‘Dagli altari alla polvere.’ Alaric, Constantine III, and the downfall of Stilicho
-
Jeroen W. P. Wijnendaele
Abstract
It has been frequently asserted that the western Roman supreme commander Stilicho’s neglect of the Transalpine provinces during the usurpation of Constantine III contributed to his eventual downfall in 408. Stilicho’s fatal flaw, in this recurring opinion, seems to have been a desire to annex eastern Illyricum for which he sought to employ Alaric. In a volte-face, he then wished to use Alaric as the leader of the western field army that was supposed to bring down Constantine. The aim of this article is to advance several notes of critique on this narrative that has had a long life in Stilichonian scholarship. Instead it will demonstrate that a) the threat of Constantine has been overestimated, b) Stilicho had no designs on annexing eastern Illyricum, c) he had a military strategy ready against Constantine that was sound and in tandem with earlier civil wars, and d) that the intended role of Alaric during this enterprise has been misunderstood. Nevertheless, Stilicho’s military strategy in 408 proved to be fundamentally corrosive towards his hitherto carefully built-up political capital. Olympius, the architect of his demise and his precise knowledge of Stilicho’s army preparations, as befitted the magister officiorium, provided the former with the perfect material to fabricate stories of Stilicho coveting a throne while neglecting the west. This set in motion the plot that ultimately brought down Stilicho.
Note
Aspects of this article were presented at the ICAEM “Power and (Op)position in the Ancient Near Eastern and Mediterranean World” conference at the University of Tartu, where I received helpful comments by Maurits de Leeuw and Lynette Mitchell.
Acknowledgment
I would also like to thank Viola Gheller for specific feedback and an advance insight in her new monograph on the Goths, and the peer-reviewer of this journal for their constructive response. The final results of this article were made possible thanks to generous research funding provided by the “Research Council of Flanders” (= F.W.O.) and a stay at the University of Tübingen as part of the “Migration and Mobility in Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages” programme.
Bibliography
Amidon, P. R. Philostorgius: church history. Leiden: Brill, 2007.Suche in Google Scholar
Armstrong, J., editor. Circum Mare: themes in ancient warfare. Leiden: Brill, 2016.Suche in Google Scholar
Bemmann, J. and M. Schmauder, editors. The Complexity of Interaction along the Eurasian Steppe Zone in the First Millennium CE. Bonn: Universität Bonn Institut für Vor- und Frühgeschichtliche Archäologie, 2015.Suche in Google Scholar
Blockley, R. C. The Fragmentary Classicising Historians of the Later Roman Empire, vol. 2. Liverpool: F. Cairns, 1983.Suche in Google Scholar
Blockley, R. C. East Roman Foreign Policy: formation and conduct from Diocletian to Anastasius. Leeds: F. Cairns, 1992.Suche in Google Scholar
Blockley, R. C. 1998, “The dynasty of Theodosius.” In Cameron and Garnsey (1998), 111–137. 10.1017/CHOL9780521302005.005Suche in Google Scholar
Birley, A. R. The Roman Government of Britain. Oxford: Oxford U. P., 2005. 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199252374.001.0001Suche in Google Scholar
Börm, H. Westrom. Von Honorius bis Justinian. Stuttgart: Kohlhammer, 2013. Suche in Google Scholar
Burns, T. S. Barbarians within the Gates of Rome: a study of Roman military policy and the Barbarians, ca. 375-425. Bloomington: Indiana U. P., 1994.Suche in Google Scholar
