Eutyches, and anathematized anyone who had deviated at Chalcedon or would at any future council. The Henotikon did not pacify the extreme Monophysites and Chalcedonians. Also, Pope Felix III (Felix II)1 refused to ratify a document that ignored The Tome of Leo. Zeno and Acacius, whom he had excommunicated, ignored him.
The Henotikon was flexible enough that Monophysite patriarchs (bishops) could assent to it and thereby keep their positions. As a result, Alexandria, Jerusalem, and Antioch all had Monophysite patriarchs under Zeno. The problem did not really disappear, however. It continued to cause difficulties in later reigns and had serious consequences for eastern unity in the face of Islam. Muslim views on the oneness of God were more compatible with the Monophysite position than with that of the orthodox Chalcedonians, who dominated Constantinople. Significantly, the Monophysite sects of Coptic and Jacobite Christians still survive in Egypt and Syria today.
Anastasius (491 to 518 c.e.)
Reflecting the importance of women in imperial politics, Ariadne, daughter of Leo I, held the key to the future after the death of her husband Zeno in 491. The senate at Constantinople asked her to choose his successor. She did so by marrying the moderate Monophysite Anastasius, a pious and respected usher (silentiarius) of the Sacred Consistory (Imperial Council).
Internal and external conflicts plagued Anastasius’ reign. Isaurians, disappointed that Zeno’s brother had been passed over in favor of Anastasius, eventually revolted and took seven years to be suppressed. Between 502 and 506, Anastasius fought King Kawad (Kavadh, Kavades, Cawades, Qawad) I (483–531) of Persia to a draw. He then effected a lasting peace that enabled him to check the devastating raids of the Bulgars. They had united the remnants of Attila’s Huns and were attacking Illyricum and Thrace after the Ostrogoths departed. Anastasius’ first response was to build the Long Wall (probably in 497), a defensive bulwark about forty miles west of Constantinople from the Propontis (Sea of Marmara/Marmora) to the Black Sea.
Since Anastasius was a Monophysite in religion, Euphemius, the Chalcedonian bishop of Constantinople, had refused to permit his coronation until he signed a pledge to support orthodoxy. For twenty years, Anastasius kept his pledge by upholding Zeno’s Henotikon. Religious extremists, however, brought his efforts to naught. By 511, the Chalcedonians had taken over the bishoprics of Antioch and Jerusalem, and Anastasius began to intervene on behalf of the Monophysites so that they would not become alienated and hostile. That, however, led to a dangerous rebellion by Vitalian, the pro-Chalcedonian count of the federates in Thrace, between 511 and 515.
Reforms
The most successful part of Anastasius’ reign entailed his fiscal reforms. In 498, he abolished the gold and silver tax (chrysargyron) on urban craftsmen and shopkeepers. Whatever revenue was lost from this measure was made up by setting aside an equivalent amount of income from the private imperial estates. In 513, he even began to phase out the capitatio, which was a severe burden on the peasantry (p. 575).
This latter move was probably made possible by the increased revenues resulting from his scrupulous and systematic fiscal management, which eliminated fraud and waste. He limited bureaucratic “fees” and made certain that soldiers received their proper pay. He demanded a careful accounting of military rations to prevent their theft. He also made the procurement of supplies more efficient. After switching much of the land tax from payment in kind to payment in gold, the government acquired only the supplies that it actually needed.
Anastasius further tightened the system of tax collecting by appointing vindices (protectors [sing. vindex]) to oversee provincial officials and municipal councilors, curiales. The vindices saw to it that taxes were collected honestly and that the wealthy did not receive preferential treatment. Finally, Anastasius introduced a series of copper coins useful for small daily transactions. Previously, there had been nothing between the gold solidus and the almost worthless copper nummus (nummia in Greek). The new coins were based on a well-made bronze follis (literally, a “bag,” pl. folles) valued at forty nummi, with fractional denominations thereof valued at twenty, ten, and five nummi. Their quality and convenience were greatly appreciated by the people. They were also profitable to the treasury because they cost less to produce than the value of the gold solidi that the treasury received in exchange.
All of these reforms increased the imperial revenues while they actually reduced the burden of taxation. By being prudent and scrupulous in normal operations, Anastasius could, without straining the imperial finances, be generous to cities and provinces that suffered damage from wars or natural disasters. When he died in 518, he left a surplus of 320,000 pounds of gold in the treasury, a precious legacy to his immediate successors.
Overview and prospect
The death of Theodosius the Great in 395 ushered in a confusing and chaotic century for the Roman Empire. By the end, the western half had disintegrated into a number of unstable Germanic kingdoms. The East, however, despite dynastic upheavals and divisive religious controversy, had survived intact: Germanic kingmakers had been purged, the Ostrogoths had been lured off to Italy, a stable peace had been worked out with Persia, and the state’s finances had become unusually sound. For the moment, the future of the Empire in the East appeared to offer the hope of stability if the problem of finding a successor to Anastasius could be handled quickly.
Note
1 The confusion over the numbering of this Pope arises from whether or not one counts the antipope Felix II (ruled 355–356 c.e.).
Suggested reading
Heather , P. The Goths. Oxford and Cambridge, MA: Blackwell, 1996.
Kelly , C. (ed.). Theodosius II: Rethinking the Roman Empire in Late Antiquity. Cambridge Classical Studies. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 2013.