Eugenius
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Flavius Eugenius (d. September 6, 394) was a Roman usurper (392-394) against Emperor Theodosius I.
Life
A former teacher of grammar and rhetoric, as well as magister scrinorum, Eugenius was an acquaintance of the Frank magister militum (and de facto ruler of the Western Roman Empire) Arbogast.
Rise to power
Following the death of Valentinian II, Arbogast, who had probably been the cause of Valentinian murder or suicide, elevated Eugenius to purple (22 August 392). The choice of Eugenius over proclaiming himself, offered to Arbogast two strong advantages: Eugenius, a Roman, was more suitable that Arbogast, a Frank, as a emperor; furthermore, the Roman Senate would have supported Eugenius more likely that Arbogast.
Civil, religious, and military policies
Upon his election, Eugenius changed the imperial administrators. When Theodosius had left the western half of the empire to Valentinian, he had put his own men in the highest civil offices, to keep a strong grasp on the whole empire. Eugenius, in his own, obviously replaced these administators with others loyal to himself, coming from the senatorial class. Nichomacus Flavianus the Elder became Praetorian Prefect of Italy, his son Nichomachus Flavianus the Younger received the title of Prefect of Rome, while the new praefectus annonae was Numerius Proiectus.
Eugenius was nominally a Christian, and therefore was reluctant to accept a program of imperial support to Paganism. His men, however, convinced Eugenius to use public money to fund Pagan projects, such as the rededication of the Temple of Venus and Rome and the restoration of the Altar of Victory within the Curia (removed by Emperor Gratian). This religious policy met the contrast of both Theodosius and Ambrose, who left Milan when the imperial court of Eugenius arrived.
Eugenius obtained also some success in the military field, notably the renovation of old alliances with Alamanni and Franks. Arbogast, who was Frank and had also Allemanni and Frank soldiers in his ranks, marche to the Rhine frontier; he impressed the Germanic tribes by parading his army in front of them.
Fall of Eugenius
When was elected emperor, Eugenius sent ambassadors to Theodosius court, requesting the recognization of his election. Theodosius received Eugenius representatives, but started to gather troops to defeat Eugenius. Furthermore, he promoted his two years old son Honorius to the rank of Augustus of the West in January 393.
Theodosius I moved from Constantinople with his army, and met Eugenius and Arbogast army in the Battle of the Frigidus (on modern Italy-Slovenia border) on September 6, 394). The battle lasted two days, was bloody, and marked by unusual astronomical and meteorological events, but in the end Theodosius won. Arbogast immediately committed suicide after the defeat, while Eugenius was held for execution as a criminal, and his head was displayed in Theodosius' camp.
Importance of Eugenius reign
The reign of Eugenius marked the end of an era and the beginning of a new one. The year after his defeat, Theodosius died, dividing his empire between his two sons. The Roman Empire never returned to be a unity, until the fall of the Western half.Eugenius also represented the last opportunity, for the Pagans and the senatorial class, to oppose to the christianization of the Empire. The Battle of the Frigidus marked the trend of using increasing percentages of barbarian troops, expecially in the west, were it led to the weakening of the empire itself.
References
External links
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