Flavius ​​Theodosius

This article deals with the Roman general Flavius ​​Theodosius. At his eponymous son, the future emperor, see Theodosius I .

Flavius ​​Theodosius († beginning of 376 in Carthage ) was a Roman general and the father of the future emperor Theodosius I.

Life

Flavius ​​Theodosius came from Cauca , a small town in the Spanish province of Gallaecia . His father's name was Honorius, as was his second son and one of his grandchildren, who later became Emperor Flavius ​​Augustus Honorius . He was married to a certain Thermantia. Theodosius was a Christian , like his father, a member of the local upper class and owned several large latifundia .

Flavius ​​Theodosius proved to be an experienced and extremely successful military man. In 368 he transferred a small army to Britain on behalf of Emperor Valentinian I , where he overthrown the usurper Valentinus , manned Hadrian's Wall again, or secured it, and drove out the Pict and Saxon gangs marauding in the province . So he quickly restored order to the island. His son Theodosius , who later became emperor , had also accompanied him on this campaign. The father's successes paved the way for his further career in the Roman army. Flavius ​​Theodosius was probably the Magister equitum praesentalis since 369, and in this function he fought against the Franks and, since 372, also the Alemanni on the Rhine border .

Emperor Valentinian finally ordered him to Africa in 373 to put down the revolt of the Firmus , which he soon succeeded in doing. He also acted consistently against the machinations of the corrupt governor Romanus and against the soldiers' indiscipline. But with this Flavius ​​Theodosius made many enemies.

His opponents finally caused his fall and the subsequent execution, which is said to have taken place in Carthage in early 376 , but the details of his death remain in the dark. Perhaps they wanted to ensure that the successful general did not seize control of the empire after Valentinian's death.

His son Theodosius withdrew to his Spanish property after his father's execution. After he was appointed Emperor of the East in 379, he took care of the rehabilitation of his father.

literature

• Alexander Demandt : The death of the elder Theodosius. In: Historia . Vol. 18, No. 5, 1969, pp. 598-626, JSTOR 4435107 .
• Alexander Demandt: The campaigns of the older Theodosius. In: Hermes . Vol. 100, No. 1, 1972, pp. 81-113, JSTOR 4475721 .
• Hartmut Leppin : Theodosius the Great. On the way to the Christian empire (= shaping the ancient world ). Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt 2003, ISBN 3-534-15431-2 , pp. 29–33.
• RSO Tomlin: Theodosius [Flavius ​​Theodosius; known as Count Theodosius]. In: Henry Colin Gray Matthew, Brian Harrison (Eds.): Oxford Dictionary of National Biography , from the earliest times to the year 2000 (ODNB). Oxford University Press, Oxford 2004, ISBN 0-19-861411-X , ( oxforddnb.com license required ), as of 2004