Patricius (Caesar)

Flavius Patricius (also Patriciolus , ancient Greek Πατρίκιος ; † probably 471 in Constantinople ) was lower emperor ( Caesar ) of the Eastern Roman emperor Leo I from 469/470 to 471.

Life

Patricius was the second son of the powerful Alan army master Aspar , who had helped Leo to become emperor in 457. In return, Patricius received the consulate of the year 459, which he held - in the event of mutual non-recognition - together with the western Roman ruler Ricimer .

As an Arian disqualified for the empire, Aspar subsequently tried to build up his sons as possible heirs to the throne by marrying them into the imperial family. Patricius was engaged to Leo's younger daughter Leontia . He was thus in direct competition with the later Emperor Zenon , who had married the older sister Ariadne in 467 . In 469 or (more likely) 470, under pressure from Aspars, Patricius was appointed Caesar by Leo . When it came to an uproar in the Orthodox clergy and the circus parties , Patricius was obliged to make the Arian creed as a prerequisite for the succession of Leo and the marriage with the emperor's daughter. His only known official act was a trip to Alexandria , where he was received with all the honors a Caesar deserves.

But in 471 Aspar was ousted by the Isaurian faction at court and, at the behest of the emperor, was attacked and murdered in the palace of Constantinople. According to most sources, Patricius and his older brother Ardabur were also killed in the massacre - although Candidus , for example, suggests that Patricius may have survived seriously injured; the younger brother Ermenerich was spared. Then Patricius disappears from the tradition. He is not identical to the magister officiorum Patricius, who, as a lover of Leo's widow Verina, was involved in the disempowerment of Emperor Zenon in 475 . Leontia was still married to Flavius Marcianus , son of the Western Roman emperor Anthemius , in 471 . The title of Caesar passed to Zenon's son Leo .

No coins are known from Patricius .

literature

Brian Croke: Dynasty and Ethnicity: Emperor Leo I. and the Eclipse of Aspar . In: Chiron . Vol. 35, 2005, pp. 147-203.
Gerard Friell, Stephen Williams: The Rome That Did Not Fall. The survival of the East in the fifth century. Routledge, London 1999, ISBN 0-415-15403-0 .
Philip Grierson , Melinda Mays: Catalog of late Roman coins in the Dumbarton Oaks Collection and in the Whittemore Collection. From Arcadius and Honorius to the Accession of Anastasius. Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Washington DC 1992, ISBN 0-88402-193-9 .
Wolfgang Kuhoff: Leo I .. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 25, Bautz, Nordhausen 2005, ISBN 3-88309-332-7 , Sp. 810-829. ( Article / beginning of article in Internet archive )

Web links

Hugh Elton: Short biography (English) at De Imperatoribus Romanis (with references).

Remarks

↑ The often attributed Gentiliz Iulius is based on an incorrect reading of the inscription CIL 3 9522.
↑ It is possible that a youthful figure depicted on two solidi in the Hermitage and two other from the treasure of Zeccone and in Istanbul represents Patricius. Cf. Grierson / Mays, Catalog of late Roman Coins, p. 162 f.

personal data
SURNAME	Patricius
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Patriciolus; Flavius Patricius; Πατρίκιος (Greek)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Lower Emperor Leo I of Byzantium, son of Aspars
DATE OF BIRTH	before 457
DATE OF DEATH	uncertain: 471
Place of death	uncertain: Constantinople

[1] The often attributed Gentiliz Iulius is based on an incorrect reading of the inscription CIL 3 9522.

[2] It is possible that a youthful figure depicted on two solidi in the Hermitage and two other from the treasure of Zeccone and in Istanbul represents Patricius. Cf. Grierson / Mays, Catalog of late Roman Coins, p. 162 f.