Fall of Rome pt. 2

curiales/decuriones

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Arbogast

A Frankish general who fought with Theodosius I against the Goths in Thrace in 380. After Magnus Maximus was defeated and executed in 388, he went to Gaul to reconquer it from Magnus' son, Flavius Victor. He managed to secure the Rhine frontier, forcing a treaty on the leaders Marcomer and Sunne when they invaded Gaul in 384. He became a comes (count) by 391 in Gaul and when Valentinian II died, he declared Eugenius as emperor of the Western Empire. Theodosius I marched to the West and managed to defeat both Eugenius and the general at the Battle of Frigidus in 394.

Vandals

A member of a Germanic people that overran Gaul, Spain, and Northern Africa in the fourth and fifth centuries A.D. and sacked Rome in 455.

Sidonius Apollinaris

A poet, diplomat, and bishop. He was one of four Gallo-Roman aristocrats of the fifth- to sixth-century whose letters survive in quantity.

Visigoths

(Tervingi) Under Valens, they are allowed to settle into Rome across the Danube, but they end up rebelling because of mistreatment which leads to a 6-year war that ends with the empire Valens dead at the final Battle of Adrianople.

Arcadius

An Eastern (Byzantine) Emperor from 395 to 408. He was the eldest son of Theodosius I,, and brother of the Western Emperor Honorius. A weak ruler, his reign was dominated by a series of powerful ministers and by his wife, Aelia Eudoxia.

Gainas

An ambitious Gothic leader who served the Eastern Roman Empire as magister militum during the reigns of Theodosius I and Arcadius. Murdered Eastern court official Rufinus.

Ambrose of Milan

Bishop of Milan from 374 to 397; one of the leading teachers of the Christian church; established Christian authority over Theodosius I. Had a lot of power for a bishop.

Justinian

Byzantine emperor in the 6th century A.D. who reconquered much of the territory previously owned by Rome, initiated an ambitious building program , including Hagia Sofia, as well as a new legal code.

Theodosius I (or the Great)

Emperor from AD 379 to AD 395, the last emperor to rule over both the East and the West. He campaigned against Goths and other barbarians who had invaded the Empire; he failed to entirely subjugate them, and after the Gothic War they established a homeland in Illyricum, in the empire. He fought 2 civil wars, against usurpers Magnus Maximus and Eugenius. He also was particularly aggressive in banning paganism.

Jovian

Emperor only briefly, he is chosen as Julian's successor after he falls in battle against the Sassanids and is forced to make lots of concessions to the enemy to save the empire. He had a sort of shady death--maybe he was assassinated, or maybe he actually suffocated from smoke from his fireplace.

Belisarius

General of Justinian who led the Byzantine forces to defeat the Vandals and the Ostrogoths. He also restructured and strengthened the army in general.

foederati

Germanic tribesmen who, in return for serving in the Roman legions, were allowed to live within the Roman Empire

Goths

Group of many tribes of barbarians that live outside the Northern borders of Rome. Divided into Visigoths and Ostrogoths, they end up fighting together against Rome, though "[blank]" is a bit of broad term used to describe several related tribes.

Aetius

He was a military commander and the most influential man in the Western Roman Empire for two decades (433-454). He managed policy in regard to the attacks of barbarian federates settled throughout the Western Roman Empire. Notably, he mustered a large Roman and allied (foederati) army to stop the Huns in the Battle of the Catalaunian Plains, ending the devastating Hunnic invasion of Attila in 451. Assassinated by Valentinian III in 454.

Valentinian II

His father's generals acclaimed the four-year-old augustus on 22 November 375. He seems to have exercised no real authority, and was a figurehead for various powerful interests: his mother, his co-emperors, and powerful generals.

Magnus Maximus

In 383 as commander of Britain, he usurped the throne against Gratian; and through negotiation with emperor Theodosius I the following year he was made emperor in Britannia and Gaul. In 387 he invaded Italy, resulting in his defeat by Theodosius I at the Battle of the Save in 388.

Battle of Adrianople

Last battle of the 6-year war against the Goths. It goes pretty poorly for Rome, the emperor Valens is killed along with a lot of soldiers and they make some concessions to the Goths (378)

Eugenius

Named by emperor by Arbogast, he was a usurper in the Weste (392-394) against Theodosius I. Though himself a Christian, he was the last (pseudo) emperor to support Roman polytheism. Defeated in 394 at Battle of Frigidus by Theodosius and the Visigoths.

