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 Medite ...

, a courtier of Emperor

Constantius II Constantius II (Latin: ''Flavius Julius Constantius''; grc-gre, Κωνστάντιος; 7 August 317 – 3 November 361) was Roman emperor from 337 to 361. His reign saw constant warfare on the borders against the Sasanian Empire and Germanic ...

, involved in the deaths of

Constantius Gallus Flavius Claudius Constantius Gallus (326–354) was a statesman and ruler in the eastern provinces of the Roman Empire from 351 to 354, as ''Caesar'' under emperor Constantius II (), his cousin. A grandson of emperor Constantius Chlorus () a ...

and

Claudius Silvanus Silvanus (died 7 September 355) was a Roman general of Frankish descent, usurper in Gaul against Emperor Constantius II for 28 days in AD 355. Origin and career Silvanus was born in Gaul, the son of Bonitus, a Laetic Frankish general w ...

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

(337–361). In 350, Constantius ordered Apodemius and

Barbatio Barbatio (died AD 359) was a Roman general of the infantry (Magister Peditum = Master of Foot) under the command of Constantius II. Previously he was a commander of the household troops (''protectores domestici'') under Gallus Caesar, but he arres ...

to go to Poetovio, arrest his cousin and

caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (; ; 12 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC), was a 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 a civil war, an ...

of the East

and bring him to

Pula Pula (; also known as Pola, it, Pola , hu, Pòla, Venetian; ''Pola''; Istriot: ''Puola'', Slovene: ''Pulj'') is the largest city in Istria County, Croatia, and the seventh-largest city in the country, situated at the southern tip of the ...

, where trial awaited him. When Constantius ordered Gallus to be put to death for treason, Apodemius, Serenianus and the ''notarius'' Pentadius executed the sentence; immediately after, Apodemius grabbed Gallus' shoes, rode quickly from Pula to

Mediolanum Mediolanum, the ancient city where Milan now stands, was originally an Insubrian city, but afterwards became an important Roman city in northern Italy. The city was settled by the Insubres around 600 BC, conquered by the Romans in 222 BC, an ...

, 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, ...

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 durin ...

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

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 Shortly after the death of Roman emperor Constantius II, his successor Julian held a tribunal at the city of Chalcedon, which was then a suburb of Constantinople. Saturninius Secundus Salutius, who was raised to the rank of Praetorian Prefect was gi ...

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 Robert Martindale (born 1935) is a British academic historian, specializing in the later Roman and Byzantine empires. Martindale's major publications are his magnum opus, the three volumes of ''Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire'', beg ...

, 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