Gaiso

Gaiso († probably 351) was a Roman military and consul of late antiquity .

Nothing is known about Gaiso's origins, his name can be classified as Celto-European. Gaiso was a confidante of the officer Magnentius , who was promoted to emperor in 350. In order to secure his rule, Magnentius commissioned Gaiso as commander of a cavalry troop to eliminate the legitimate emperor Constans . Gaiso succeeded in assassinating Constans near Helena north of the Pyrenees. As a reward, he was appointed consul with Magnentius in 351 , but was only recognized as such in the west, since the east of the empire was still under the control of Constantius II . From the fact that Gaiso was appointed as a military consul, include modern historians that he was a commander in chief (magister militum) was. Since he commanded a cavalry troop in 350, he was probably magister equitum , master of the cavalry. Gaiso probably died in 351 in the battle of Mursa , in which Magnentius suffered a heavy defeat.

literature

Arnold Hugh Martin Jones , John Robert Martindale, John Morris : Gaiso. In: The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire (PLRE). Volume 1, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1971, ISBN 0-521-07233-6 , p. 380.
Otto Seeck : Gaiso 1 . In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume VII, 1, Stuttgart 1910, column 488.

Remarks

^ Moritz Schönfeld: Dictionary of the old Germanic names of persons and peoples. Heidelberg 1911, p. 101. Wolfgang Kuhoff : The temptation of power. Late Roman army masters and their potential reach for the empire . In: Silvia Serena Tschopp, Wolfgang EJ Weber (Hrsg.): Power and communication. Augsburg studies on European cultural history . Akademie, Berlin 2012, pp. 39–80, here p. 43, suspects that like Magnentius he might have had Franconian roots.
↑ Epitome de Caesaribus 41:23; Zosimos 2,42,5.
↑ Chronograph from 354 .
^ First Wilhelm Ensslin : To the office of army master of the late Roman Empire. Part II: The magistri militum of the 4th century. In: Klio . Volume 24, 1931, pp. 102–147, here p. 105. Gaiso was thus one of the first known army masters, cf. the list of Roman military masters .
↑ Alexander Demandt : Magister militum. In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Supplementary volume XII, Stuttgart 1970, Col. 553-798, here Col. 563.
↑ See Julian , Speech 2,57d.

personal data
SURNAME	Gaiso
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Roman military and consul
DATE OF BIRTH	3rd century or 4th century
DATE OF DEATH	uncertain: 351

[1] Moritz Schönfeld: Dictionary of the old Germanic names of persons and peoples. Heidelberg 1911, p. 101. Wolfgang Kuhoff : The temptation of power. Late Roman army masters and their potential reach for the empire . In: Silvia Serena Tschopp, Wolfgang EJ Weber (Hrsg.): Power and communication. Augsburg studies on European cultural history . Akademie, Berlin 2012, pp. 39–80, here p. 43, suspects that like Magnentius he might have had Franconian roots.

[2] Epitome de Caesaribus 41:23; Zosimos 2,42,5.

[3] Chronograph from 354 .

[4] First Wilhelm Ensslin : To the office of army master of the late Roman Empire. Part II: The magistri militum of the 4th century. In: Klio . Volume 24, 1931, pp. 102–147, here p. 105. Gaiso was thus one of the first known army masters, cf. the list of Roman military masters .

[5] Alexander Demandt : Magister militum. In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Supplementary volume XII, Stuttgart 1970, Col. 553-798, here Col. 563.

[6] See Julian , Speech 2,57d.