Flavius ​​Saturninus

Flavius ​​Saturninus (* before 377; † after 400) was a late Roman officer who lived in the 4th century AD.

Saturninus was evidently a Christian. There is evidence that he housed a bishop, founded a monastery and was in correspondence with Gregor von Nazianz . He made a career in the military and fought against the Goths in 377/78 . As magister militum per Thracias , he concluded a treaty with the Goths on behalf of the emperor in the east, Theodosius I , at the beginning of October 382 , which allocated them land on the lower Danube, for which they should serve as foederati in the event of war .

In 383 he was allowed to hold the consulate as thanks for his services . In fact, this act represents an enormous token of favor on the part of the emperor, as he should actually have acted as consul himself on his four-year anniversary. On this occasion, the famous rhetor Themistios gave an eulogy in which he panegyric praised Saturninus and Emperor Theodosius. Themistius was also obliged to Saturninus, since he was a sponsor of the speaker.

After the death of Theodosius in 395, Saturninus remained in the east with Emperor Arcadius . In the year 400, however, he was ousted and banished by the powerful magister militum Gainas, and he must have died some time later.

Felix Dahn made Saturninus one of the main characters in his novel Bissula .

literature

• Hartmut Leppin : Theodosius the Great. Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt 2003, ISBN 3-534-15431-2 , p. 275 (index, see Saturninus there).
• Adolf Lippold : Saturninus 4. In: The Little Pauly (KlP). Volume 4, Stuttgart 1972, Col. 1570.

Remarks

1. ^ Sources in Lippold, Saturninus .
2. ↑ On the contract cf. Leppin, Theodosius the Great , p. 45ff.
3. ↑ On the speech ( or. 16) see Themistios: Staatsreden. Translation, introduction and explanations by Hartmut Leppin and Werner Portmann. Hiersemann, Stuttgart 1998, ISBN 3-7772-9809-3 , p. 265 ff.