Gildo (general)

Gildo (* around 330 ; † 398 ) was a late Roman officer and usurper .

Life

Gildo was the son of King Nubel of Mauritania and had a daughter named Salvina. In 373 he served under the elder Theodosius , the father of the later Emperor Theodosius I , in Africa and in this context successfully fought against his own brother Firmus , who had been incited to an uprising against the Roman government by the governor Romanus .

Since 386 Gildo functioned in Africa as Commander in Chief ( Comes Africae ) of the provincial army, where he supported the usurper Magnus Maximus against the legitimate Western Emperor Valentinian II . In terms of religious policy, he promoted the Donatists . Gildo succeeded in the course of time to achieve a quasi independent position in Africa. As early as 394 he had refused to support Emperor Theodosius in the fight against the usurper Eugenius . This was unacceptable in the long run, as the rich and highly urbanized provinces were also the granary of Rome and Gildo could cut back the grain supply at will.

When tensions arose between the two parts of the empire after the division of the empire in 395 , Gildo rose against the western Roman emperor Honorius in 397 , tacted openly with the eastern Roman government and stopped the grain deliveries to Italy. Thereupon the Western Roman regent and master Stilicho proceeded against him. Gildo was declared an enemy of the state ( hostes ), and a Western Roman army under the command of Gildo's brother Mascezel, whose children had been murdered by Gildo, ended up in Africa. Gildo defeated her at the Battle of Tabraca on July 31, 398 and was executed. His goods were confiscated, which was apparently such an extensive task that the post of comes Gildoniaci patrimonii had to be created especially for it . The province of Africa came back under the control of the Western Roman government. Stilicho later had Mascezel eliminated.

The poet Claudian wrote an unfinished work of the same name ( de bello Gildonico ) about the war against Gildo . Gildo it is called tyrannus referred to what was considered as a synonym for usurper in late Roman times. Nevertheless, this was due to propaganda purposes. Gildo intended to maintain a quasi-independent position - but this should be done in conjunction with the (east) Roman government.

literature

• Alan Cameron : Claudian. Poetry and Propaganda at the Court of Honorius . Oxford 1970, pp. 93ff.
• Arnold Hugh Martin Jones , John Martindale, John Morris: The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire . Vol. 1, Cambridge 1971, pp. 395f.

Remarks

1. ↑ Kai Brodersen and Bernhard Zimmermann (eds.): Personen der Antike . Verlag JB Metzler, Stuttgart and Weimar, page 85, ISBN 3-476-02023-1 .
2. ↑ At the end of the Firmus see Ammianus Marcellinus 29.5.
3. ↑ Claudian, Gild. 5f. For the interpretation, cf. Cameron, Claudian , especially pp. 102f.