Stilicho
The half-Vandal general who ruled the Western Roman Empire.
Carlodell · via Wikipedia: Stilicho · CC BY-SA 4.0
Stilicho, who lived from 359 until his death on 22 August 408, served as a Roman military commander and rose to become the Western Roman Empire's most influential figure.[1] Through his marriage to Serena, who was the niece of Emperor Theodosius I, Stilicho was connected to the imperial family, and he had Vandal ancestry on his father's side.[1] The end of Stilicho's career came when he was arrested and put to death in 408.[2]
Quick Facts
- Born
- c. 359
- Died
- 22 August 408 (aged c. 49)
- Place of death
- Ravenna, Roman Italy, Western Roman Empire
- Resting place
- Unknown, possibly the Sarcophagus of Stilicho
- Office
- Consul (400, 405)
- Spouse
- Serena
- Children
- Eucherius
- Maria
- Aemilia Materna Thermantia
Facts from the source article.
Life and work
In 383, Theodosius sent him as a tribunus praetorianus on an embassy to the Persian King Shapur III.[3] After returning from successful peace talks, Stilicho married Serena, Theodosius' niece.[3] Stilicho's father was a Vandal who served as a cavalry officer, while his mother was a Roman woman from the provinces.[4] Stilicho arranged for his daughter Maria to marry Honorius in 398, and after Maria died, his other daughter Thermantia married Honorius in 408.[5]
At the Battle of Pollentia in 402, Stilicho achieved a victory over Alaric, seizing both Alaric's camp and his wife.[6] On August 13, 408, the Roman troops stationed at Ticinum rebelled, slaughtering no fewer than seven high-ranking officers.[7]
What the cited sources add
The same source states that Stilicho's mind was equal to any emergency.[8] Claudian's panegyrics are likely quite biased and portray Stilicho in a positive light.[9]
References
- Wikipedia, "Stilicho" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Carlton Joseph Huntley Hayes (1911). "Stilicho, Flavius". In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. 25. (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 920.; Stephen Mitchell. A History of the Later Roman Empire AD 284–641. Singapore: Blackwell Publishing, 2007, p. 89.; Joseph Vogt. The Decline of Rome: The Metamorphosis of Ancient Civilization. Trans. Janet Sondheimer. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1967, p. 179. (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Stilicho" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Simon Hornblower and Anthony Spawforth eds. The Oxford Classical Dictionary, third edition. Oxford University Press, 1996 1444. (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Stilicho" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Williams, S., Friell, G. Theodosius, The Empire at Bay. 1994. p 41; Bendle 2024, 167. (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Stilicho" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Stilic(h)o is a given name of Germanic origin, containing the Germanic element stil(l) – meaning "calm, quiet", from Proto-Germanic *stillijaz.; Frasetto, Michael (2003). Encyclopedia of Barbarian Europe: Society in Transformation. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO. , p. 320. Google Books.; Burns 1994, p. 220 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Stilicho" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Doyle, "Honorius: The Fight for the Roman West AD 395–423", Routledge, 2018-08-06 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Stilicho" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Gibbon, 256; Hughes, Stilicho, pp. 143, 148–149. (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Stilicho" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: John Matthews, Western Aristocracies and Imperial Court AD 364–425, Oxford: University Press, 1990, p. 281. (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- De Bello Gildonico The War Against Gildo. Claudian. Loeb Classical Library, 1922. https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Claudian/De_Bello_Gildonico. facts only, no text reused. penelope.uchicago.edu
- Wikipedia, "Stilicho" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Grig, "Two Romes: Rome and Constantinople in Late Antiquity", Oxford University Press, 2012, p. 279 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Stilicho (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.
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