Flavius ​​Afranius Syagrius

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Flavius ​​Afranius Syagrius was a member of the Syagrii family , high official in the imperial administration of the Roman Empire in the 2nd half of the 4th century and a Roman consul .

The extensive tradition that exists on Flavius ​​Syagrius for the corresponding period makes it necessary to assume two homonymous people at the same time . For example, a Flavius ​​Syagrius is documented as praefectus praetorio Italiae for the period from 380 to 382 , at the same time there was a praefectus urbi called Syagrius in 381. It can be ruled out that the same person held both offices at the same time. Furthermore, there was a Flavius ​​Syagrius as consul ordinarius in the years 381 and 382, ​​without the latter consulate being marked as an iteration of the former.

For these reasons, it is believed that there were two people by the name. The allocation of the various offices associated with the name has been the subject of scientific discussion for over 100 years and will not be finally clarified without new discoveries.

Sources

In addition to papyri , Ammianus Marcellinus and the Codex Theodosianus are the most important sources on the official careers of the two people. There are also letters from Quintus Aurelius Symmachus , the pen pal of the one, and Sidonius Apollinaris , who was friends with the grandson of the other. Sidonius is the only one who has passed down the name Afranius Syagrius. The poet and prince tutor Ausonius also dedicated poems to his friend Syagrius.

Accordingly, the following offices are to be distributed between the careers of both men: In 369, a Flavius ​​Syagrius was notarius under Valentinian I and was charged with supervising the construction of fortifications on the Rhine. When the Alemanni thwart the measures through an attack, Syagrius is the only survivor and is dismissed from service as the bearer of the bad news, in order to later become prefect and then consul. The name Syagrius can only be found again under Gratian for the year 379, twice in the Codex Theodosianus: on August 26, 379 as proconsul of the Roman province of Africa and on October 1, 379 as magister officiorum . Finally, the aforementioned prefectures follow Italy from 380 to 382, ​​for the city of Rome in 381, the consulates of 381 together with Flavius ​​Eucherius and 382 with Claudius Antonius. In addition, Sidonius still records for Afranius Syagrius that he held triplices praefecturae , i.e. was three times prefect or held a triple prefecture, for example over Italia , Africa and Illyricum .

Assignments

Otto Seeck was the first to recognize that behind all the information the résumés of two different men could be recognized, and suggested an initial separation and assignment of the individual offices. Accordingly, Afranius Syagrius was notarius , magister officiorum , praefectus praetorio Italiae from 380 to 382 and the consul of the year 381, at the same time the pen pal of Symmachus and the Afranius Syagrius named by Sidonius.

Arnold Hugh Martin Jones proposed a different distribution of offices . He distributed the office of praefectus praetorio Italiae to both namesake by recognizing the prefect in the magister officiorum from July 18, 380 to July 15, 381. This would then have taken up the consulate in 381 and would have died in office. He would have been followed by the proconsul of the year 379 in the office of prefect from July 5th to August 30th, 382 and would have held the consulate of the year 382. He does not comment on the question of which of the two was Afranius Syagrius.

The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire (PLRE) followed this approach with modifications. According to this, the proconsul of the year 379 and the consul of the year 381 would have held the Praetorian prefecture over Italy until April 9, 382. His successor in the office would have been the notarius of 369 and city prefect of the year 381, who was consul in the following year 382. This was also the Afranius Syagrius mentioned in Sidonius, consequently had a third prefecture in Gaul under the usurpers Maximus or Eugenius and would have been the friend of Ausonius.

In the same year the PLRE was published, Alexander Demandt proposed another approach. He identified Afranius at Sidonius with the magister officiorum , who was praefectus praetorio Italiae from 380 to 382 and during this time 381 had held the consulate. The other Syagrius would therefore have been the proconsul of the year 379, the city prefect of 381 and the consul of 382. In addition, Symmachus' pen pal could be recognized in him.

Overview

Office Fl. Afranius Syagrius
+ Syagrius II after Jones
Fl. Syagrius
+ Syagrius I. after Jones
notarius 369 Seeck, PLRE
magister officiorum 379 Seeck, Demandt Jones, PLRE
Proconsul 379 Jones Seeck, PLRE, Demandt
praefectus praetorio 380-382 Seeck, Demandt Jones (up to 381), PLRE
praefectus praetorio 382 Jones, PLRE
praefectus urbi 381 PLRE Demandt
Consul 381 Seeck, Demandt Jones, PLRE
Consul 382 Jones, PLRE Seeck, Demandt

Inferences

All research approaches have in common that the Praetorian prefect of Italy was also consul of 381 at least in the years 380/81 and that the city prefect of 381 is ruling out the simultaneous consulate. While Anglo-Saxon research sees Afranius Syagrius des Sidonius as the consul of the year 382, ​​German-language research tends to follow Seeck and Demandt's approach of recognizing him as the consul of 381. All other assignments are hypothetical.

