Tribigild, also called Tarbigilus (; ; 399) was an

Ostrogoth The Ostrogoths () were a Roman-era Germanic peoples, Germanic people. In the 5th century, they followed the Visigoths in creating one of the two great Goths, Gothic kingdoms within the Western Roman Empire, drawing upon the large Gothic populatio ...

ic general whose rebellion against 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 ...

precipitated a major political crisis during the reign of Emperor

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 ...

. Tribigild appears in the historical record as the leader of a colony of

Greuthungi The Greuthungi (also spelled Greutungi) were a Goths, Gothic people who lived on the Pontic–Caspian steppe, Pontic steppe between the Dniester River, Dniester and Don river, Don rivers in what is now Ukraine, in the 3rd and the 4th centuries. T ...

mercenary cavalrymen in

Nakoleia Nakoleia () also known as Nakolaion (Νακώλαιον), List of Latinised names, Latinized as Nacolia or Nacolea, was an ancient and medieval city in Phrygia. It corresponds to present-day Seyitgazi, Eskişehir Province in the Central Anatolia ...

Phrygia In classical antiquity, Phrygia ( ; , ''Phrygía'') was a kingdom in the west-central part of Anatolia, in what is now Asian Turkey, centered on the Sangarios River. Stories of the heroic age of Greek mythology tell of several legendary Ph ...

and as a military confederate of the Roman state, holding the rank of ''

comes ''Comes'' (plural ''comites''), translated as count, was a Roman title, generally linked to a comitatus or comital office. The word ''comes'' originally meant "companion" or "follower", deriving from "''com-''" ("with") and "''ire''" ("go"). Th ...

''. 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 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 par ...

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 Anatolia (), also known as Asia Minor, is a peninsula in West Asia that makes up the majority of the land area of Turkey. It is the westernmost protrusion of Asia and is geographically bounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the south, the Aegean ...

, including regions and settlements such as

Pamphylia Pamphylia (; , ''Pamphylía'' ) was a region in the south of Anatolia, Asia Minor, between Lycia and Cilicia, extending from the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean to Mount Taurus (all in modern-day Antalya province, Turkey). It was bounded on the ...

and

Pisidia Pisidia (; , ; ) was a region of ancient Asia Minor located north of Pamphylia, northeast of Lycia, west of Isauria and Cilicia, and south of Phrygia, corresponding roughly to the modern-day province of Antalya in Turkey. Among Pisidia's set ...

.Heather, P. J.,
Alaric and the Move to Gaul
, ''Goths and Romans 332–489'' (Oxford, 1994; online edn, Oxford Academic, 3 Oct. 2011), , accessed 13 Aug. 2023. His army was ambushed and destroyed by a local militia, with the few survivors and Tribigild escaping by bribing a Roman officer to let them escape. When the imperial legions arrived, he was easily able to subvert the loyalty of the fellow Goths that were the fighting core of the force, and scatter the rest. The resulting population upheavals and rumors of Tribigild's increasing power forced Arcadius's prime minister, the eunuch Eutropius, to send an expeditionary force led by the general

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 ...

across the

Hellespont The Dardanelles ( ; ; ), also known as the Strait of Gallipoli (after the Gallipoli peninsula) and in classical antiquity as the Hellespont ( ; ), is a narrow, natural strait and internationally significant waterway in northwestern Turkey t ...

. According to the writer

Claudian Claudius Claudianus, known in English as Claudian (Greek: Κλαυδιανός; ), was a Latin poet associated with the court of the Roman emperor Honorius at Mediolanum (Milan), and particularly with the general Stilicho. His work, written almo ...

in his work '' In Eutropium'', another general named Leo was dispatched to fight Tribigild. This general fought under bad

omens An omen (also called ''portent'') is a phenomenon that is believed to foretell the future, often signifying the advent of change. It was commonly believed in ancient history, and still believed by some today, that omens bring divine messages ...

, with weak and undisciplined men. During the battle, his cavalry and infantry got in the way of each other, and Tribigild captured them in an ambush. Gainas, who was of the same tribe as Tribigild, and may have been a kinsmen, possibly saw potential in using the mutiny to depose Eutropius. He returned to report that the rebel was insurmountable and that negotiation would be the safest tactic. A demand for the lifeblood of Eutropius, perhaps negotiated in advance by Gainas and Tribigild, was met. Since

Aelia Eudoxia Aelia Eudoxia (; ; died 6 October 404) was Eastern Roman empress by marriage to the Roman emperor Arcadius. The marriage was arranged by Eutropius, one of the eunuch court officials, who was attempting to expand his influence. As Empress, sh ...

, the wife of Arcadius, was already opposed to Eutropius, Arcadius was motivated to agree to the demands, and removed Eutropius from power. Praetorian Prefect Flavius Aurelianus replaced Eutropius and became consul for the year 400. Gainas, enraged as he had not been rewarded, marched on

Chalcedon Chalcedon (; ; sometimes transliterated as ) was an ancient maritime town of Bithynia, in Asia Minor, Turkey. It was located almost directly opposite Byzantium, south of Scutari (modern Üsküdar) and it is now a district of the city of Ist ...

, and demanded to be given the position of ''

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 e ...

'' and the deposition of Aurelianus as compensation. Both of these wishes were granted, however, Gainas lacked major influence over the court as he very few political connections, and had made enemies of Emperor Arcadius and Empress Eudoxia. Gainas openly allied with Tribigild, and together they marched across the

Bosporus The Bosporus or Bosphorus Strait ( ; , colloquially ) is a natural strait and an internationally significant waterway located in Istanbul, Turkey. The Bosporus connects the Black Sea to the Sea of Marmara and forms one of the continental bo ...

on Constantinople. Tribigild was killed while fighting in Thrace, while Gainas survived and occupied Constantinople. His time in Constantinople proved disastrous, the citizenry organized a pogrom that killed many of his men. Gainas and his army were then defeated in battle by the general Flavius Fravitta. Gainas escaped across the

Danube The Danube ( ; see also #Names and etymology, other names) is the List of rivers of Europe#Longest rivers, second-longest river in Europe, after the Volga in Russia. It flows through Central and Southeastern Europe, from the Black Forest sou ...

and was killed by the Hunnic leader

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 ...

References

Sources

A. Richard Diebold Center for Indo-European Language and Culture
*Noel Lenski, review of Wolfgang Hagl's
Arcadius Apis Imperator: Synesios von Kyrene und sein Beitrag zum Herrscherideal der Spätantike
Bryn Mawr Classical Review'', 98.3.08 *Biography of John Chrysostom from Smith's ' *Gibbon's

', vol. 3

a
romanemperors.org
4th-century Gothic people Byzantine generals Byzantine rebels Gothic warriors 400 deaths Comites 4th-century Byzantine military personnel Year of birth unknown Ancient rebels 4th-century rebels {{Byzantine-bio-stub

See also

References

Sources