Thalassius (Praetorian Prefect)

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Thalassius († 353 / beginning 354) was a high Roman official in late antiquity . He came from a wealthy family and rose under Constantius II (337–361) first to comes (“companion” of the emperor) and finally to Praetorian prefect for the east of the Roman Empire . As such, he came into conflict with the lower emperor Constantius Gallus .

Life

Ascent

Thalassius came from a wealthy Antiochene family and owned land in Phenicia and Euphratensis . He was related to the famous pagan orator Libanios , but he himself appears to have been a Christian. Thalassius was married to a Theodora, with whom he had three children. The two sons Bassianus and Thalassius later also became officials at the imperial court. His daughter later married a man named Aristo, about whom nothing else is known.

Thalassius rose under Emperor Constantius II (337-361) in imperial service. For the year 345 he is mentioned as a comes , as a "companion", of Constantius. In this capacity Thalassius was leader of an embassy to Emperor Constans , the brother of Constantius II, who was then residing in Poetovio . Thalassius negotiated with Constans about religious-political questions and represented the position of Constantius, who was close to the position of the Arians within the developing Arian dispute . Constans, on the other hand, tended more towards orthodoxy . In 346 he also fulfilled an important religious and political mandate as comes : he sent the controversial Bishop Athanasius , who lived in exile in the west, the request that he return to his hometown and his diocese of Alexandria .

In 350 in the west, the officer Magnentius had himself proclaimed anti-emperor. During the campaign of Constantius against this usurper, Thalassius belonged to the emperor's closest circle, he is even mentioned as one of the "greatest favorites" of Constantius. During an embassy to Magnentius, however, he was briefly imprisoned with his colleague Latinus and his superior, the Praetorian prefect Philip . So he could not take part in a banquet that Constantius gave in Cibalae shortly before the victorious battle of Mursa in September 351 and at which almost all of his important subordinates were present. After the battle Thalassius was in Sirmium in 351 in a commission that had the task of judging the teachings of Photinus , the bishop of Sirmium. Photinus was found guilty of heresy and deposed.

Thalassius as Praetorian prefect

In 351 Thalassius was appointed praefectus praetorio Orientis . The Praetorian prefect was responsible for the administration of an entire part of the empire - Thalassius was now the bearer of one of the most important titles of the eastern part of the empire and a direct subordinate of Constantius II. Whether he took office in 351 is questionable, since he was involved in the campaign against Magnentius and took part in the condemnation of Photinus in Sirmium. In March 351 Constantius II had. His cousin Constantius Gallus to Caesar appointed to the reign of the Emperor of the East, and this is Thalassius now had to deal with. This turned out to be difficult because Gallus did not want to resign himself to leaving the administration of his part of the empire to the emperor's officials. The ancient historian Ammianus Marcellinus reports on the frequent collisions between Thalassius and Gallus :

“[Thalassius] had a presumptuous character and recognized that Caesar's [ie, Gallus'] unrestrained activities continued to grow into the ruin of many, but did not try to bring him to reason through mature advice, as the highest dignitaries once did with anger have appeased an emperor. Since he did not come to an agreement with the latter through contradiction and bickering, he increased his anger even more. He frequently informed the emperor [Constantius II] about the deeds of Caesar, although he was not afraid of exaggerations, and he deliberately carried out this activity in public [...]. This soon angered Caesar even more violently [...]. "

- Ammianus Marcellinus : 14,2,10

We do not know much about Thalassius' further actions as Praetorian prefect. However, a law of July 3, 353 is addressed to him. Thalassius eventually died of natural causes in 353 or early 354. His successor as Praetorian prefect was Domitianus .

literature

Remarks

  1. ↑ Cf. various letters from Libanios: epistulae 1096; 1426; 1440; 1209.
  2. ↑ This can be seen above all from the fact that he often took on religious-political assignments with which the Christian Constantius would certainly not have entrusted a pagan. See Enßlin, in: RE VA, 1, Sp. 1199.
  3. ↑ a b Athanasius , Historia Arianorum 22.
  4. ↑ On the Athanasius Embassy, Apologia ad Constantium imperatorem 3.
  5. ↑ Zosimos 2,48,5. There also the quote.
  6. ↑ Epiphanios , adversus haereses 71.1; on the condemnation of Photinus see also Socrates Scholastikos 2: 29-30; Sozomenos 4.6.
  7. ↑ Artemii Passio 12.
  8. ^ So also Enßlin, in: RE VA, 1, Sp. 1199.
  9. ↑ Quoted from Ammianus Marcellinus, Roman History , Latin and German and provided with a comment by Wolfgang Seyfarth , Vol. 1, Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt 1970, p. 59.
  10. ↑ Codex Theodosianus 16.8.7.
  11. ↑ Ammian 14.7.9. 353: Enßlin, in: RE VA, 1, col. 1200; Beginning of 354: PLRE I, p. 886.
personal data
SURNAME Thalassius
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Roman Praetorian prefect
DATE OF BIRTH 3rd century or 4th century
DATE OF DEATH at 353