Battle of Mons Seleucus
| date | July 3, 353 |
|---|---|
| place | at Mons Seleucus in Gaul (today La Bâtie-Montsaléon , France ) |
| output | decisive victory of Constantius II. |
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Roman Empire / West |
Roman Empire / East |
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The battle of Mons Seleucus was fought on July 3, 353 between a Roman army under the emperor Constantius II and a Roman army of the usurper Magnus Magnentius .
Magnentius, a Roman general presumably of Frankish origin, had risen in 350 in Gaul against Emperor Constans , whom he had immediately killed. Proclaimed emperor by his troops, he quickly controlled much of the western half of the Roman Empire, while the eastern half remained under Emperor Constantius II, a brother of the overthrown Constans.
In view of the events in the west, Constantius II broke off a campaign he was leading at that time against the Persian Sassanids and led his army to the west. Magnentius went to meet him with his troops. In the battle of Mursa (today Osijek) in the year 351 the usurper was defeated and was forced to withdraw to Gaul with heavy losses, where he was able to stay for two years.
On July 3, 353, Magnentius was finally defeated by the troops of Constantius in the battle of Mons Seleucus (today La Bâtie-Montsaléon in the French department of Hautes-Alpes ). He fled to Lyon , where he committed suicide on August 10 or 11 when his remaining soldiers tried to hand him over to Constantius. The Caesar Decentius , who with his troops to the aid had wanted to come for a week hanged later in Senonae when he received news of the death of his brother.
literature
- Wilhelm Ensslin : Magnentius. In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume XIV, 1, Stuttgart 1928, column 445 ff.
- Arnold Hugh Martin Jones , John Robert Martindale, John Morris : Fl. Magnus Magnentius. In: The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire (PLRE). Volume 1, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1971, ISBN 0-521-07233-6 , p. 532.
- J. Šašel: The Struggle between Magnentius and Constantius II for Italy and Illyricum. In: J. Šašel: Opera selecta. Ljubljana 1992, pp. 716-722.
- William N. Zeisel: The Revolt of Magnentius (AD 350-353). Dissertation, Chicago 1967.