Eugenius

This article deals with the Western Roman counter-emperor Eugenius. For more people, see Eugenius (disambiguation) .

Siliqua of Eugenius

Flavius ​​Eugenius († September 6, 394 am Frigidus, today the Hubelj stream in the Slovenian Vipava valley ) claimed the title of Roman emperor as a usurper from 392 to 394 .

History of the survey

On May 15, 392, Valentinian II , the young emperor of the West, was found hanged in his palace in Vienne . It is not entirely clear whether he was murdered by the powerful magister militum Arbogast , who effectively ran the affairs of government, or whether, as most recent research suggests, he committed suicide because of his helplessness. In any case, Arbogast waited three months in vain for Theodosius I , emperor of the east and now senior Augustus , to appoint a new emperor for the west of the empire; One of the two young sons of Theodosius would have come into question, but Theodosius might not want to expose them to the risk of finding an end like Valentinian. A replacement of Arbogast was also out of the question, as his position in the Western Imperial Army was unchallenged. In this respect, Theodosius can be assumed to be somewhat perplexed in this situation.

Elevation and domination

On August 22, 392 Arbogast finally had the grammar teacher and court official Eugenius proclaimed Augustus . Arbogast himself, the real strong man in the West, as a German and a pagan, would not have been enforceable as an emperor. The fact that Eugenius was chosen is to be seen as an emergency solution, because Arbogast was also in a precarious situation due to the sudden death of Valentinian II, whether it was directly or indirectly to blame. Although Eugenius, although at least formally Christian himself, was relatively tolerant of paganism , religious motives can probably be excluded from his elevation. Eugenius had good contacts not only with pagan senators, although an increasing number of the senators were Christians, but also with the influential Milanese Bishop Ambrose . As a civil servant he could not endanger Arbogast's position in the army. Eugenius soon got in touch with Theodosius and asked for recognition, but the latter acted evasively. In the winter of 392/393 Arbogast undertook a campaign against Germanic tribes on the Rhine (see also Marcomer ). During this time it also became increasingly clear that Theodosius was actually not interested in an agreement, especially since he did not recognize Eugenius' consulate, which Eugenius claimed for himself in 393. In historical research, the consideration was also raised that the anti-pagan legislation of Theodosius at this time, which was, however (probably quite deliberately) rather slack, probably also had the goal of binding Christians in the West to Theodosius and making one as tough as possible To produce contrast to Eugenius.

In the spring of 393 Eugenius moved his residence to Milan . Soon contacts with a group of influential pagan senators also intensified. These had enforced the recognition of Eugenius as emperor in the Senate . At the head of these pagan senators was the well-known politician and scholar Virius Nicomachus Flavianus , who vehemently advocated the traditional cults of the gods. Flavianus and other pagan senators now urged that the privileges withdrawn by Christian emperors in the past should be restored. At first, however, Eugenius was waiting and rejected the requests of the pagan senators; only on a third request did Eugenius decide that the stolen temple goods, but not the temples themselves, should be returned. At the same time, Eugenius strove to maintain a certain equilibrium, at least formally. So he wanted to give gifts to Christians too, but they refused. Ambrosius also kept his distance from Eugenius, probably mainly because of his (albeit limited) benevolent attitude towards the pagans, but possibly also because of dynastic loyalty to Theodosius, who had not recognized Eugenius. Overall, it can be said that Eugenius' followers included both Christians and Old Believers.

