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Gainas
Gainas (Greek: Γαϊνάς) was a Gothic leader who served the Eastern Roman Empire as ''magister militum'' during the reigns of Theodosius I and Arcadius. He played an important role in the events in the eastern part of the empire by the end of the 4th century. Career Gainas began his military career as a common foot-soldier, but later commanded the barbarian contingent of Theodosius' army against the usurper Eugenius in 394. Under the command of Gainas, a man of "no lineage", was the young Alaric of the Balti dynasty. In 395, during the Revolt of Alaric I, Stilicho sent him with his troops, under the cover of strengthening the armies of the East, to depose the prefect Rufinus, who was hostile to Stilicho. Gainas murdered Rufinus, but the eunuch Eutropius, who was likewise Stilicho's enemy, gained power. Gainas remained mostly unrewarded by the influential eunuch, which increased his resentment. In 399 he finally rose in stature by replacing ''magister militum'' Leo. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gothic Revolt Of Tribigild
The Gothic Revolt of Tribigild was a revolt in 399–400 of the Goths in Anatolia (Eastern Roman Empire) that caused a major political crisis during the reign of Emperor Arcadius (395-408). The uprising was led by Tribigild, leader of a unit of Goths within the Roman army. Initially, the uprising only took place in Anatolia, but after the commander-in-chief of the Eastern Roman army Gainas intervened and sided with the Goths, it became a threat to the unity within the Eastern empire. Prelude The Anatolian Goths originally lived north of the Danube. In 386 they fled the rule of the Huns and ended up in the Roman Empire under the leadership of Odotheus. After conflicts with the Roman army in which Odotheus was killed, the Goths were subjugated and transferred to the region of Phrygia in Anatolia. Some served in the army, others were put to work on the fields as laborers. The Romans made extensive use of the Goths for military services. As foederati, they had the same status as their ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arcadius
Arcadius ( ; 377 – 1 May 408) was Roman emperor from 383 to his death in 408. He was the eldest son of the ''Augustus'' Theodosius I () and his first wife Aelia Flaccilla, and the brother of Honorius (). Arcadius ruled the eastern half of the empire from 395, when their father died, while Honorius ruled the west. In his time, he was seen as a weak ruler dominated by a series of powerful ministers and by his wife, Aelia Eudoxia.Nicholson, p. 119 Early life Arcadius was born in 377 in Hispania, the eldest son of Theodosius I and Aelia Flaccilla, and brother of Honorius. On 19 January 383, his father declared the five-year-old Arcadius an Augustus and co-ruler for the eastern half of the Empire. Ten years later a corresponding declaration made Honorius the Augustus of the western half. Arcadius passed his early years under the tutelage of the rhetorician Themistius and Arsenius Zonaras, a monk. Reign Early reign Both of Theodosius's sons were young and inexperien ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tribigild
Tribigild, also called Tarbigilus (; ; 399) was an Ostrogothic general whose rebellion against the Eastern Roman Empire precipitated a major political crisis during the reign of Emperor Arcadius. Tribigild appears in the historical record as the leader of a colony of Greuthungi mercenary cavalrymen in Nakoleia, Phrygia and as a military confederate of the Roman state, holding the rank of ''comes''. This group of Goths and Greuthungi that had settled in Phrygia were mostly remnants of the group of Goths which had been under the command of Odotheus before he was defeated in battle. Tribigild was given command of this group, and the rank of ''comes'', due to a victory against the Huns in 386. In 399, due to an insult to his honor caused by an insufficiently extravagant reception at the imperial court in Constantinople, he revolted against Arcadius. Tribigild marched his armies to sack the interior of Asia Minor, including regions and settlements such as Pamphylia and Pisidia.Heather, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alaric I
