Hannibalianus

This article covers the Roman rex Hannibalianus. For other people see Hannibalianus (disambiguation) .

Follis of Hannibalianus

Hannibalianus († 337 ), with full name Flavius ​​Hannibalianus (on coins: Hanniballianus ), officiated from 335/36 until his death as king (rex) in the east of the Roman Empire .

Contemporary history background

The Roman Empire went through a profound change at the beginning of the 4th century. Hannibalianus' uncle Constantine the Great had prevailed in the succession struggles that broke out with the end of the tetrarchy founded by Emperor Diocletian , and thus founded the Constantinian dynasty , to which Hannibalianus also belonged.

Constantine's reign was significant for two reasons: On the one hand, he promoted Christianity and thus initiated the Christianization of the Roman Empire. Even if the traditional gods were not abolished, they lost their power and influence. On the other hand, Constantine relocated the central power with the new capital Constantinople to the eastern part of the empire, which had already gained more and more importance. The decision in favor of the new capital was not least due to foreign policy considerations, because Constantinople was about the same distance from the threatened borders of the empire on the Danube and Euphrates . However, while the situation on the Danube was largely secured on the eve of the Huns' storm and the Great Migration , the situation in the east remained dangerous, as the Persians went on the offensive again after a restless peace towards the end of the reign of Constantine under Shapur II .

Life

Hannibalianus was the son of Flavius ​​Dalmatius , the half-brother of Constantine, and the brother of Dalmatius . He was brought up together with his brother in Tolosa (today Toulouse ) by the rhetor Exsuperius . In the 330s he and his family moved to Constantinople to the court of his uncle Constantine.

This named Hannibalianus vir nobilissimus and gave him his daughter Constantina as his wife. Constantine also gave Hannibalianus the dignity of a rex and probably gave him (diplomatic) control over the client states in the Roman border area in the east, which he was supposed to exercise from Caesarea in Cappadocia . Perhaps Hannibalianus himself was to be built up as a client king in Armenia or even as a contender for the Persian throne in order to formally take over power in Ctesiphon as rex regum ( great king ) in the event of a victory over the Persians .

After the death of Constantine in May 337, the trace of Hannibalianus is lost. It appears that he, like his brother, father, and another half-brother of Constantine, fell victim to the wave of purges following Constantine's death . His wife Constantia later married his cousin Constantius Gallus .

literature

• Wilhelm Enßlin : On the presumed Persian campaign of rex Hannibalianus . In: Klio . tape 29 , 1936, pp. 102-110 .
• Arnold Hugh Martin Jones , John Robert Martindale, John Morris : Hannibalianus 2. In: The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire (PLRE). Volume 1, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1971, ISBN 0-521-07233-6 , p. 407.
• Dietmar Kienast , Werner Eck , Matthäus Heil : Roman imperial table. Basic features of a Roman imperial chronology . 6th, completely revised and updated edition. Scientific Book Society, Darmstadt 2017, ISBN 978-3-534-26724-8 , pp. 295 .
• Karin Mosig-Walburg: Hanniballianus rex . In: Millennium. Yearbook on Culture and History of the First Millennium AD Volume 2 , 2005, p. 229-254 .
• Klaus Rosen : Julian. Emperor, God and haters of Christians . Klett-Cotta, Stuttgart 2006, ISBN 3-608-94296-3 , p. 37, 47, 50, 182 .
• Otto Seeck : Hannibalianus 3) . In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume VII, 2, Stuttgart 1912, Col. 2352 f.
• Gerhard Wirth : Hannibalian. Notes on the story of a superfluous king . In: Bonner Jahrbücher . tape 190 , 1990, pp. 201-232 .

Web links

Commons : Hannibalianus  - album with pictures, videos and audio files

• Michael DiMaio, Jr .: Short biography (English) at De Imperatoribus Romanis (with references).