In order to secure his position, Eugenius now of necessity relied more and more on the pagan senators. Nicomachus Flavianus was appointed Praetorian prefect for Italy in 393 , his son became city prefect of Rome. In contrast to his friend, the well-known Quintus Aurelius Symmachus , who deliberately kept a wait-and-see attitude, Flavianus was strongly committed to the new government. Apparently he now saw the opportunity to increase the influence of pagan circles on politics and public life. Flavianus proceeded in a rather insensitive manner and contributed significantly to the later worsening of the situation. Eugenius may even have allowed the Victoria Altar to be restored in the Senate Curia , but it is uncertain whether this would really be done again. In Italy, however, some temples were renovated at state expense, such as the Temple of Hercules in Ostia by the Praefectus annonae Numerius Proiectus . The event is evidenced by an inscription. Public sacrifices, forbidden by Theodosius, also took place again. At the same time, however, Eugenius refused to accept the title of Pontifex Maximus again , and to the end he campaigned for the support of the bishops, who were admittedly little inclined to comply with the new developments. Alan Cameron recently voiced fundamental doubts about a proper “pagan revival” in the West. Apparently several, but by no means all, Senators of the Old Faith supported Eugenius; As already mentioned, Nicomachus Flavianus stood out, but his religious zeal was not shared by Symmachus. For political reasons, too, many pagans wanted to wait and see how the future would develop; Nothing is known of the reactions of Christian senators, the number of whom was not insignificant. Ultimately, the support that Eugenius received from the pagans should only lead to Theodosius tightening his anti-pagan laws, which were primarily symbolic. Most ancient historians today assume with good reason that the religious factor was of far less importance for the dispute than the (with a few exceptions such as Zosimos ) mainly Protheodosian sources suggest. It was a power struggle, a political conflict that was subsequently charged with religion.

Defeat and death

Arbogast and Eugenius tried to get recognition from senior Augustus Theodosius I until 393 , minted coins with his image and put inscriptions in the names of Eugenius, Theodosius and Arcadius . Theodosius, however, was unimpressed: he demonstratively elevated his younger son Honorius to co-emperor for the West and, after lengthy preparation, finally countered the usurpation militarily by marching into Italy and Eugenius' army in the extremely bloody battle of Frigidus (in present-day Slovenia ) on 5./6. September 394 struck. The image of a real religious struggle conveyed by several sources is subjectively colored; Christians and pagans fought on both sides at Frigidus. However, ultimately it cannot be ruled out that after Eugenius' victory the pressure of the "hard core" of the pagans around Nicomachus Flavianus on Eugenius would have increased and the situation for the Christians might have worsened. But it did not come to that: Arbogast committed suicide immediately after this decisive defeat, while Eugenius was seized and slain by enemy soldiers. Theodosius became, if only for a short time, the last ruler of the entire empire.

literature

• Alan Cameron : The Last Pagans of Rome. Oxford University Press, Oxford et al. 2011, ISBN 978-0-19-974727-6 .
• Thomas Grünewald: The last struggle of paganism in Rome? In: Historia 41, 1992, pp. 462-487.
• Hartmut Leppin : Theodosius the Great. On the way to the Christian empire. Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt 2003, ISBN 3-534-15431-2 ( Gestalten der Antike ).
• Arnold Hugh Martin Jones , John Robert Martindale, John Morris : Eugenius 6. In: The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire (PLRE). Volume 1, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1971, ISBN 0-521-07233-6 , p. 293.
• Joachim Szidat: The usurpation of Eugenius . In: Historia 28, 1979, pp. 487-508.

Web links

Commons : Eugenius  - album with pictures, videos and audio files

• Walter E. Roberts: Short biography (English) at De Imperatoribus Romanis (with references).

Remarks

1. ↑ See Szidat (1979), p. 491.
2. ↑ See Szidat (1979), p. 492.
3. ^ Sulpicius Alexander , Historia , received as an excerpt in Gregory of Tours , Historiae , II 9.
4. ↑ See Szidat (1979), pp. 493f.
5. ↑ On the reaction of the pagan senators to the usurpation of Eugenius: Szidat (1979), p. 495f.
6. ↑ Szidat (1979), p. 497.
7. ↑ See Szidat (1979), p. 498ff .; see also Jelle Wytzes: The Last Battle of Paganism in Rome . Leiden 1977, p. 149ff.
8. ↑ See Szidat (1979), p. 500.
9. ^ AE 1941, 66 .
10. ↑ See generally Cameron (2011), p. 783ff .; especially on Eugenius see ibid., pp. 74ff.
11. ↑ Szidat (1979), pp. 501f.
12. ↑ See generally the basic article by Szidat (1979); see also Leppin (2003), pp. 205ff.
13. ↑ CIL 13, 8262 .
14. ↑ See Szidat (1979), pp. 504ff.