Honorius (emperor)

Honorius (9 September 384 – 15 August 423) was Roman emperor from 393 to 423. He was the younger son of emperor Theodosius I and his first wife Aelia Flaccilla. After the death of Theodosius in 395, Honorius, under the regency of Stilicho, ruled the western half of the empire while his brother Arcadius ruled the eastern half. His reign over the Western Roman Empire was notably precarious and chaotic. In 410, Rome was sacked for the first time in almost 800 years.

Family

Honorius was born to Emperor Theodosius I and Empress Aelia Flaccilla on 9 September 384 in Constantinople.^[1] He was the brother of Arcadius and Pulcheria. In 386, his mother died, and in 387, Theodosius married Galla who had taken a temporary refuge in Thessaloniki with her family, including her brother Valentinian II and mother Justina, away from usurper Magnus Maximus. Theodosius and Galla had a daughter, Honorius's half-sister Galla Placidia. Honorius, Arcadius, and Galla Placidia were the only children of Theodosius to survive into adulthood.

Emperor

Early reign

After holding the consulate at the age of two in 386, Honorius was declared augustus by his father Theodosius I, and thus co-ruler, on 23 January 393, after the death of Valentinian II and the usurpation of Eugenius.^[3] When Theodosius died, in January 395, Honorius and Arcadius divided the Empire, so that Honorius became Western Roman emperor at the age of ten.^[4]

During the early part of his reign, Honorius depended on the military leadership of the general

At first Honorius based his capital in Milan, but when the Visigoths under King Alaric I entered Italy in 401 he moved his capital to the coastal city of Ravenna, which was protected by a ring of marshes and strong fortifications.^[10] While the new capital was easier to defend, it was poorly situated to allow Roman forces to protect Central Italy from the increasingly regular threat of barbarian incursions. It was significant that the Emperor's residence remained in Ravenna until the overthrow of Romulus Augustulus in 476. That was probably the reason why Ravenna was chosen not only as the capital of the Ostrogothic Kingdom in Italy, but also for the seat of the Byzantine exarchs as well.^[10]

Stilicho and the defense of Italy

Honorius's reign experienced continued barbarian incursions into Gaul, Italy and Hispania. At the same time, a host of usurpers rose up.

The first crisis faced by Honorius was a

The next crisis was the Visigothic invasion of Italy in 402 under the command of their king, Alaric. Stilicho was absent in Raetia in the latter months of 401, when Alaric, who was also the Eastern Empire's magister militum in Illyricum, suddenly marched with a large army through the Julian Alps and entered Italy.^[13]

Stilicho hurried back to protect Honorius and the legions of Gaul and Britain were summoned to defend Italy. Honorius, at Milan, was besieged by Alaric, who marched into Liguria. Stilicho narrowly defeated Alaric at Pollentia, on the river Tanarus on Easter Day (6 April 402). Alaric retreated to Verona, where Stilicho attacked him again yet the battle was not entirely conclusive. The Visigoths were allowed to retreat back to Illyricum.^[14] In 405 Stilicho met an invasion of Italy led across the Danube by Radagaisus. They brought devastation to the heart of the Empire, until Stilicho defeated them in 406 and recruited most of them into his forces.^[10] Then, in 405 or 406, a number of tribes, according to some sources allegedly including Vandals, Alans, and Suebi, crossed the Rhine and invaded Gaul.

The situation in

The western empire was effectively overstretched due to the massive invasion of Alans, Suebi and Vandals who, although they had been repulsed from Italy in 406, moved into Gaul on 31 December 406,^[15] and arrived in Hispania in 409. In early 408, Stilicho attempted to strengthen his position at court by marrying his second daughter, Thermantia, to Honorius after the death of the Empress Maria in 407.^[17] Another invasion by Alaric was prevented in 408 by Stilicho when he forced the Roman Senate to pay 4,000 pounds of gold to persuade the Goths to leave Italy.^[18]

Honorius, in the meantime, was at Bononia, on his way from Ravenna to Ticinum, when the news reached him of his brother's death in May 408. He at first was planning to go to Constantinople to help set up the court during the transition from Arcadius to Theodosius II.^[20] Summoned from Ravenna for advice, Stilicho advised Honorius not to go, and proceeded to go himself. In Stilicho's absence, a minister named Olympius gained the confidence of Honorius. He convinced the emperor that his father-in-law was conspiring with the barbarians to overthrow him.^[21]

