Gainas (
Greek: Γαϊνάς) was a
Gothic
Gothic or Gothics may refer to:
People and languages
*Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes
**Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths
**Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...
leader who served the
Eastern Roman Empire as ''
magister militum'' during the reigns of
Theodosius I and
Arcadius.
Gainas began his military career as a common foot-soldier, but later commanded the barbarian contingent of Theodosius' army against the usurper
Eugenius
Eugenius (died 6 September 394) was a usurper in the Western Roman Empire (392–394) against Emperor Theodosius I. While Christian himself, Eugenius capitalized on the discontent in the West caused by Theodosius' religious policies targeting p ...
in 394. Under the command of Gainas, a man of "no lineage", was the young
Alaric of the
Balti dynasty. In 395,
Stilicho sent him with his troops, under the cover of strengthening the armies of the East, to depose the prefect
Rufinus, who was hostile to Stilicho. Gainas murdered
Rufinus, but the eunuch
Eutropius, who was likewise Stilicho's enemy, gained power. Gainas remained mostly unrewarded by the influential eunuch, which increased his resentment.
In 399 he finally rose in stature by replacing ''magister militum'' Leo. This was after the latter failed to quell the insurrection of the
Ostrogoths in
Asia Minor, led by the chieftain
Tribigild
Tribigild ( la, Tribigildus; grc-gre, Τριβιγίλδος; 399) was an Ostrogothic general whose rebellion against the Eastern Roman Empire precipitated a major political crisis during the reign of Emperor Arcadius.
Tribigild appears in the ...
, who was also hostile to Eutropius. Gainas too failed to put down the invasions; according to some sources, Gainas was conspiring with Tribigild in order to effect the downfall of Eutropius. After suffering repeated failures against the Ostrogoths, who continued devastating the provinces of Asia Minor, Gainas advised Arcadius to accept Tribigild's terms, which included the death of Eutropius. Gainas then showed his true colors, openly joining Tribigild with all his forces; he forced Arcadius to sign a treaty whereby the Goths would be allowed to settle in Thrace, entrusted with the defense of that frontier against the barbarians beyond the Danube. Gainas proceeded to install his forces in Constantinople, where he ruled for several months. He attempted in effect to copy the success of Stilicho in the West and posed a danger to the survival of the Eastern Roman Empire. He deposed all the anti-Goth officials and had Eutropius executed, though he had previously only been banished; after the intervention of
St. John Chrysostom the others were spared.
[
While a somewhat competent military commander, the zealous ]Arian
Arianism ( grc-x-koine, Ἀρειανισμός, ) is a Christological doctrine first attributed to Arius (), a Christian presbyter from Alexandria, Egypt. Arian theology holds that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, who was begotten by God t ...
Gainas was patently unable to administer a city of 200–400,000 whose Graeco-Roman populace intensely resented barbarian Goths and Arian Christians. Gainas' compromises with Tribigild led to rumors that he had colluded with Tribigild, his kinsman; when he returned to Constantinople in 400, riots broke out. He attempted to evacuate his soldiers but even then the citizens of Constantinople managed to trap and kill 7,000 armed Goths.
In response, Gainas and his forces attempted to flee back across the Hellespont
The Dardanelles (; tr, Çanakkale Boğazı, lit=Strait of Çanakkale, el, Δαρδανέλλια, translit=Dardanéllia), also known as the Strait of Gallipoli from the Gallipoli peninsula or from Classical Antiquity as the Hellespont (; ...
, but their rag-tag ''ad hoc'' fleet was met and destroyed by another Goth in Imperial service, Fravitta, who was subsequently made consul for 401 but was later accused of treason and executed as well. After this battle, Gainas fled across the Danube and was caught by the Huns under Uldin. Gainas was killed, and his head was sent by Uldin to Arcadius c. 400 as a diplomatic gift
A diplomatic gift is a gift given by a :diplomat, politician or leader when visiting a foreign country. Usually the gift is reciprocated by the host. The use of diplomatic gifts dates back to the ancient world and givers have competed to outdo e ...
.[
After the revolt, Arcadius erected the Column of Arcadius, on which friezes depicted his triumph over Gainas.
Gainas' usurpation is the subject of the ]
Egyptian Tale
' and might also be the subject of the speech
On Imperial Rule
' by Synesius of Cyrene
Synesius (; el, Συνέσιος; 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 ...
who may have represented an anti-barbarian faction within the Byzantine nobility.
Herwig Wolfram, the historian of the Goths,[Wolfram (1979) 1988:135.] notes that the death of Gainas marks an end to the relatively pluralistic Gothic tribal development with independent warbands: "thereafter only two ethnogeneses were possible: that of the Roman Goths within the empire and that of the Hunnic Goths at its doorstep".
Notes
References
*Zosimus Zosimus, Zosimos, Zosima or Zosimas may refer to:
People
*
* Rufus and Zosimus (died 107), Christian saints
* Zosimus (martyr) (died 110), Christian martyr who was executed in Umbria, Italy
* Zosimos of Panopolis, also known as ''Zosimus Alchemi ...
Book
* Socrates of Constantinople Book V
* Sozomen Book VII
* Theodoret Book
* George of Alexandria, Life of St. Chrysostom, in Photios, Myriobiblon, 96
* Alan Cameron and Jacqueline Long, ''Barbarian and Politics at the Court of Arcadius'', Berkeley et Los Angeles, 1993.
* Alexander Kazhdan (éd.), The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium, 3 vols., Oxford University Press, 1991 ({{ISBN, 0-19-504652-8)
* (fr) André Piganiol, ''L'Empire chrétien'', PUF, Paris, 1972.
* Herwig Wolfram, ''History of the Goths'' (1978) tr., 1988.
4th-century births
400 deaths
4th-century Byzantine people
5th-century Byzantine people
4th-century Christians
5th-century Christians
4th-century Gothic people
5th-century Romans of Gothic descent
Comites rei militaris
Gothic warriors
Magistri militum
Roman consuls designate
Arian Christians
Year of birth unknown