Alaric

Powerful Gothic King (previously general) most famous for his sack of Rome in 410

Valentinian III

Son of Galla Placidia and Constantius III, Theodosius II appoints him as emperor of the West in 423. He was under the guardianship of the general Aetius, whom he eventually murdered, and then was assassinated by the general's allies a few months later. He had to deal with a lot of Hunnic invasions, and even appointed Attila magister militum. By the time of his death, virtually all of North Africa, all of western Spain, and the majority of Gaul had passed out of Roman hands.

Attila the Hun

The leader of the Hunnnic Empire from 434 until his death in 453. During his reign, he was one of the most feared enemies of the Western and Eastern Roman Empires. He crossed the Danube twice and plundered the Balkans, but was unable to take Constantinople. His unsuccessful campaign in Persia was followed in 441 by an invasion of the Eastern Empire, the success of which emboldened Attila to invade the West. He also attempted to conquer Gaul, before being defeated at the Battle of the Catalaunian Plains. He invaded Italy, devastating the northern provinces, but was unable to take Rome. He planned for further campaigns against the Romans but died in 453, collapsing his empire.

Salvianus

a Christian writer of the 5th century in Gaul

St. Simeon Stylites

a Syriac ascetic saint who achieved fame for living 37 years on a small platform on top of a pillar near Aleppo in Syria.

The City of God

a book of Christian philosophy written in Latin by Augustine of Hippo in the early 5th century AD. The book was in response to allegations that Christianity brought about the decline of Rome. A cornerstone of Western thought, it expounds on many profound questions of theology: such as the suffering of the righteous, the existence of evil, the conflict between free will and divine omniscience, and the doctrine of original sin.

St. Anthony of Egypt

a hermit, is considered to be the first Christian monk and served as the father of the movement.

notarii

a public secretary who is appointed by competent authority to draw up official or authentic documents

monasticism

a religious way of life in which one renounces worldly pursuits to devote oneself fully to spiritual work.

St. Augustine

an early Christian theologian and philosopher. He was the bishop of Hippo Regius, located in Numidia (Roman province of Africa). Among his most important works are The City of God and Confessions.

Valens

emperor of the Eastern half of the empire, co-ruling with his older brother Valentinian I, died at the battle of Adrianople 364-378AD after inviting the Visigoths into Rome.

agentes in rebus

imperial courier service and general agents of the central government...basically spies

Stilicho

magister militum in the army who became, for a time, the most powerful man in the Western Roman Empire. Half Vandal and married to the niece of the Emperor Theodosius. After many years of victories against a number of enemies, both barbarian and Roman, a series of political and military disasters finally allowed his enemies in the court of Honorius to remove him from power, culminating in his arrest and subsequent execution in 408.

Fritigern

one of the Visigothic miltary leaders that fought against Rome around 376

Corpus Iuris Civlis

published in 534, a comprehensive body of Roman law

coloni

serfs

Theodosius II

son of Arcadius and Eudoxia, Eastern emperor from 408 to 450. He is mostly known for promulgating the Theodosian law code, and for the construction of the Theodosian Walls of Constantinople.

sorpora/collegia

state-organized guilds

Gratian

the eldest son of Valentinian I, accompanied his father on several campaigns as a child. In 378, his generals won a decisive victory. That same year, his uncle Valens was killed in the Battle of Adrianople against the Goths - making him essentially ruler of the entire Roman Empire. He favored Christianity, removing the Altar of Victory from the Roman Senate.

Theodora

the wife of Justinian, she helped to improve the status of women in the Byzantinian Empire and encouraged her husband to stay in Constntinople and fight the Nike Revolt.

Romulus Augustulus

traditionally the last Western emperor (though not the last to claim the title), his deposition in 476 by barbarian Odoacer is considered the "fall of Rome".

St. Jerome

translated the Bible into Latin

Honorius

was Western Roman Emperor from 393 to 423. He was the younger son of Theodosius, and brother of Arcadius. His reign was supported by his principal general, Stilicho, who was successively his guardian (during his childhood) and his father-in-law (after the emperor became an adult). Probably considered one of the worst of the emperors; it was during his reign that Rome was sacked for the first time in 800 years.

Valentinian I

was a Western Roman Emperor who ruled from 364 to 375. He defended the Western Roman Empire skillfully against barbarian invaders. He focused on fortifying the borders of the empire. He named his son Gratian, as co-emperor, while his younger brother, Valens, was appointed as the emperor for the Eastern Roman Empire.