Apodemius (died 361) was an officer of the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post-Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings around the Mediterr ...

, a courtier of Emperor Constantius II, involved in the deaths of Constantius Gallus and Claudius Silvanus.

Biography

Apodemius was an '' agens in rebus'',Ammianus Marcellinus, xiv.11.19.Ammianus Marcellinus, xiv.11.23. a sort of secret agent, who worked for emperor Constantius II (337–361). In 350, Constantius ordered Apodemius and Barbatio to go to Poetovio, arrest his cousin and

caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (; ; 12 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC), was a Roman people, Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in Caes ...

of the East Constantius Gallus and bring him to

Pula Pula (; also known as Pola, it, Pola , hu, Pòla, Venetian language, Venetian; ''Pola''; Istriot language, Istriot: ''Puola'', Slovene language, Slovene: ''Pulj'') is the largest city in Istria County, Croatia, and the List of cities and town ...

, where trial awaited him. When Constantius ordered Gallus to be put to death for treason, Apodemius,

Serenianus Serenianus (died in Lydia, 366) was an officer of the Roman Empire, involved in the death of Caesar Constantius Gallus and in the usurpation of Procopius. Biography Serenianus was born in Pannonia.Ammianus Marcellinus, xxvi.5.3. attended at th ...

and the ''notarius''

Pentadius Pentadius ( 354–361) was an officer of the Roman Empire. Biography He was holding the office of ''notarius'' when, in 354, Emperor Constantius II ordered him, Eusebius and Mallobaudes to interrogate Constantius Gallus, formerly Caesar of the Ea ...

executed the sentence; immediately after, Apodemius grabbed Gallus' shoes, rode quickly from Pula to Mediolanum, where the imperial court was seated, entered the chamber where Constantius was having a meeting and threw the shoes at the feet of the Emperor to signify Gallus' death.Ammianus Marcellinus, xv.1.2. When the ''

magister militum (Latin for "master of soldiers", plural ) was a top-level military command used in the later Roman Empire, dating from the reign of Constantine the Great. The term referred to the senior military officer (equivalent to a war theatre commander, ...

'' Claudius Silvanus rebelled in

Gaul Gaul ( la, Gallia) was a region of Western Europe first described by the Romans. It was inhabited by Celtic and Aquitani tribes, encompassing present-day France, Belgium, Luxembourg, most of Switzerland, parts of Northern Italy (only during ...

, in 355, Apodemius was sent with letters to summon Silvanus to the presence of Constantius. Contemporary historian

Ammianus Marcellinus Ammianus Marcellinus (occasionally Anglicisation, anglicised as Ammian) (born , died 400) was a Roman soldier and historian who wrote the penultimate major historical account surviving from Ancient history, antiquity (preceding Procopius). His w ...

tells:Ammianus Marcellinus, xv.5.8—9. In 361 Constantius II died; his successor was

Julian Julian may refer to: People * Julian (emperor) (331–363), Roman emperor from 361 to 363 * Julian (Rome), referring to the Roman gens Julia, with imperial dynasty offshoots * Saint Julian (disambiguation), several Christian saints * Julian (give ...

, half-brother of Constantius Gallus. The new emperor instituted the Chalcedon tribunal to bring to trial the officers of Constantius II, in particular their involvement in Gallus' fall and death. Apodemius, who by the time had already returned to private life, was found guilty of having plotted against Gallus and put to death.Ammianus Marcellinus, xxii.3.11. Contemporary historian

, who throughout his ''Roman History'' criticizes the courtiers of Constantius for their bad influence on the Emperor and for their numberless plots, has a bad opinion of Apodemius, of whom he says that "as long as he lived had been a fiery instigator of disturbances" and that "was a persevering and bitter enemy to all good men".

Notes

Bibliography

;Primary sources *

, ''Res gestae'' ;Secondary sources * Jones, Arnold Hugh Martin, John Robert Martindale, John Morris, "Apodemius 1", ''

The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire ''Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire'' (abbreviated as ''PLRE'') is a work of Roman prosopography published in a set of three volumes collectively describing many of the people attested to have lived in the Roman Empire from AD 260, the date ...

'', Vol. 2, Cambridge University Press, 1992, , p. 82. {{DEFAULTSORT:Apodemius 4th-century Romans Executed ancient Roman people People executed by the Roman Empire Ancient Roman diplomats 4th-century executions Year of birth missing 361 deaths 4th-century diplomats