Cameron, A. Claudian: poetry and propaganda at the court of Honorius. Oxford: Oxford U. P., 1970.Suche in Google Scholar
Cameron, A. The Last Pagans of Rome. Oxford: Oxford U. P., 2011.10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199747276.001.0001Suche in Google Scholar
Cameron, A. and J. Long, editors. Barbarians and Politics at the Court of Arcadius. Berkeley: University of California, 1993.Suche in Google Scholar
Cameron, A. and P. Garnsey, editors. The Cambridge Ancient History 13. The Late Empire, A.D. 337-425. Cambridge: Cambridge U. P.Suche in Google Scholar
CLRE = Bagnall R. S., et al. Consuls of the Later Roman Empire, Atlanta: American Philological Association, 1987. Suche in Google Scholar
Delaplace, C. La fin de l’Empire romain d’Occident. Rome et les Wisigoths de 382 à 531. Rennes: Presses universitaires de Rennes, 2015.10.4000/books.pur.91089Suche in Google Scholar
Demougeot, É. “Sur la politique orientale de Stilicon de 405 a 407.” Byzantion 20 (1950): 27–37.Suche in Google Scholar
Drinkwater, J. F. “The usurpers Constantine III (407–411) and Jovinus (411–413).” Britannia 29 (1998): 269–298.10.2307/526818Suche in Google Scholar
Dunn, G. “Flavius Constantius, Galla Placidia, and the Aquitanian Settlement of the Goths.” Phoenix 69 (2015): 376–389.10.1353/phx.2015.0039Suche in Google Scholar
Elton, H. Warfare in Roman Europe, AD 350–425. Oxford: Clarendon, 1996. Suche in Google Scholar
Elton, H. “Military forces in the later Roman Empire.” In The Cambridge History of Greek and Roman Warfare, vol. 2, edited by P. Sabin, et al., 270–309. Cambridge: Cambridge U. P., 2007.10.1017/CHOL9780521782746.009Suche in Google Scholar
Elton, H. “Imperial campaigns between Diocletian and Honorius, A.D. 284-423: the Rhine frontier and the western provinces.” In Sarantis and Christie 2012, 655–681.10.1163/22134522-90000021aSuche in Google Scholar
Erdkamp, P., editor. A Companion to the Roman Army. Malden: Blackwell, 2007.10.1002/9780470996577Suche in Google Scholar
Fear, A. T. Orosius: seven books of history against the pagans. Liverpool: Liverpool U. P., 2010. Suche in Google Scholar
Garnsey, P. and C. Humfress. The Evolution of the Late Antique World. Cambridge: Cambridge U. P., 2001.Suche in Google Scholar
Gheller, V. “Identità” e “arianesimo gotico:” genesi di un topos storiografico. Bologna: Bononia U. P., 2017.Suche in Google Scholar
Gillett, A., editor. On Barbarian Identity. Critical approaches to ethnicity in the early Middle Ages. Turnhout: Brepols, 2002. 10.1484/M.SEM-EB.6.09070802050003050101060809Suche in Google Scholar
Halsall, G. Barbarian Migrations and the Roman West, 376-568. Cambridge: Cambridge U. P., 2007.10.1017/CBO9780511802393Suche in Google Scholar
Heather, P. Goths and Romans AD 332-489. Oxford: Clarendon, 1991. Suche in Google Scholar
Heather, P. “The Huns and the end of the Roman Empire in western Europe.” English Historical Review 110.435 (1995): 4–41.10.4324/9781315234311-4Suche in Google Scholar
Heather, P. The Goths. Oxford: Blackwell, 1996.Suche in Google Scholar
Heather, P. The Fall of the Roman Empire: a new history of Rome and the barbarians. Oxford: Oxford U. P., 2005. Suche in Google Scholar
Janssen, T. Stilicho: das weströmische Reich vom Tode des Theodosius bis zur Ermordung Stilichos (395–408). Marburg: Tectum, 2004. Suche in Google Scholar
Johnson, S. F., editor. The Oxford Handbook of Late Antiquity. Oxford: Oxford U. P., 2012.10.1093/oxfordhb/9780195336931.001.0001Suche in Google Scholar
Jones, A. H. M. The Later Roman Empire, 284-602: a social, economic, and administrative survey. Vol. 1. Oxford: Oxford U. P., 1964.Suche in Google Scholar
