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Aspar
Flavius Ardabur Aspar (Greek: Ἄσπαρ, fl. 400471) was an Eastern Roman patrician and ''magister militum'' ("master of soldiers") of Alanic- Gothic descent. As the general of a Germanic army in Roman service, Aspar exerted great influence on the Eastern Roman Emperors for half a century, from the 420s to his death in 471, through the reigns of Theodosius II, Marcian and Leo I, who, in the end, had him killed. His death led to the ending of the Germanic domination of Eastern Roman policy. Biography Aspar was born the son of the magister Ardaburius, and was of Alanic- Gothic descent. The name Aspar (Avestan: ''Aspari'') in Iranian languages means "Horse-rider". Aspar played a crucial role in his father's expedition in 424 to defeat the Western usurper Joannes of Ravenna and to install Galla Placidia and her son, Valentinian III, in his place. He also helped to negotiate a peace treaty with Geiseric after the Vandal invasion of Africa. Aspar attained the consulship in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Marcian
Marcian (; ; ; 392 – 27 January 457) was Roman emperor of the Byzantine Empire, East from 450 to 457. Very little is known of his life before becoming emperor, other than that he was a (personal assistant) who served under the commanders Ardabur (consul 427), Ardabur and his son Aspar for fifteen years. After the death of Emperor Theodosius II on 28 July 450, Marcian was made a candidate for the throne by Aspar, who held much influence because of his military power. After a month of negotiations Pulcheria, Theodosius' sister, agreed to marry Marcian. Zeno (consul 448), Zeno, a military leader whose influence was similar to Aspar's, may have been involved in these negotiations, as he was given the high-ranking court title of Patrician (ancient Rome)#Late Roman and Byzantine period, patrician upon Marcian's accession. Marcian was elected and inaugurated on 25 August 450. Marcian reversed many of the actions of TheodosiusII in the Eastern Roman Empire's relationship wi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Leo I The Thracian
Leo I (; 401 – 18 January 474), also known as "the Thracian" (; ), was Eastern Roman emperor from 457 to 474. He was a native of Dacia Aureliana near historic Thrace. He is sometimes surnamed with the epithet "the Great" (; ), probably to distinguish him from his young grandson and co-''augustus'' Leo II (). During his 17-year rule, he oversaw a number of ambitious political and military plans, aimed mostly at aiding the faltering Western Roman Empire and recovering its former territories. He is notable for being the first Eastern Emperor to legislate in Koine Greek rather than Late Latin. He is commemorated as a saint in the Eastern Orthodox Church, with his feast day on 20 January. Reign He was born in Thracia or in Dacia Aureliana province in the year 401 to a Thraco-Roman family. His Dacian origin is mentioned by Candidus Isaurus, while John Malalas believes that he was of Bessian Thracian stock. According to the '' Patria of Constantinople'' he had one sister ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Galla Placidia
Galla Placidia (392/3 – 27 November 450), daughter of the Roman emperor Theodosius I, was the mother and a tutor and advisor to emperor Valentinian III. She was queen consort to Ataulf, King of the Visigoths from 414 until his death in 415, briefly empress consort to Constantius III in 421, and managed the government administration as a regent during the early reign of Valentinian III until her death. Family Placidia was the daughter of Theodosius I and his second wife, Galla, who was herself daughter of Valentinian I and his second wife, Justina. Galla Placidia's date of birth is not recorded, but she must have been born either in the period 388–89 or 392–93. Between these dates, her father was in Italy following his campaign against the usurper Magnus Maximus, while her mother remained in Constantinople. A surviving letter from Bishop Ambrose of Milan, dated 390, refers to a younger son of Theodosius named Gratianus, who died in infancy; as Gratian must have been bo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ardabur (consul 427)
Ardabur (Greek: Ἀρδαβούρ) served as ''magister militum'' in the East Roman army in the 420s, under Theodosius II. He was of Alanic origin. During the Roman-Persian War of 421–422, he ravaged Arzanene and besieged Nisibis. After the war ended, Ardabur was promoted to the rank of ''magister militum praesentalis''. In 424, Ardabur and his son Aspar were sent on a campaign to Italy to overthrow the usurper Joannes. Ardabur was captured but his son managed to save him. After his return to Constantinople, he was made 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 ... for the year 427. Ardabur should be distinguished from his grandson of the same name, who was consul twenty years later. References Sources * * * 5th-century Roman consuls Alanic peopl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vandal
The Vandals were a Germanic people who were first reported in the written records as inhabitants of what is now Poland, during the period of the Roman Empire. Much later, in the fifth century, a group of Vandals led by kings established Vandal Kingdom, Vandal kingdoms first within the Iberian Peninsula, and then in the western Mediterranean islands, and North Africa. Archaeologists associate the early Vandals with the Przeworsk culture, which has led to some authors equating them to the Lugii, who were another group of Germanic peoples associated with that same archaeological culture and region. Expanding into Roman Dacia, Dacia during the Marcomannic Wars and to Pannonia during the Crisis of the Third Century, the Vandals were confined to Pannonia by the Goths around 330 AD, where they received permission to settle from Constantine the Great. Around 400, raids by the Huns from the east forced many Germanic tribes to migrate west into the territory of the Roman Empire and, fear ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anthemius