Alaric I (; , 'ruler of all'; ; – 411 AD) was the first Germanic kingship, king of the Visigoths, from 395 to 410. He rose to leadership of the Goths who came to occupy Moesia—territory acquired a couple of decades earlier by a combined force of Goths and Alans after the Battle of Adrianople. Alaric began his career under the Gothic soldier Gainas and later joined the Roman army. Once an ally of Rome under the Roman emperor Theodosius I, Theodosius, Alaric helped defeat the Franks and other allies of a would-be Roman usurper. Despite losing many thousands of his men, he received little recognition from Rome and left the Roman army disappointed. After the death of Theodosius and the disintegration of the Roman armies in 395, he is described as reiks, king of the Visigoths. As the leader of the only effective field force remaining in the Balkans, he sought Roman legitimacy, never quite achieving a position acceptable to himself or to the Roman authorities. He operated ma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Revolt Of Alaric I
The revolt of Alaric I was a military conflict between the Roman Empire and a rebel army, probably composed mainly of Goths. This war consisted a number of armed conflicts in the period between 395 and 398, interspersed with periods of negotiations and sometimes even cooperation. During this war, the western and eastern parts of the Roman Empire did not always joint together because of conflicting interests. The protagonists in this conflict were the West-Roman commander-in-chief Stilicho, the Eastern-Roman prefect Rufinus, his successor Eutropius and Alaric I. The latter was an elected Gothic military leader and monarch, and later considered one of first Visigothic kings. Sources The main contemporary sources in which this war is reported are the historian Orosius and the poet Claudianus. Other early sources are Zosimus, a historian who probably lived about half a century after Alaric's death, and Jordanes, a Romanized Goth who wrote a history of his people around 550. Thes ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fravitta
Flavius Fravitta ( Greek: ; died 404/405) was a leader of the Goths and a top-ranking officer in the army of the Eastern Roman Empire. Fravitta was a member of the Thervingi aristocracy. He was also a pagan, and for this reason he was praised by Eunapius, a Greek historian of the 4th–5th centuries. In 382, the Visigoths had signed a treaty with Roman Emperor Theodosius I, according to which the Visigoths were allowed to live in the Roman territory at the mouth of the Danube, with the rank of ''foederati'', thus providing the Roman army with troops. However, within the Goths there were two parties, which grew more and more hostile to each other. One was formed by the Arian Christian majority, the "Gothic party", led by Eriulf and opposed to the assimilation of the Goths in the Roman culture. Fravitta, on the other side, led those Goths who wanted to stay faithful to the treaty and who wanted to be assimilated. In 391, while Eriulf and Fravitta were both dining with Theodosius, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Uldin
Uldin, also spelled Huldin (died before 412), is the first Hunnic ruler whose historicity is undisputed. Etymology The name is recorded as ''Ουλδης'' (Ouldes) by Sozomen, ''Uldin'' by Orosius, and ''Huldin'' by Marcellinus Comes. On the basis of the Latin variants, Omeljan Pritsak and Otto J. Maenchen-Helfen argue that the name ended on ''-n'', not the Greek suffix ''-s''. Hyun Jin Kim, however, argues that ''-in'' is a Greek suffix added to the name. Maenchen-Helfen considers the name to be of Turkic origin. He compares it with the names ''Ult''inzur and ''Uld''ach and argues that it is the element ''*uld'' or ''*ult'' plus a dimuninative suffix ''*-ïn''. He does not give an etymology of the element ''*uld/*ult''. Pritsak derives the root of the etymon from the verb ''öl-'', which survived in Mongolian ''olje, ol-jei'' (auspice, happiness, good luck). He argues that the middle suffix ''jei'' was originally ''*di'' + ''ge'', thus ''*öl-jige'' > ''öl-dige''. In ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Goths
The Goths were a Germanic people who played a major role in the fall of the Western Roman Empire and the emergence of medieval Europe. They were first reported by Graeco-Roman authors in the 3rd century AD, living north of the Danube in what is now Ukraine, Moldova, and Romania. From here they conducted raids into Roman territory, and large numbers of them joined the Roman military. These early Goths lived in the regions where archaeologists find the Chernyakhov culture, which flourished throughout this region during the 3rd and 4th centuries. In the late 4th century, the lands of the Goths in present-day Ukraine were overwhelmed by a significant westward movement of Alans and Huns from the east. Large numbers of Goths subsequently concentrated upon the Roman border at the Lower Danube, seeking refuge inside the Roman Empire. After they entered the Empire, violence broke out, and Goth-led forces inflicted a devastating defeat upon the Romans at the Battle of Adrianople in 378. Ro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Magister Militum