On his return to Ravenna, Honorius ordered the arrest and execution of Stilicho. With Stilicho's fall, Honorius moved against all of his former father-in-law's allies, killing and torturing key individuals and ordering the confiscation of the property of anyone who had borne any office while Stilicho was in command. Honorius's wife Thermantia was taken from the imperial throne and given over to her mother; Eucherius, the son of Stilicho, was put to death.^[22] The purge also massacred the families of Stilicho's foederati troops, and they defected en masse to Alaric.^[22]

In October 408, Alaric returned to Italy to claim more gold and land to settle in, as feudatory vassals of the Empire, which Stilicho had promised him.^[23] The city bought him off with 5,000 lbs of gold and 30,000 lbs of silver after a short siege with Rome on the verge of famine.^[23]

A palace revolution in Honorius's court led meanwhile to a change of ministers, and those hostile to the Goths were replaced by officers favorable to Alaric, who began peace negotiations. While the embassy was absent, a new change occurred at Ravenna, and Honorius disclaimed the peace which was on the verge of being concluded.^[24] The enraged Alaric returned to Rome in late 409 and forced the Senate to elect Priscus Attalus as emperor, who ratified Alaric's former treaty with Stilicho.^[24]

Sack of Rome

Rome had been under Visigothic siege since shortly after Stilicho's deposition and execution in the summer of 408.

The revolt of Constantine III in the west continued through this period. In 409, Gerontius, Constantine III's general in Hispania, rebelled against him, proclaimed Maximus Emperor, and besieged Constantine at Arles.^[31] Honorius now found himself an able commander, Constantius, who defeated Maximus and Gerontius, and then Constantine, in 411.

Gaul was again a source of troubles for Honorius: just after Constantius's troops had returned to Italy,

In 417, Constantius married Honorius's sister, Galla Placidia, much against her will.^[34] In 421, Honorius recognized him as co-emperor Constantius III;^[37] however, when the announcement of his elevation was sent to Constantinople, Theodosius refused to recognise him. Constantius, enraged, began preparations for a military conflict with the eastern empire but before he could commence it, he died in September 421.^[38]

In 420–422, another Maximus (or perhaps the same) gained and lost power in Hispania. By the time of Honorius's death in 423, Britain, Spain and Gaul had been ravaged by barbarians.

In his History of the Wars, Procopius mentions a likely apocryphal story where, on hearing the news that Rome had "perished", Honorius was initially shocked, thinking the news was in reference to a favourite chicken he had named "Roma".

At that time they say that the Emperor Honorius in Ravenna received the message from one of the eunuchs, evidently a keeper of the poultry, that Rome had perished. And he cried out and said, 'And yet it has just eaten from my hands!' For he had a very large cock, Rome by name; and the eunuch comprehending his words said that it was the city of Rome which had perished at the hands of Alaric, and the emperor with a sigh of relief answered quickly: 'But I thought that my fowl Rome had perished.' So great, they say, was the folly with which this emperor was possessed.
—Procopius, The Vandalic War (III.2.25–26)

While the tale is discounted as a rumour by more recent historians like Edward Gibbon, it is useful in understanding Roman public opinion towards Honorius.^[46]

Honorius was negatively assessed by some 19th and 20th century historians, including

Honorius issued a decree during his reign, prohibiting men from wearing trousers in Rome.^[48] The last known gladiatorial games took place during the reign of Honorius,^[49] who banned the practice in 399 and again in 404, reportedly due to the martyrdom of a Christian monk named Telemachus while he was protesting a gladiator fight.

See also

• Usurpers during Honorius reign:
  • Priscus Attalus in Rome (two times);
  • Maximus in Hispania;
  • Constans "II"
    in Gaul and Britain;
  • Gundahar and Goar
    ).
• Co-emperors with Honorius:
  • Constantius III.
• Succession to Honorius:
  • Joannes and Valentinian III.
• Ancient Rome: The Rise and Fall of an Empire

References

Sources

Primary sources

• Aurelius Victor, "Epitome de Caesaribus", English version of Epitome de Caesaribus
• Zosimus, "Historia Nova", Books 4–6 Historia Nova

