Hypatius (Consul 359)

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Flavius ​​Hypatius was a late antique Roman official of the 4th century AD. In 359 he was consul .

Life

Hypatius was probably the son of the officer Flavius ​​Eusebius , who had been consul in 347. Like him and his siblings Eusebia and Eusebius , he came from the Macedonian Thessalonike . Hypatius' career began after his sister Eusebia married the Emperor Constantius II in 353 and then began promoting her brothers. In 359 he became consul with his older brother Eusebius. In February 363 he was perhaps governor of the city of Rome ( lat. Vicarius urbis Romae ). After that, he was not mentioned again in the sources until 371, during the reign of Emperor Valens , when he and his brother were accused in Antioch of conspiring against the Emperor and wanting to overthrow him. Although nothing could be proven, they had to pay a fine and were banished. Soon after, however, they were allowed to return; the money was returned to them.

378-379 Hypatius was city prefect in Rome ( praefectus urbi Romae ), which was an important civil office in late antiquity and brought the title vir illustris with it. During his inauguration, which took place in Antioch around August 378, shortly after the costly battle of Adrianople , several panegyric (eulogies) were given to him , including one by the famous rhetorician Libanios , which is still preserved. In 381, Hypatius paid a visit to the capital, Constantinople , until he returned to the west as Praetorian prefect . 382–383 he remained praefectus praetorio Italiae , that is, under the ruling emperor Gratian in the west at the time, he was praetorian prefect for Italy . From this period, several imperial edicts to him, compiled in the Codex Theodosianus , have been received, which were issued between April 13, 382 and May 28, 383. Hypatius, whose year of death is unknown, was probably a Christian, as can be seen in a letter from Bishop Gregor von Nazianz to him.

rating

Libanios judges Hypatius in his Panegyrikus extremely positively according to the genre, which is basically of no further interest, since panegyries explicitly serve this purpose. More interesting is the exceptionally positive evaluation in the work of the historian Ammianus Marcellinus - the main source for the period from 353 to 378. There, Hypatius and his brother Eusebius are referred to at one point as "that outstanding couple of consuls". Hypatius is described again in an almost panegyric way at 29,2,16 in connection with the high treason trials under Valens: “Among them all, recommended by the ornament of his virtues, especially our [noster] Hypatius stood out from the earliest youth , a man of calm and peaceable way of thinking, which measured the honesty and gentleness of the being according to the rule and both lent the glory of his ancestors new splendor and also adorned his descendants with the admirable achievements of a two-fold prefecture ”. Why he lifts the brothers and especially Hypatius to heaven in such a way can only be guessed at: Ammian was probably present in Antioch himself when the treason trials began, and perhaps he himself was in danger. Another connection between Ammian and Hypatius could arise through the prefectures: Around 380 Ammian went to Rome, where Hypatius was also located. Maybe the two knew each other personally.

literature

Remarks

  1. ↑ This is assumed by the PLRE, vol. 1, p. 448, as well as Portmann, in: DNP, vol. 5, col. 800, on the basis of a comment in Codex Theodosianus (3,5,8). It is a letter from Emperor Julian ad Hypatium vicarium urbis Romae , d. H. "To Hypatius, governor of the city of Rome". It cannot be conclusively clarified whether this is precisely this Hypatius. Otto Seeck , in: RE, Vol. IX, 1, Col. 249, for example identifies him with Hypatius , the governor of Palestine.
  2. ↑ Ammianus Marcellinus 29: 2, 9-16.
  3. ↑ Libanios, Speech 1,179–181; Codex Theodosianus 11,36,26.
  4. ↑ From April 18, 382: Codex Theodosianus 11,16,13; of May 28, 383: Codex Theodosianus 2,19,5. Further mentions of Hypatius at 11,16,15; 6.26.3; 6,2,13; 5,1,3; 12,1,99f., 3,1,4; 16,7,3 (compilation in Seeck, RE , Vol. IX, 1, Col. 249).
  5. ^ Gregor von Nazianz, Letters 96.
  6. ↑ Ammian 29,2,9: "egregium illud par consulum".
  7. ^ Translation taken from Ammianus Marcellinus, Das Roman Weltreich vor dem Untergang , translated by Otto Veh , introduced and explained by Gerhard Wirth , Artemis-Verlag, Munich / Zurich 1974, ISBN 3-7608-3514-7 , pp. 637f.
  8. ↑ This can be concluded from a remark at 29,2,4, in which Ammian reports the events in the first - instead of the usual third - person.
  9. ↑ See Shaun Tougher, Ammianus Marcellinus on the Empress Eusebia. A split personality? , in: Greece & Rome 47, 2000, pp. 94-101, here pp. 99f.
personal data
SURNAME Hypatius
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Flavius ​​Hypatius
BRIEF DESCRIPTION late antique Roman official; Consul 359
DATE OF BIRTH before 359
PLACE OF BIRTH Thessaloniki
DATE OF DEATH after 383