Asclepiodotus

Iulius Asclepiodotus was a high Roman civil servant and military officer at the end of the 3rd century.

The (quite unreliable) Historia Augusta names Asclepiodotus as a dux under Emperor Probus (276–282). In 292, ie already under Emperor Diocletian , he held the consulate together with Afranius Hannibalianus . He was probably Praetorian prefect since around 290, under Emperor Constantius I since 293 in the north-west of the empire. In this capacity, he and Constantius restored Roman rule in Britain , where Carausius and Allectus had established a special empire. During the attack on Allectus in 296, Constantius and his fleet got lost in the thick fog on the Isle of Wight , so that Asclepiodotus, as the commander of the other part of the fleet, single-handedly defeated the main part of the enemy army. In the following years Asclepiodotus is no longer mentioned in the sources.

Medieval reception

Geoffrey of Monmouth and Welsh Chronicles tell of a medieval legend in which Asclepiodotus ( Welsh : Alyssglapitwlws ) appears as Duke of Cornwall and later as King of the British . After defeating Allectus, he was crowned king and lawfully ruled for about ten years. When Emperor Diocletian ordered the persecution of Christians , Asclepiodotus accepted this. This triggered the rebellion of the (legendary-fictional) Coel , the Duke of Colchester . Asclepiodotus had fallen in a battle against Coel. Thereupon Coel became his successor as King of the British.

literature

Arnold Hugh Martin Jones , John Robert Martindale, John Morris : Iulius Asclepiodotus 3. In: The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire (PLRE). Volume 1, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1971, ISBN 0-521-07233-6 , pp. 115-116.
Otto Seeck : Asklepiodotos 5) . In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume II, 2, Stuttgart 1896, Col. 1637.

Remarks

↑ The full name can be found in an inscription from Oescus in Moesia (No. 8929 in Hermann Dessau's Inscriptiones Latinae selectae ), in all other sources it appears only as Asclepiodotus .
↑ Historia Augusta , Vita Probi 22.3.
↑ So with a good argument PLRE, Volume 1, p. 115; Anders Seeck, in: RE, Volume II, 2, Col. 1637, the beginning - based on the laws addressed to Asclepiodotus in the Codex Iustinianus (5,30,2; 5,31,9; 5,70,4; 8 , 17.9) - fixed at 293.
^ Anthony R. Birley : The Roman Government of Britain. Oxford University Press, Oxford 2005, ISBN 0-19-925237-8 , p. 385 ff.
↑ Historia Regum Britanniae 5: 4-6.

personal data
SURNAME	Asclepiodotus
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Asclepiodotus, Iulius; Alyssglapitwlws (Welsh)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Roman civil servant and military
DATE OF BIRTH	before 282
DATE OF DEATH	after 296

[1] The full name can be found in an inscription from Oescus in Moesia (No. 8929 in Hermann Dessau's Inscriptiones Latinae selectae ), in all other sources it appears only as Asclepiodotus .

[2] Historia Augusta , Vita Probi 22.3.

[3] So with a good argument PLRE, Volume 1, p. 115; Anders Seeck, in: RE, Volume II, 2, Col. 1637, the beginning - based on the laws addressed to Asclepiodotus in the Codex Iustinianus (5,30,2; 5,31,9; 5,70,4; 8 , 17.9) - fixed at 293.

[4] Anthony R. Birley : The Roman Government of Britain. Oxford University Press, Oxford 2005, ISBN 0-19-925237-8 , p. 385 ff.

[5] Historia Regum Britanniae 5: 4-6.