Secondary sources

• Birley, Anthony Richard (2005). The Roman Government of Britain. Oxford University Press.
• Blockley, R.C. (2003). "The dynasty of Theodosius". In Garnsey, Peter; Cameron, Averil (eds.). The Cambridge Ancient History. Vol. XIII: The Late Empire, A.D. 337-425. Cambridge University Press.
• Doyle, Chris. Honorius: The Fight for the Roman West AD 395-423. Roman Imperial Biographies. Routledge. (2018)
• Doyle, Christopher. The Endgame of Treason: Suppressing Rebellion and Usurpation in the Late Roman Empire AD 397‑411. (2014) National University of Ireland Galway. Unpublished doctoral thesis. https://aran.library.nuigalway.ie/handle/10379/4631
• Elton, Hugh (2018). The Roman Empire in Late Antiquity: A Political and Military History. Cambridge University Press.
• Kovács, Tamás. “410: Honorius, His Rooster, and the Eunuch (Procop. Vand. 1.2.25–26).” Graeco-Latina Brunensia 25, no. 2 (2020): 131–48. https://doi.org/10.5817/GLB2020-2-10.
• Jones, A.H.M. (1964). The Later Roman Empire, 284–602: A Social, Economic, and Administrative Survey [Paperback, vol. 1]. Basil Blackwell Ltd.
  ISBN 0-8018-3353-1
  .
• Mathisen, Ralph, "Honorius (395–423 A.D.)", De Imperatoribus Romanis
• McEvoy, Meaghan A. (2010). 'Rome and the transformation of the imperial office in the late fourth - mid-fifth centuries A.D.', Papers of the British School at Rome 78: 151–192.
• McEvoy, Meaghan A. (2013). Child Emperor Rule in the Late Roman West, A.D. 367-455. Oxford Classical Monographs. Oxford University Press.
  ISBN 978-0-19-966481-8
  .
• McEvoy, Meaghan A. (2013). 'The mausoleum of Honorius: late Roman imperial Christianity and the city of Rome in the fifth century', in Rosamond McKitterick, John Osbourne, Carol M. Richards, Joanna Story (eds.), Old St Peter's, Rome, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press: 119–136.
• ISBN 9780521072335
  .
• Bury, John Bagnell (1889). A History of the Later Roman Empire from Arcadius to Irene (395 A.D. to 800 A.D.). Macmillan Publishers.
• Gibbon. Edward Decline & Fall of the Roman Empire (1888)^{[full citation needed]}

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Honorius.

• "Flavius Augustus Honorius" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. XII (9th ed.). 1881. p. 143.
• "Honorius, Flavius" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 13 (11th ed.). 1911. pp. 661–662.
• This list of Roman laws of the fourth century shows laws passed by Honorius relating to Christianity.

Regnal titles
Preceded by Theodosius I	Western Roman emperor 395–423 with Constantius III (421)	Succeeded by Joannes
Political offices
Preceded by Arcadius Bauto	Roman consul 386 with Euodius	Succeeded by Valentinian II Eutropius
Preceded by Theodosius I Abundatius	Roman consul II 394 with Arcadius	Succeeded by Anicius Hermogenianus Olybrius Anicius Probinus
Preceded by Anicius Hermogenianus Olybrius Anicius Probinus	Roman consul III 396 with Arcadius	Succeeded by Caesarius Nonius Atticus
Preceded by Caesarius Nonius Atticus	Roman consul IV 398 with Eutychianus	Succeeded by Mallius Theodorus Eutropius
Preceded by Vincentius Fravitta	Roman consul V 402 with Arcadius	Succeeded by Theodosius II Rumoridus
Preceded by Theodosius II Rumoridus	Roman consul VI 404 with Aristaenetus	Succeeded by Stilicho Anthemius
Preceded by Arcadius Anicius Petronius Probus	Roman consul VII 407 with Theodosius II	Succeeded by Anicius Auchenius Bassus Philippus
Preceded by Anicius Auchenius Bassus Philippus	Roman consul VIII 409 with Theodosius II	Succeeded by Varanes Tertullus
Preceded by Theodosius II	Roman consul IX 412 with Theodosius II	Succeeded by Heraclianus Lucius
Preceded by Constantius III Constans	Roman consul X 415 with Theodosius II	Succeeded by Theodosius II Junius Quartus Palladius
Preceded by Theodosius II Junius Quartus Palladius	Roman consul XI 417–418 with Constantius III and Theodosius II	Succeeded by Monaxius Plinta
Preceded by Agricola Eustathius	Roman consul XII 422 with Theodosius II	Succeeded by Avitus Marinianus Asclepiodotus