Procopius Anthemius (; died 11 July 472) was the Western Roman Empire, Western Roman emperor from 467 to 472. Born in the Byzantine Empire, Eastern Roman Empire, Anthemius quickly worked his way up the ranks. He married into the Theodosian dynasty through Marcia Euphemia, daughter of Eastern emperor Marcian. He soon received a significant number of promotions to various posts, and was presumed to be Marcian's planned successor. However, Marcian's sudden death in 457, together with that of Western emperor Avitus, left the imperial succession in the hands of Aspar. He instead appointed Leo I (emperor), Leo, a low-ranking officer, to the Eastern throne, probably out of fear that Anthemius would be too independent. Eventually, this same Leo designated Anthemius as Western emperor in 467, following a two-year interregnum that started in November 465. Anthemius attempted to solve the two primary military challenges facing the remains of the Western Roman Empire: the resurgent Visigoth ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Theodosius II
Theodosius II ( ; 10 April 401 – 28 July 450), called "the Calligraphy, Calligrapher", was Roman emperor from 402 to 450. He was proclaimed ''Augustus (title), Augustus'' as an infant and ruled as the Eastern Empire's sole emperor after the death of his father Arcadius in 408. His reign was marked by the promulgation of the Theodosian law code and the construction of the Theodosian Walls of Constantinople. He also presided over the outbreak of two great Christological controversies, Nestorianism and Eutychianism. Early life Theodosius was born on 10 April 401 as the only son of Emperor Arcadius and his wife Aelia Eudoxia.''PLRE'' 2, p. iarchive:prosopography-later-roman-empire/PLRE-II/page/1100/mode/2up, 1100 On 10 January 402, at the age of 9 months, he was proclaimed co-''augustus'' by his father, thus becoming the youngest to bear the imperial title Michael III, up to that point. On 1 May 408, his father died and the seven-year-old boy became the sole emperor of the Ea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pulcheria
Aelia Pulcheria (; ; 19 January 398 or 399 – 453) was an Eastern Roman empress who advised her brother, the emperor Theodosius II, during his minority and then became wife to emperor Marcian from November 450 to her death in 453. She was the second (and oldest surviving) child of Eastern Roman Emperor Arcadius and Empress Aelia Eudoxia. In 414, the fifteen-year old Pulcheria became the guardian of her younger brother Theodosius II and was also proclaimed Augusta. Through her religious devotion and involvement in the contemporary ecclesiastical scene, Pulcheria had significant, though changing, influence during her brother's reign. After Theodosius II died on 26 July 450, Pulcheria married Marcian on 25 November 450, while simultaneously not violating her vow of virginity. She died three years later, in July 453. Pulcheria influenced the Christian Church and its theological development by being involved in the Council of Ephesus and guiding the Council of Chalcedon, in whic ... [...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] |
Joannes
Joannes or John (; died 425) was Western Roman emperor from 423 to 425. On the death of the Western emperor Honorius, Theodosius II, the last remaining ruler of the Theodosian dynasty, did not immediately announce a successor. In the ''interregnum'', the patrician Castinus elevated Joannes as emperor. Theodosius refused to accept the decision, and deposed Joannes in a civil war. History Joannes was a '' primicerius notariorum'' or senior civil servant at the time of his elevation. Procopius praised him as "both gentle and well-endowed with sagacity and thoroughly capable of valorous deeds." From the beginning, his control over the empire was insecure. His praetorian prefect was slain in Gaul by an uprising of the soldiery at Arles,Oost, Stewart (1968). ''Galla Placidia Augusta: A biographical essay''. Chicago: University Press, pp. 186–189ff. and Bonifacius, ''comes'' of the Diocese of Africa, held back the grain fleet destined to Rome. "The events of Johannes' reign ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Theodoric The Great
Theodoric (or Theoderic) the Great (454 – 30 August 526), also called Theodoric the Amal, was king of the Ostrogoths (475–526), and ruler of the independent Ostrogothic Kingdom of Italy between 493 and 526, regent of the Visigoths (511–526), and a patrician (ancient Rome)#Late Roman and Byzantine period, patrician of the Byzantine Empire#Loss of the Western Roman Empire, Eastern Roman Empire. As ruler of the combined Gothic realms, Theodoric controlled an empire stretching from the Atlantic Ocean to the Adriatic Sea. Though Theodoric himself only used the title 'king' (''rex''), some scholars characterize him as a Roman Emperor#Later assertions to the title, Western Roman emperor in all but name, since he ruled a large part of the former Western Roman Empire described as a ''Res Publica'', had received the former Western imperial regalia from Constantinople in 497 which he used, was referred to by the imperial title ''princeps'' by the Italian aristocracy and exercised imper ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Valentinian III
Valentinian III (; 2 July 41916 March 455) was Roman emperor in the Western Roman Empire, West from 425 to 455. Starting in childhood, his reign over the Roman Empire was one of the longest, but was dominated by civil wars among powerful generals and the Migration Period, barbarian invasions. He was the son of Galla Placidia and Constantius III, and as the great-grandson of Valentinian I () he was the last emperor of the Valentinianic dynasty. As a grandson of Theodosius I (), Valentinian was also a member of the Theodosian dynasty, to which his wife, Licinia Eudoxia, also belonged. A year before assuming the rank of ''Augustus (title), augustus'', Valentinian was given the imperial rank of ''Caesar (title), caesar'' by his half-cousin and co-emperor Theodosius II (). The ''Augusta (title), augusta'' Galla Placidia had great influence during her son's rule, as did the military commander Flavius Aetius, who defended the western empire against List of ancient Germanic peoples, Ger ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