Nonetheless, more can be said for Flavius ​​Afranius Syagrius. According to Sidonius, he was the grandfather of Tonantius Ferreolus , the praefectus praetorio Galliarum in the year of office 451/52, therefore probably had a daughter and was great-grandfather of Syagrius, who was the landowner in Gaul and Sidonius' pen pal. He was buried in Lugdunum , and according to Sidonius he was a poet and therefore certainly Ausonius' friend. In general one assumes a Gallic origin, since the name was common in Gaul, he was buried in Lugdunum and he is to be understood as a member of the local elite of Gaul promoted by Ausonius.

The late Roman commanders or local rulers Aegidius and Syagrius may be relatives of the consul. However, this assumption, which is often expressed in research, cannot ultimately be clearly proven.

literature

Remarks

  1. Codex Theodosianus 11.30.38 (June 18, 380); 7.18.4 (July 15, 380) 8.5.36 (February 27, 381); 12,1,88; 1.10.1 (July 5, 381); 12.1.88 (April 5, 382); 12,1.89 (August 30, 382).
  2. Codex Theodosianus 8,7,15.
  3. ^ Papyrus Archduke Rainer 86.1 .
  4. Papyrus Lipsiensis 1.21.
  5. Only the Chronicon Paschale p. 243 lists both consulates and lists the second consulate as an iteration.
  6. So the assessment by Roger S. Bagnall , Alan Cameron , Seth R. Schwartz, Klaas Anthony Worp: Consuls of the Later Roman Empire (= Philological Monographs of the American Philological Association. Volume 36). Scholars Press, Atlanta 1987, p. 297.
  7. Sidonius Apollinaris, epistulae 1,7.
  8. Ausonius Praefatio III 41-44.
  9. Ammianus Marcellinus 28: 2, 5–6.
  10. Ammianus Marcellinus 28,2,7.
  11. Ammianus Marcellinus 28,2,9.
  12. Codex Theodosianus 1,15,10.
  13. Codex Theodosianus 7,12,2.
  14. Sidonius Apollinaris, epistulae 7.12.
  15. ↑ In summary Otto Seeck : Syagrius 1 and 2. In: Paulys Realencyclopädie der classischen Altertumswwissenschaft (RE). Volume IV A, 1, Stuttgart 1931, column 997 f.
  16. ^ Arnold Hugh Martin Jones: Collegiate Prefectures. In: Journal of Roman Studies . Volume 54, 1964, pp. 78-89, here: pp. 84, 89.
  17. ^ Arnold Hugh Martin Jones , John Robert Martindale, John Morris : Flavius ​​Afranius Syagrius 2 and Flavius ​​Syagrius 3. In: The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire (PLRE). Volume 1, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1971, ISBN 0-521-07233-6 , pp. 862-863 ..
  18. Alexander Demandt: The consuls of the years 381 and 382 named Syagrius. In: Byzantine Journal. Volume 64, 1971, pp. 38-45.
  19. André Chastagnol, for example, also follows this : La carriera senatoriale nel Basso Impero (dopo Diocleziano). In: Sergio Roda (ed.): La parte migliore del genere umano. Aristocrazie, potere e ideologia nell'occidente tardoantico. Scriptorium, Turin 1994, pp. 23-57, here: p. 50.
  20. See for example Adolf Lippold : Syagrius 1. In: Der Kleine Pauly (KlP). Volume 5, Stuttgart 1975, Sp. 439 .; Raban von Haehling : The religious affiliation of the high officials of the Roman Empire from Constantine I sole rule to the end of the Theodosian dynasty (324–450 or 455 AD) (= Antiquitas . Series 3: Treatises on Pre- and Early History, for classical and provincial Roman archeology and the history of antiquity. Vol. 23). Habelt, Bonn 1978, p. 299; Wolfgang Kuhoff : Studies on the civil senatorial career in the 4th century AD. Offices and office holders in Clarissimat and spectability. Lang, Frankfurt / Main - Bern 1983, p. 210 f.
  21. Sidonius Apollinaris, carmina 24, 34-36; epistulae 1.7.
  22. ^ Sidonius Apollinaris, epistulae 8.8.
  23. Sidonius Apollinaris, epistulae 5.17.
  24. Sidonius Apollinaris, epistulae 5.5.
  25. Anders André Chastagnol, who suspects a Spanish origin for the magister officiorum Gratians: André Chastagnol: La carriera senatoriale nel Basso Impero (dopo Diocleziano). In: Sergio Roda (ed.): La parte migliore del genere umano. Aristocrazie, potere e ideologia nell'occidente tardoantico. Scriptorium, Turin 1994, p. 51.
  26. For the distribution of the name see Karl Friedrich Stroheker : The senatorische Adel in late antique Gaul . Alma Mater-Verlag, Tübingen 1948, p. 220 f. No. 368-375.
  27. Cf. Karl Friedrich Stroheker: The senatorial nobility in late antique Gaul. Tübingen 1948, p. 220.