On This Day In Roman History, February 26
Flavius Valentinianus Augustus is proclaimed Emperor in front of his soldiers on February 26, 364 CE. The initial reaction was nearly disastrous for Valentinian I and the soldiers nearly rioted during his ascension speech. Valentinian rebutted by taking his new Imperial authority in stride and guaranteeing the army was his first priority. One of his first actions of Emperor was appointing a co-Augustus, even though he was the sole ruler of the Empire. His goal would be to eliminate Eastern discontent at the civic level by allowing them to retain their Imperial interests in the form of the co-Augustus. This eventual appointment would come in the form of his brother, Valens, who ascended to co-Augustus in Constantinople on March 28.
Did you know?
Although Valens was officially an Augustus, his power was certainly far less than that of Valentinian. Valens official title was praefectura praetorio Orientis, which can be translated as praetorian prefecture of the East. This position was formally established after the death of Constantine in 337 when Constantius II received control of the east. The control of this position reached from the far Eastern Balkans to the south-eastern borders of Jerusalem. The first link in the further reading section contains a map of who controlled what and shows in better detail the territorial expanse I just briefly described.
Pictured: The Colossus of Barletta. Photo by it.wiki user Marcok, via Wikimedia Commons.
This bronze statue, standing 16 ft. 7 in. (5.11m) tall, certainly depicts an Eastern Roman Emperor. It very well could depict Valentinian I and would be the only image we have of the man along with few different types of Roman coins depicting his bust. Its discovery was made by The Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II during excavation projects of Ravena. It is most likely when the statue was originally moved to southern Italy. The figure was originally missing parts of its arms and legs which were probably used to cast bells in 1309. Repairs to replace the missing bronze were made in the 15th century.
Opinion
Welcome to my daily opinion! One of my favorite times during Valentinian's reign was in 367, during a period known as "The Great Conspiracy". In the winter of 367 Roman soldiers rebelled and allowed a large group of confederated Picts to move through Hadrian's Wall. At the same time, an assortment of Scotti, Saxons, and Attacotti attacked during a probably pre-arranged maneuver in conjunction with the Picts. The result was the complete overrun of Britania and the death of the commanding general to the seacoast regions and the Dux of Brianniarum. The facts and timeline of the event are questionable at best because the only Roman to write about it in extensive detail was hundreds of miles away and relying on second-hand information. It is most likely the soldiers at Hadrian's Wall were simply bribed to stand down, and because a majority of them were already Romano-British in culture, the price was probably lower than Valentinian would care to admit. It is during this period we can see the further destabilization from within the state on all borders of the Roman Empire, and it most definitely was a foreshadowing of what is to come in the west.
Sources
Hughes, I. (2013). Imperial brothers: Valentinian, Valens and the disaster at Adrianople. Barnsley: Pen et Sword Military.
Jones, A. H. (1964). The later Roman empire 284 - 602. Oxford: Blackwell.
Lenski, N. (2002). Failure of empire: Valens and the Roman state in the fourth century A.D. Berkeley (Calif.): University of California Press.
Further Reading:
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