Abantus
Abantus or Amandus was a 4th century Roman naval commander.
Abantus served in 324 under Emperor Licinius in the civil war against his adversary Constantine . When Licinius was enclosed in Byzantion after the lost battle of Adrianople , Abantus posted himself with 200 ships in the Hellespont , where he tried to prevent the union of the navy and the siege army of Constantine. At Kallipolis there was a sea battle with Constantine's fleet under his son Crispus . The sources are divided on the course of the sea battle at Kallipolis : The Origo Constantini , a text about the life of Constantine, reports that Crispus inflicted a devastating defeat on Abantus' fleet and partly destroyed and partly taken possession of his ships. He himself barely escaped the disaster. Zosimos, on the other hand, reports that initially a battle took place in which Abantus suffered heavy losses, but could not be defeated. During the night both fleets withdrew to their ports. The next day a storm destroyed the Abantus' fleet.
The name of the fleet leader can no longer be reconstructed with absolute certainty. While Zosimos calls him Abantus , he appears as Amandus in the anonymous author of Origo Constantini . A dedicatory inscription from the vicinity of Salona also mentions an Abantus, but the assignment is not certain. David Woods speculatively identifies Abantus with the Bagauden (or pirate?) Leader Amandus , who rose against Diocletian and Maximian in Gaul around 285/86 .
literature
- Arnold Hugh Martin Jones , John Robert Martindale, John Morris : Amandus 2. In: The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire (PLRE). Volume 1, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1971, ISBN 0-521-07233-6 , p. 50.
- Alexios G. Savvides, Benjamin Hendrickx (Eds.): Encyclopaedic Prosopographical Lexicon of Byzantine History and Civilization . Vol. 1: Aaron - Azarethes . Brepols Publishers, Turnhout 2007, ISBN 978-2-503-52303-3 , p. 8.
- Otto Seeck : Abantus . In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume I, 1, Stuttgart 1893, Col. 15.
Remarks
- ↑ Anonymus Valesianus I 5.26.
- ↑ Zosimos 2.23.3-2.24.3.
- ↑ Zosimos 2.23.3-2.24.3; Anonymous Valesianus I 5.23; 5.26. While the PLRE considers both names to be possible ("either form is possible"; PLRE, vol. 1, p. 50), Seeck pleads for Abantus and considers the variant of anonymus to be "mutilated" (Seeck, in: RE, vol. I, 1, col. 15).
- ↑ CIL 3, 2137 .
- ↑ David Woods: Amandus: Rustic Rebel or Pirate Prince? In: Ancient History Bulletin , Volume 15, No. 1, 2001, pp. 44-49 ( online ; PDF; 405 kB).
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Abantus |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Amandus |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Roman fleet leader |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 3rd century or 4th century |
| DATE OF DEATH | 4th century |