Kelly, C., editor. Theodosius II and His Age. Cambridge: Cambridge U. P., 2013.10.1017/CBO9781139839075Suche in Google Scholar
Kulikowski, M. “Barbarians in Gaul, usurpers in Britain.” Britannia 31 (2000): 325–345.10.2307/526925Suche in Google Scholar
Kulikowski, M. Rome’s Gothic Wars: from the third century to Alaric. Cambridge: Cambridge U. P., 2007.Suche in Google Scholar
Kulikowski, M. "The western kingdoms." In Johnson 2012, 31–59.10.1093/oxfordhb/9780195336931.013.0001Suche in Google Scholar
Kulikowski, M. “The failure of Roman arms.” In Lipps, et al. 2013, 77–83.Suche in Google Scholar
Lee, A. D. War in Late Antiquity. A social history. Malden: Blackwell, 2007. Suche in Google Scholar
Lee, A. D. From Rome to Byzantium, AD 363–565. The transformation of ancient Rome. Edinburgh: Edinburgh U. P., 2013 a.10.1515/9780748631759Suche in Google Scholar
Lee, A. D. “Theodosius II and his generals.” In Kelly 2013 b, 90–108.10.1017/CBO9781139839075.008Suche in Google Scholar
Lenski, N. “Schiavi armata e formazione di eserciti privati nel mondo tardoantico.” In Urso 2009, 146–175.Suche in Google Scholar
Liebeschüetz, J. H. W. G. Barbarians and Bishops: army, church, and state in the age of Arcadius and Chrysostom. Oxford: Clarendon, 1990.Suche in Google Scholar
Lipps, J., C. Machado and P. von Rummel, editors. The Sack of Rome in 410 AD: the event, its context and its impact. Proceedings of the conference held at the German Archaeological Institute at Rome (04–06 November 2010). Wiesbaden: Reichert, 2013. Suche in Google Scholar
Matthews, J. F. Western Aristocracies and Imperial Court, AD 364–425. Oxford: Clarendon, 1975. Suche in Google Scholar
Mazzarino, S. Stilicone: la crisi imperiale dopo Teodosio. Rome: Studi pubblicati dal R. Istituto Italiano per la Storia Antica, 1942.Suche in Google Scholar
McEvoy, M. A. Child-Emperor Rule in the Late Roman West, AD 367–455. Oxford: Clarendon, 2013. 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199664818.001.0001Suche in Google Scholar
Meier, M. “Dealing with non-state societies: the failed assassination attempt against Attila (449 CE) and eastern Roman Hunnic policy.” In Bemmann and Schmauder 2015, 635–658.Suche in Google Scholar
Mitchell, S. A History of the Later Roman Empire (AD 284-641). Second edition, Malden: Blackwell, 2015.Suche in Google Scholar
Modéran, Y. Les Vandales et l’Empire romain. Arles: Éditions Errances, 2014. Suche in Google Scholar
Ñaco del Hoyo, T. and F. López-Sánchez, editors. War, Warlords and Interstate Relations in the Ancient Mediterranean. Leiden: Brill. Suche in Google Scholar
O’Flynn, J. M. Generalissimos of the Western Roman Empire, Edmonton: University of Alberta, 1983. Suche in Google Scholar
PLRE 2 = Martindale, J. R. The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire. Vol. 2 (A.D. 395–526). Cambridge: Cambridge U. P., 1980.Suche in Google Scholar
Pohl, W., editor. Kingdoms of the Empire. The integration of barbarians in Late Antiquity. Leiden: Brill, 1998. Suche in Google Scholar
Rance, P., editor. A Companion to Military Conflict in Late Antiquity. Leiden: Brill, (forthcoming).Suche in Google Scholar
Ridley, R. T. Zosimus: New History. Canberra: Australian Association for Byzantine Studies, 1982.10.1163/9789004344587Suche in Google Scholar
Salzman, M. R. “Symmachus and the ‘barbarian’ generals.” Historia 55 (2006): 352–367.10.25162/historia-2006-0023Suche in Google Scholar
Sarantis, A. and N. Christie, edtiors. War and Warfare in Late Antiquity. Current perspectives. Vol. 2. Leiden: Brill, 2012.10.1163/9789004252585Suche in Google Scholar
