Theodosius
Jovian
Julian was the last
surviving male relative of
Constantine,
so it wasn't clear who should become the next emperor after he was killed.
The generals in the East got together in 363
AD
and chose one of themselves, a
Christian
named Jovian. Jovian gave in to the
Sassanids,
and retreated, but he didn't last very long: he died in 364 AD.
Valentinian
Jovian was succeeded by another Eastern general,
Valentinian, who was a
Catholic.
Valentinian soon decided that he would take control of the western part
of the Roman Empire and leave the eastern part to his brother Valens.
Valentinian's capital was at Milan, while Valens, an
Arian,
lived in Constantinople.
Valens
Valens' young son Gratian was engaged to
Constantius
II's daughter Constantia, to make the new emperors part of
the old family, and in 367
AD he was made
emperor as well, though he was only eight years old! Gratian's teacher
was the Christian
Ausonius,
but we know more about these people from
Ammianus
Marcellinus.
In this period the Romans continued to fight both the
Germans and the
Sassanids. There
were also Donatist
rebellions in Africa. In 378 AD the Romans
lost an important battle at Adrianople (the city of Hadrian)
in the Balkans, where Valens was killed fighting the Visigoths.
The Visigoths pushed their way into the Roman Empire and settled down,
and the Romans gave them refugee status and let them stay.
Theodosius
Theodosius, a young
Catholic
general of Spanish origin, and the son of another general, was chosen
to succeed Valens. He ruled along with Gratian and Valentinian II, the
young son of Valentinian I, and he married Galla, the daughter of Valentinian
I. Theodosius was able to regain the upper hand militarily, though mostly
by making treaties with both the
Visigoths
and the
Sassanids.
In 383, a rebellious general named Maximus killed Gratian, and in 388
the same man attacked Valentinian II; Theodosius then killed Maximus.
In 391
AD, under the influence
of Bishop
Ambrose
(now St. Ambrose) of Milan, Theodosius made it illegal to practice
pagan
religious rituals even in your own house. Only
Christianity
(and to some extent
Judaism)
were now legal in the Roman Empire. A non-Roman general named Arbogast
rebelled at this news, killed Valentinian II and put a Roman friend
of his, Eugenius, on the throne, but Theodosius defeated and killed
them. By the time he died in 395 AD, he left a firmly Christian empire.
To find out more about Theodosius and his time, check out these books
from Amazon.com or from your library:
The
Ancient Roman World, by Ronald Mellor (2004). Straight political
history, for middle schoolers.
Classical
Rome, by John Clare (1993). For kids, the whole political history
from beginning to end.
The
Romans: From Village to Empire, by Mary Boatwright, Daniel Gargola,
and Richard Talbert (2004). Okay, it's a little dry, but it is up to
date and has all the facts you could want.
Theodosius:
The Empire at Bay, by Stephen Williams and Gerard Friell (1998).
