Ascaricus

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Ascaricus (also Asacaricus ) was a Frankish leader ( small king ) in the 4th century.

Ascaricus was defeated in 306 or 307 by Constantine the Great , who led a campaign against the Franks on the Rhine. The dating of the defeat is not entirely precise, as only the approximate time is known: It must have taken place after the death of Constantine's father Constantius I (end of July 306) and before the emergence of Panegyricus on Constantine from 307. In contrast to the Panegyricus on Constantine of 310 (see below), the latter does not name any names.

The Frankish petty king Merogaisus was captured together with Ascaricus . Both were thrown from wild animals in the amphitheater of Augusta Treverorum (today's Trier ). Due to the difficulty of getting to lions and their costly maintenance, Alexander Demandt suspects that they were probably more bears than lions. The anonymous Panegyricus on Constantine reports on the execution from the year 310, who names both small kings by name. There is also a hint in Eutropius, which does not give any names. The episode is mentioned in passing in two further Panegyrici: by the anonymous panegyric writer from 307 and by Nazarius (321).

Otherwise nothing is actually known about Ascaricus himself; but he possibly belonged to the tribe of the Brukterer . According to the panegyric of 310, the Franks broke the treaties with Rome and exploited the death of Constantius I in 306 to violate Roman territory. Coin finds suggest that they may have reached the Somme. Constantine intercepted them on their way back to the Rhine and later undertook a campaign in the Franconian region, in which the emperor apparently wreaked havoc in retaliation.

The victory of Constantine was clearly highlighted in the emperor's propaganda. A victory over "barbaric" kings was emphasized in the late antique panegyric anyway, but above all Constantine had proven himself during his first independent campaign as emperor.

literature

Remarks

  1. ↑ Panegyrici latini VII (6), 4.2.
  2. ↑ Alexander Demandt: The late antiquity . 2nd edition, Munich 2007, p. 78, note 23.
  3. ↑ Panegyrici latini VI (7), 10-12.
  4. ↑ Eutropius, Breviarium ab urbe condita 10.3.
  5. ↑ Panegyrici latini VII (6), 4.2.
  6. ↑ Panegyrici latini IV (10), 16.
  7. ↑ Eugen Ewig: The Franks and Rome (3rd – 5th centuries). An attempt at an overview . In: Rheinische Vierteljahrsblätter . Volume 71, 2007, pp. 1-42, here p. 5.
  8. ↑ Oliver Schmitt: Constantine the Great (275–337) . Stuttgart et al. 2007, p. 117 f.
personal data
SURNAME Ascaricus
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Frankish king
DATE OF BIRTH 3rd century
DATE OF DEATH at 306
Place of death unsure: Trier