(Latin for "master of soldiers"; : ) was a top-level military command used in the late Roman Empire, dating from the reign of Constantine the Great. The term referred to the senior military officer (equivalent to a war theatre commander, the emperor remaining the supreme commander) of the empire. The office continued to exist end evolve during the early Byzantine Empire. In Greek language, Greek sources, the term is translated either as ''strategos#Byzantine use, strategos'' or as ''stratelates'' (although these terms were also used non-technically to refer to commanders of different ranks). Establishment and development of the command The office of ''magister militum'' was created in the early 4th century, most likely when the Western Roman emperor Constantine the Great defeated all other contemporary Roman emperors, which gave him control over their respective armies. Because the Praetorian Guards and their leaders, the praetorian prefect, Praetorian Prefects, had suppor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eutropius (consul 399)
Eutropius (; died 399) was a fourth-century Eastern Roman official who rose to prominence during the reign of emperor Arcadius. He was the first eunuch to become a consul in the Roman Empire. Career Eutropius was born in one of the Roman provinces of the Middle East, either Assyria or on the border of Armenia. According to Honorius' court poet Claudian, who composed a satirical invective against Eutropius due to the latter's hostility to Claudian's patron, Stilicho, Eutropius served successively as a catamite, pimp, and body-servant to various Roman soldiers and nobles, before winding up among the domestic eunuchs of the imperial palace. He rose to the rank of palace chamberlain, or the '' praepositus sacri cubiculi.'' After Theodosius' death in 395 he stood at the head of a faction opposed to the powerful Praetorian Prefect of the east, Rufinus. He successfully arranged the marriage of the new emperor, Arcadius, to Aelia Eudoxia, the daughter of general Bauto havi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rufinus (consul)
Flavius Rufinus (; – 27 November 395) was a 4th-century Eastern Roman statesman of Aquitanian extraction who served as Praetorian prefect of the East for the emperor Theodosius I, as well as for his son Arcadius, under whom Rufinus exercised significant influence in the state affairs. He was the subject of the verse invective ''In Rufinum'' by the western court poet Claudian. Life Rufinus is described as tall, always in movement, acute, ambitious, greedy, and without principles, although a rigorous Christian. His difficulty with the Greek language is recorded by the sources, as well as his Aquitanian origin. In 388 he was appointed ''magister officiorum''. In 392 he served as Roman consul and in that same year he was appointed as Praetorian prefect of the East. Upon his appointment, he retained the responsibilities of the ''magister officiorum''. In order to become prefect, Rufinus is said to have persuaded the emperor that Eutolmius Tatianus, the current occupant of the pos ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Huns
The Huns were a nomadic people who lived in Central Asia, the Caucasus, and Eastern Europe between the 4th and 6th centuries AD. According to European tradition, they were first reported living east of the Volga River, in an area that was part of Scythia at the time. By 370 AD, the Huns had arrived on the Volga, causing the westwards movement of Goths and Alans. By 430, they had established a vast, but short-lived, empire on the Danubian frontier of the Roman empire in Europe. Either under Hunnic hegemony, or fleeing from it, several central and eastern European peoples established kingdoms in the region, including not only Goths and Alans, but also Vandals, Gepids, Heruli, Suebians and Rugians. The Huns, especially under their King Attila, made frequent and devastating raids into the Eastern Roman Empire. In 451, they invaded the Western Roman province of Gaul, where they fought a combined army of Romans and Visigoths at the Battle of the Catalaunian Fields, and in 452, they ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
