Flavius Caesarius (

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

: Καισάριος; f''loruit'' 386–403) was a politician of the

Eastern Roman Empire The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...

, who served under the

emperors The word ''emperor'' (from , via ) can mean the male ruler of an empire. ''Empress'', the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife ( empress consort), mother/grandmother (empress dowager/ grand empress dowager), or a woman who rule ...

Theodosius I Theodosius I ( ; 11 January 347 – 17 January 395), also known as Theodosius the Great, was Roman emperor from 379 to 395. He won two civil wars and was instrumental in establishing the Nicene Creed as the orthodox doctrine for Nicene C ...

and

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 ...

. Caesarius was ''

magister officiorum The (Latin; ; ) was one of the most senior administrative officials in the Later Roman Empire and the early centuries of the Byzantine Empire. In Byzantium, the office was eventually transformed into a senior honorary rank, simply called ''magist ...

'' (386-387),

praetorian prefect of the East The praetorian prefecture of the East, or of the Orient (, ) was one of four large praetorian prefectures into which the Late Roman Empire was divided. As it comprised the larger part of the Eastern Roman Empire, and its seat was at Constantinop ...

(395-397 and 400–403), and

consul Consul (abbrev. ''cos.''; Latin plural ''consules'') was the title of one of the two chief magistrates of the Roman Republic, and subsequently also an important title under the Roman Empire. The title was used in other European city-states thro ...

in 397.

Biography

Caesarius was the son of the Consul of 361, Taurus, and the elder brother of Aurelianus, with whom he contended for power. His devotion to his wife is noted by Sozomen. In 386 he is attested as ''

''. As such, he was sent by Emperor

Antioch Antioch on the Orontes (; , ) "Antioch on Daphne"; or "Antioch the Great"; ; ; ; ; ; ; . was a Hellenistic Greek city founded by Seleucus I Nicator in 300 BC. One of the most important Greek cities of the Hellenistic period, it served as ...

in 387, where the population had revolted against taxation. Caesarius, together with Ellobicus, then ''magister militum per Orientem'', held an inquiry. Caesarius paid particular attention for the situation of the citizens of Antioch and in his report to the Emperor pleaded for clemency for them. The Antiochian orator

Libanius Libanius (; ) was a teacher of rhetoric of the Sophist school in the Eastern Roman Empire. His prolific writings make him one of the best documented teachers of higher education in the ancient world and a critical source of history of the Greek ...

thanked him in an oration for this. Despite his merits, Caesarius was not appointed to higher offices in the following years, when Rufinus was in power as ''magister officiorum'' and

. It is possible that Caesarius, despite being Orthodox, was not strict enough against heretics. Meanwhile, his younger brother Aurelianus made career, succeeding Rufinus as ''magister officiorum'' in 392 and then holding the office of ''

praefectus urbi The ''praefectus urbanus'', also called ''praefectus urbi'' or urban prefect in English, was prefect of the city of Rome, and later also of Constantinople. The office originated under the Roman kings, continued during the Republic and Empire, an ...

'' of

Constantinople Constantinople (#Names of Constantinople, see other names) was a historical city located on the Bosporus that served as the capital of the Roman Empire, Roman, Byzantine Empire, Byzantine, Latin Empire, Latin, and Ottoman Empire, Ottoman empire ...

between 393 and 394. After Rufinus had been killed in November 395, Caesarius succeeded him as

. As such, he nullified several laws Rufinus had passed, including a ban of

Lycia Lycia (; Lycian: 𐊗𐊕𐊐𐊎𐊆𐊖 ''Trm̃mis''; , ; ) was a historical region in Anatolia from 15–14th centuries BC (as Lukka) to 546 BC. It bordered the Mediterranean Sea in what is today the provinces of Antalya and Muğ ...

ns from Constantinople - Rufinus's enemies, Eutolmius Tatianus and Proculus had been Lycians - and the prohibition against Arian Eunomians from making wills. However, Caesarius did not act out of opposition to Rufinus, as is shown by the fact that he also issued a law that prevented the widows of proscribed men from losing their properties (the widow of Rufinus probably benefited by this law). In April 400,

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 ...

returned to

with his army, and asked Emperor

to depose and hand him Aurelianus and Saturninus. Gainas chose Caesarius as successor to Aurelianus to the office of Praetorian prefect of the East, but, after a short time, he left Constantinople and was defeated by the ''magister militum per Orientem''

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 ...

. However, Caesarius kept his office until 403. To this period is to be dated an inscription in Tralles, in which Caesarius is attested '' Patricius'', a title that, combined with Praetorian prefecture of the East and his status as a former consul, put Caesarius at the top of the dignities. Caesarius bought a monastery from the followers of Macedonius. The property had been left as legacy to the monks by Eusebia, a close friend of Caesarius' wife, who had asked them to bury the relics of the Forty Martyrs of Sebaste she kept in her house. Caesarius demolished the monastery and buried his wife and her friend, then built a shrine to Saint Thyrsus, and a tomb for himself close by.

In literature

Caesarius has been identified by some scholars with the character of

Typhon Typhon (; , ), also Typhoeus (; ), Typhaon () or Typhos (), was a monstrous serpentine giant and one of the deadliest creatures in Greek mythology. According to Hesiod, Typhon was the son of Gaia and Tartarus. However, one source has Typhon as t ...

Specifically John Bagnell Bury in Chapter 6 of his ''History of the Later Roman Empire'' though others think that Typhon is to be identified with the other Praetorian prefect and consul of the period, Flavius Eutychianus. of the ''Aegyptus, sive De providentia'' by

Synesius Synesius of Cyrene (; ; c. 373 – c. 414) was a Greek bishop of Ptolemais in ancient Libya, a part of the Western Pentapolis of Cyrenaica after 410. He was born of wealthy parents at Balagrae (now Bayda, Libya) near Cyrene between 370 and 3 ...

, where the story of the struggle between the Egyptian god

Osiris Osiris (, from Egyptian ''wikt:wsjr, wsjr'') was the ancient Egyptian deities, god of fertility, agriculture, the Ancient Egyptian religion#Afterlife, afterlife, the dead, resurrection, life, and vegetation in ancient Egyptian religion. He was ...

and Typhon is used to retell the story of the struggle between Aurelianus (Osiris) and Caesarius in the period of the revolt of

. In the novel, Typhon-Caesarius plays the role of the villain, Osiris-Aurelius the main character. Apart from its literary merits, the ''De providentia'' has been useful in reconstructing the events of that period, even if historians need to recast the allegories to real people and historical events and to remove Synesius' bias in favour of Aurelianus.

References

Citations

Sources

* * {{end 5th-century Byzantine people 4th-century Roman consuls Magistri officiorum Patricii Praetorian prefects of the East