Battle of Save

Battle of the Save
	Siscia, modern Croatia
Result	Eastern Roman victory

Belligerents

Eastern Roman Empire

Western Roman EmpireCommanders and leaders Theodosius I Magnus Maximus

The Battle of the Save was fought in 388 between the forces of

Eastern Roman Empire.^[1] Emperor Theodosius I defeated Magnus Maximus's army in battle. Later Maximus was captured and executed at Aquileia

.

Background

Alemans in a hard-fought campaign beyond the Rhine in 377 and reacting with foresight and prudence to the death of his uncle Valens at the battle of Adrianople, appointing Theodosius I, a skillful commander, with the authority of Augustus to contain the Gothic irruption.^[3] Gratian, however, soon alienated his western subjects by his disgraceful favoritism towards his Scythian bodyguards, and his neglect of public business,^[4] with the result that in 383 the British legions rebelled, and proclaimed emperor Magnus Maximus. Maximus shortly invaded Gaul and deposed and killed Gratian, meeting little or no resistance from Gratian's disaffected subjects.^[5] Theodosius, Gratian's appointee in the east, was now faced with the choice between ingratitude to his murdered co-Augustus and a civil war which might, given the barbarian menace, bring the empire to final destruction. He chose to accept Maximus as emperor in the west, with the sole stipulation that young Valentinian II, (represented, for reason of his extreme youth, by his mother Justina) be permitted to rule as an independent third Augustus in Italy; Maximus accepted, and war was for the time avoided.^[6]

Four years later (387), after Justina had alienated

Thessalonica, entrusting themselves to Theodosius' magnanimity; in the meantime, Italy succumbed to Maximus.^[8]

The Battle

Theodosius at once departed from Constantinople to greet the imperial fugitives at Thessalonica. According to Gibbon, Theodosius hesitated some time whether to risk a war against the usurper with his formidable Germanic auxiliaries, but was ultimately swayed by his love for Valentinian's sister, Galla, to take up the fallen family's cause. Justina only too gladly consented to Theodosius' marriage with her daughter, and after a hurried ceremony, Theodosius set himself to begin the war against Maximus.^[9]

Maximus, in the meantime, after besieging

Gothic war), and a strong body of Huns and Alani as auxiliaries.^[10]

Whichever side, however, possessed the material advantage, the superiority of generalship was decisive. While Maximus delayed in apprehension, Theodosius, spreading rumors of an impending invasion of Italy from the sea, boldly advanced through Illyricum with his main army, at the same time sending his

Rhaetia along the Danube into Gaul.^[11]

The entire campaign, culminating in the battle on the Sava river near

Siscia, was over within two months. On the very day that Theodosius reached the Save he forced the passage against Maximus' superior forces on the opposite bank. The following day, Maximus' lieutenant (and brother) Marcellinus launched a counter-attack to hurl Theodosius back into the river, and the fighting lasted the whole day. Ultimately, Maximus's army was routed, and he fled to Aquileia, an important fortress west of the Julian Alps, where he took refuge.^[12]

Theodosius pursued him and besieged Aquileia. The garrison soon surrendered, delivering Maximus in chains to the axe of Theodosius' justice. The deaths of Maximus (August 28), and of his son Victor (captured and executed by Arbogastes), brought the civil war to a swift conclusion.^[13]^[14]

References

Schmid, Walter; Emona, Vienna 1913
COBISS 1577312

The History of the Decline and Fall of The Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon
For more sources see
talk page

^ http://www.roman-emperors.org/madmax.htm An Online Encyclopedia of Roman Emperors; Pan. Lat. II.34
^ An Encyclopedia Of World History, (Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, 1952), chap. II., Ancient History, p. 120
^ Edward Gibbon, The Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire, (The Modern Library, 1932) chap. XXVI., pp. 934, 943-44
^ Gibbon, chap. XXVII., pp. 956-58
^ Gibbon, p. 959, 960
^ Gibbon, p. 961, 962
^ Gibbon, p. 980
^ Gibbon, p. 980-81
^ Gibbon, p. 982
^ Gibbon, p. 982, 983
^ Gibbon, Ibid.
^ Gibbon, Ibid.
^ Gibbon, p. 984
^ An Encyclopedia Of World History, Ibid.

46°25′07″N 15°52′17″E / 46.4186°N 15.8714°E / 46.4186; 15.8714

[1] ttp://www.roman-emperors.org/madmax.htm An Online Encyclopedia of Roman Emperors; Pan. Lat. II.34

[2] An Encyclopedia Of World History, (Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, 1952), chap. II., Ancient History, p. 120

[3] Edward Gibbon, The Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire, (The Modern Library, 1932) chap. XXVI., pp. 934, 943-44

[4] Gibbon, chap. XXVII., pp. 956-58

[5] Gibbon, p. 959, 960

[6] Gibbon, p. 961, 962

[7] Gibbon, p. 980

[8] Gibbon, p. 980-81

[9] Gibbon, p. 982

[10] Gibbon, p. 982, 983

[11] Gibbon, Ibid.

[12] Gibbon, Ibid.

[13] Gibbon, p. 984

[14] An Encyclopedia Of World History, Ibid.

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