Sarris, P. Empires of Faith: the fall of Rome to the rise of Islam, 500–700. Oxford: Oxford U. P., 2011.10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199261260.001.0001Suche in Google Scholar
Schmitt, O. “Die Buccellarii: eine Studie zum militärischen Gefolgschaftswesen in der Spätantike.” Tyche 9 (1994): 147–174.10.15661/tyche.1994.009.11Suche in Google Scholar
Stein, E. Histoire du bas-empire vol. 1, de l’état romain à l’état byzantin, 284–476. Edited and translated by J.-R. Palanque. Amsterdam: Adolf M. Hakkert, 1968.Suche in Google Scholar
Stickler, T. “The foederati.” In Erdkamp 2007, 495–514.10.1002/9780470996577.ch28Suche in Google Scholar
Urso, G., editor. Ordine e sovversione nel mondo greco e romano. Pisa: Edizioni ETS, 2009.Suche in Google Scholar
Van Nuffelen, P. “Olympiodorus of Thebes and eastern triumphalism.” In Kelly 2013, 130–152.10.1017/CBO9781139839075.010Suche in Google Scholar
Ward-Perkins, B. The Fall of Rome and the End of Civilization. Oxford: Oxford U. P., 2005.Suche in Google Scholar
Wijnendaele, J. W. P. “Stilicho, Radagaisus, and the so-called ‘Battle of Faesulae.’” Journal of Late Antiquity 9 (2016a): 267–284.10.1353/jla.2016.0013Suche in Google Scholar
Wijnendaele, J. W. P. “Warlordism and the disintegration of the western Roman army.” In Armstrong 2016 b, 185–203.10.1163/9789004284852_011Suche in Google Scholar
Wijnendaele, J. W. P. “Generalissimos and warlords in the late Roman west.” In Ñaco del Hoyo and López-Sánchez 2018, 429-451Suche in Google Scholar
Wijnendaele, J. W. P. “Sarus ‘the Heroic.’ From imperial commander to Gothic warlord.” Early Medieval Europe 27 (forthcoming 2019). 10.1111/emed.12372Suche in Google Scholar
Wijnendaele, J. W. P. “Adfectatio regni? Eucherius, Theodosius II and the succession of Arcadius.” Classical Quarterly (forthcoming a)Suche in Google Scholar
Wijnendaele, J. W. P. “The rise of retainership.” In Rance (forthcoming b).Suche in Google Scholar
Williams, S. and G. Friell. Theodosius. The empire at bay, New Haven: Yale U. P., 1994.Suche in Google Scholar
Wolfram, H. History of the Goths. Berkeley: University of California, 1988.Suche in Google Scholar
Wolfram, H. The Roman Empire and its Germanic Peoples. Berkeley: University of California, 1997.Suche in Google Scholar
Wright, F. A. Jerome. Select letters. Loeb Classical Library. Cambridge: Harvard U. P., 1933.10.4159/DLCL.jerome-letters.1933Suche in Google Scholar
© 2018 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Frontmatter
- Frontmatter
- Articles
- Picking over the bones: the practicalities of processing the Athenian war dead
- Changing spaces, changing behaviours: Achaemenid spatial features at the court of Alexander the Great
- The katochoi of Zeus at Baitokaike (Hoson Sulaiman, Syria)
- The Audience of Ammianus Marcellinus and the Circulation of Books in the Late Roman World
- ‘Dagli altari alla polvere.’ Alaric, Constantine III, and the downfall of Stilicho
- New perspectives on Byzantine Spain: the Discriptio Hispaniae
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Frontmatter
- Frontmatter
- Articles
- Picking over the bones: the practicalities of processing the Athenian war dead
- Changing spaces, changing behaviours: Achaemenid spatial features at the court of Alexander the Great
- The katochoi of Zeus at Baitokaike (Hoson Sulaiman, Syria)
- The Audience of Ammianus Marcellinus and the Circulation of Books in the Late Roman World
- ‘Dagli altari alla polvere.’ Alaric, Constantine III, and the downfall of Stilicho
- New perspectives on Byzantine Spain: the Discriptio Hispaniae
