Montius Magnus

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Montius Magnus († 354 in Antioch ) was a high Roman official of late antiquity . Initially proconsul , Montius was 351 quaestor sacri palatii , a kind of minister of justice, at the court of Caesar (lower emperor) Constantius Gallus in Antioch. In this function, his main task was to represent the Upper Emperor Constantius II at the court of his subordinate Constantius Gallus. So he came into conflict with Gallus, who finally ensured that Montius was cruelly murdered by soldiers together with the Prefect Domitianus .

Contemporary history background

At the beginning of the 4th century AD, around the time Montius Magnus was born, Constantine became the Great Roman Emperor. He prevailed against various competitors and finally ruled alone over the Roman Empire from 324 onwards. As emperor he initiated the Constantinian turn and paved the way for Christianity to become an imperial religion. He also moved the capital of the empire to Constantinople , which shifted the central power to the eastern part of the empire.

When Constantine finally died in 337, a series of murders took place : in favor of the three sons of Constantine, the military eliminated almost all other male relatives of the late emperor. After the potential rivals of Constantine's sons were out of the way, they took over the rule: Constantine II ruled in the west, Constans in Italy and Africa , Constantius II in the east. However, as early as 340 there was a fratricidal war between Constantine II and Constans, in which Constantine II was killed.

In 350, the usurper Magnus Magnentius rose to be emperor in Gaul . He had Constans murdered and thus took power in the entire west of the empire. Constantius II, the only remaining son of Emperor Constantine I, now had to move against Magnentius. In order not to leave the eastern border of the empire, which was threatened by the Persians , without protection, he raised his cousin Constantius Gallus to Caesar (lower emperor) and sent him east. In 351 Constantius defeated Magnentius in the battle of Mursa , but could not finally defeat him until Mons Seleucus in 353.

Life

Ascent

Perhaps Montius Magnus was from the province of Africa . Since he was an old man in the early 350s, he could have been born in the early 4th century. Around the year 350 he became proconsul (governor) of Constantinople. At this time the speaker Libanios dedicated his work Argumenta Demosthenis to him . In the year 351 the then emperor Constantius II raised his cousin Constantius Gallus to Caesar (lower emperor) and sent Montius in the office of quaestor sacri palatii with the court of Gallus to the east of the empire. There the court of Gallus, to which Montius now belonged, stayed in Antioch . Simultaneously with his appointment as quaestor sacri palatii , who exercised the function of minister of justice at the court, Montius was appointed Patricius .

Constantius II had instructed Montius and the other officials to monitor Gallus and to see that he acted according to the will of the high emperor. This corresponded to Constantius' understanding of the tasks of a Caesar: Gallus should have almost exclusively military and representative competences, legislative and executive tasks should be reserved for the officials of Constantius. This system largely corresponded to that which had ruled under Constantius' father Constantine the Great. At that time the sons of Constantine, whom he had appointed Caesares , and Constantius as one of them, were also not endowed with administrative powers.

However, Gallus had a different understanding of the duties of a Caesar, which was based more on the original system of the tetrarchy established by Emperor Diocletian . Accordingly, as Caesar, he should enjoy extensive autonomy in his part of the empire, including in administration. This led to conflicts between Gallus and Constantius, who was mainly represented in this dispute by the court in Antioch. Gallus, encouraged by his wife, Constantine's daughter Constantina , took more and more freedom and made strategically risky decisions. For example, he made an enemy of the upper classes of Antioch by lowering grain prices against their will during a famine.

assassination

At Gallus' court, Montius, as one of the highest officials, initially worked primarily with the Praetorian prefect Thalassius , who often came into conflict with Gallus. When Thalassius died suddenly in 353, Constantius sent Domitianus to Antioch as the new Praetorian prefect. This received the order to lure Gallus to the court in Mediolanum ( Milan ) and to pull him out of the traffic. But Domitianus was extremely clumsy in the following: he played himself imperiously towards Caesar and thus incurred his anger.

