Dulcitius may refer to either of two ancient Roman officials active in the fourth century AD. * Dulcitius (Macedonia) was governor of Macedonia during the reign of the emperor Diocletian. He is chiefly remembered for his role in a

hagiographic A hagiography (; ) is a biography of a saint or an ecclesiastical leader, as well as, by extension, an adulatory and idealized biography of a founder, saint, monk, nun or icon in any of the world's religions. Early Christian hagiographies might ...

tale of the persecution of several Christian women in

Thessalonika Thessaloniki (; el, Θεσσαλονίκη, , also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece, with over one million inhabitants in its metropolitan area, and the capital of the geographic region of ...

, in 304 AD. As such, he is the

eponymous An eponym is a person, a place, or a thing after whom or which someone or something is, or is believed to be, named. The adjectives which are derived from the word eponym include ''eponymous'' and ''eponymic''. Usage of the word The term ''epon ...

villain of '' Dulcitius'', a 10th-century drama written by Hrotsvitha of Gandersheim. * Dulcitius (Britannia) was a military leader praised for his abilities by the soldier-historian

Ammianus Marcellinus Ammianus Marcellinus (occasionally anglicised as Ammian) (born , died 400) was a Roman soldier and historian who wrote the penultimate major historical account surviving from antiquity (preceding Procopius). His work, known as the ''Res Gestae ...

.Ammian ''The History'', Book XXVII
University of Chicago online text in translation. See end of section 8, "p.57". Although it is not actually stated by Ammianus in his original text, it is often conjectured that Dulcitius was elevated to the position of ''

Dux Britanniarum ''Dux Britanniarum'' was a military post in Roman Britain, probably created by Emperor Diocletian or Constantine I during the late third or early fourth century. The ''Dux'' (literally, "(military) leader" was a senior officer in the late Roma ...

''. If this is the case, he is thought to have been brought to Britain in 369 AD by

Count Theodosius Flavius Theodosius (died 376), also known as Count Theodosius ( la, Theodosius comes) or Theodosius the Elder ( la, Theodosius Major), was a senior military officer serving Valentinian I () and the western Roman empire during Late Antiquity. Unde ...

in the aftermath of the

Great Conspiracy The Great Conspiracy was a year-long state of war and disorder that occurred near the end of Roman Britain. The historian Ammianus Marcellinus described it as a ''barbarica conspiratio'', which capitalised on a depleted military force in the p ...

, in which Roman rule on the island faced simultaneous challenge from internal rebellion and external invasion. He might have been appointed ''Dux'' as a replacement for Fullofaudes, who is likely to have been killed or lost somewhere in the north of Britain. The Roman rebel Valentinus and his associates were handed over to Dulcitius for execution.

References

External links

Fordham University, online text of Hrosvitha's ''Dulcitius'' in translation
* ttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8IOLr2R5nbs&t=173s Videotaped Reading of ''Dulcitius'' Roman governors of Macedonia Roman-era Macedonians Roman-era Thessalonians Ancient Romans in Britain Ancient Roman soldiers Year of death missing 3rd-century Romans 4th-century Romans Year of birth unknown {{AncientRome-bio-stub