Athanaric
Athanaric | |
---|---|
Balti dynasty | |
Father | Aoric |
Religion | Gothic paganism |
Athanaric or Atanaric
Life
Athanaric made his first appearance in recorded history in 369, when he engaged in battle with the Roman emperor Valens and ultimately negotiated a favorable peace for his people. During his reign, many Thervingi had converted to Arian Christianity, which Athanaric vehemently opposed, fearing that Christianity would destroy Gothic culture. According to the report of Sozomen, more than 300 Christians were killed in Athanaric's persecution during the 370s.
According to Socrates, Fritigern and Athanaric were rival leaders of the Thervingian Goths. As this rivalry grew into warfare, Athanaric gained the advantage, and Fritigern asked for Roman aid. Emperor Valens and the Thracian field army intervened, Valens and Fritigern defeated Athanaric, and Fritigern converted to Christianity, following the same teachings as Valens followed.[3] Sozomen follows Socrates' account.[4]
According to Zosimus, Athanaric was king of the Goths. Sometime after their victory at
In 376, Valens permitted Fritigern's people to cross the Danube and settle on Roman soil to avoid the Huns, who had recently conquered the Greuthungi and were now pressing the Thervingi then living in Dacia.
In 381, Athanaric unexpectedly came to Constantinople. According to Jordanes, he negotiated a peace with the new emperor Theodosius, that made some Thervingi foederati, or official allies of Rome, allowed to settle on Roman soil as a state within a state.[6] Orosius (Historiae adversum paganos 7, 34) and Zosimus (New History 4, 34, 3-5) affirm this, but another source, Ammianus Marcellinus (Res gestae 27, 5, 10) tells us an entirely different story. According to him, Athanaric was banished by his fellow tribesmen and forced to seek asylum on the Roman territory. Cf. Themistius (oratio 15, 190-1), who likewise describes Athanaric as a supplicant and a refugee.
A peace and a treaty with the Thervingi (or Visigoths), who still fought the Romans in Thrace, was concluded in 382 and it lasted until the death of Theodosius of Constantinople, in 395.
See also
References
- ISBN 978-0-521-03295-7. Retrieved 8 December 2012.
- ISBN 9780520069831. Retrieved 5 April 2012.
- ^ a b Socrates Scholasticus, Church History, book 4, chapter 33.
- ^ a b Sozomen, Church History, book 6, chapter 37.
- ^ a b Zosimus, Historia Nova, book 4.
- ^ Jordanes, Getica 142-145.