The course of the following events is shown contradictingly in the ancient sources. According to the historian Ammianus Marcellinus , Gallus finally got so angry that he had Domitianus guarded by his bodyguards, i.e. arrested him. Montius tried to mediate between the two by calling the palace guard over and warning them urgently that any act against Domitianus was also an act against Constantius II, to whom they were actually subject. When Gallus found out about it, he became frightened and incited his troops against Montius and Domitianus, so that they finally murdered the two. This account is also covered by a comment by the historian Zonaras .

According to a different tradition of Philostorg , Montius was commissioned by Gallus to have Domitianus executed. Montius protested and explained to the Caesar that he did not even have the right to appoint a minor official. That is why he must not believe that he can get rid of a high official like Domitianus. Constantina, Gallus's wife, was so upset by Montius' "excessive cheek" that she personally pulled him away and handed him over to the guards. Both Montius and Domitianus were killed. According to a third version, passed down by the church historians Socrates Scholastikos and Sozomenos , Gallus conspired against Constantius. Montius and Domitian revealed these plans to Constantius and were killed for it.

Ammianus describes the course of the lynching as follows:

“Without hesitation [after the incitement by Gallus] the soldiers, who are always looking for unrest, rushed first on Montius, who lived in the immediate vicinity. He was an old man, frail and sickly; nevertheless they tied his legs with rough ropes and dragged him, legs apart, as if lifeless to the prefect's office. In the same fit of anger, they threw Domitian down the stairs and tied him also with ropes. Then they both dragged tied to each other in a hurry through the spacious city. Soon their joints and limbs were torn apart, and so the soldiers kicked the bodies of the two, hideously disfigured, into the river after they had vented their anger on them. "

- Ammianus Marcellinus : 14.7.15 f.

Ammian describes Montius as inclining to gentleness. The murder of the two high officials let Constantius' patience finally break, so that he lured Gallus away from Antioch and finally had him executed. The men of Gallus responsible for the lynching were later accused and convicted by Constantius' official Eusebius .

swell

Montius is mentioned in the sources mainly in connection with his murder (for the three versions of Ammian, Philostorg and Sozomenos / Sokrates Scholastikos see above). His death is also mentioned in the Artemii Passio , in a letter from the speaker Libanios (220) and by Gregor von Nyssa in his speech against Eunomius (1, § 28,47). That Montius came from Africa can be inferred from a remark by Ammian (14,7,12), in which Montius is associated with the word afen . Using a letter from Libanios ( epistula 220), it was also suggested that he was the father of the official Calliopius .

literature

Remarks

  1. ↑ a b For example Enßlin, in: RE, Vol. XVIII, 1, Col. 211; PLRE, vol. 1, p. 536. The afen at Ammian 14,7,12 is transliterated by Wolfgang Seyfarth to acer : Ammianus Marcellinus, Roman History , Latin and German and provided with a commentary by Wolfgang Seyfarth, vol. 1 , Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt 1970, p. 82.
  2. ↑ Ammianus Marcellinus 14: 7, 15.
  3. ↑ Artemii Passio 12.
  4. ↑ On the role of Gallus and Constantina in the Antiochene supply crisis, cf. Ammian 14.1; 14: 7-8 and John F. Matthews, The Roman Empire of Ammianus , London 1989, pp. 406-408.
  5. ↑ Ammianus Marcellinus 14: 7, 12-17; Zonaras 13.9.
  6. ^ Philostorg 3:28. Cf. for example Bruno Bleckmann , Constantina, Vetranio and Gallus Caesar , in: Chiron 24 (1994), pp. 29-68, here p. 63.
  7. ↑ Socrates Scholasticos 2.34; Sozomenos 4.7. These are the only sources in which Montius Magnus is mentioned.
  8. ↑ Quotation from Ammianus Marcellinus, Roman History , Latin and German and with a commentary by Wolfgang Seyfarth, Vol. 1, p. 85. A similar, shorter description in Philostorg 3.28.
  9. ↑ Ammian 14: 7, 12.
  10. ↑ Ammian 15: 3, 1.
This version was added to the list of articles worth reading on February 23, 2008 .
personal data
SURNAME Montius Magnus
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Roman official
DATE OF BIRTH 3rd century or 4th century
PLACE OF BIRTH uncertain: Province of Africa
DATE OF DEATH 354
Place of death Antioch