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ARCADIUS (378–408)

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Originally appearing in Volume V02, Page 342 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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ARCADIUS (378–408) , See also:Roman See also:emperor, the See also:elder son of See also:Theodosius the See also:Great, was created See also:Augustus in 383, and succeeded his See also:father in 395 along with his See also:brother See also:Honorius. The See also:empire was divided between them, Honorius governing the two western prefectures (See also:Gaul and See also:Italy), Arcadius the two eastern (the Orient and Illyricum). Both were feeble, and, in See also:Gibbon's phrase, slumbered on their thrones, leaving the See also:government to others. Arcadius submitted at first to the guidance of the praetorian See also:prefect See also:Rufinus, and, after his See also:murder (end of 395) by the troops, to the counsels of the See also:eunuch See also:Eutropius (executed end of 399). His See also:consort Eudoxia (daughter of a See also:Frank See also:general, Bauto), a woman of strong will, exercised great See also:influence over him; she died in 404. In the last See also:year of his reign, See also:Anthemius (praetorian prefect) was the See also:chief adviser and support of the See also:throne. The first years of the reign were marked by the ravaging of the See also:Greek See also:peninsula by the See also:West Goths under See also:Alaric (q.v.) in 395–396. The See also:movement of the Goth Gainas (who held the See also:post of See also:master of soldiers) in 399–400 is less famous but was more dangerous. At that See also:time there were two See also:rival See also:political parties at See also:Constantinople, the " Roman " party led by See also:Aurelian (son of See also:Taurus), praetorian prefect, and supported by the em-See also:press and a Germanizing and Arianizing party led by Aurelian's brother (possibly Caesarius, praetorian prefect in 400). Gainas entered into a See also:close See also:league with the latter; fomented a See also:Gothic See also:rebellion in See also:Phrygia; and forced the emperor to put Eutropius to See also:death. For some months he and the party which he supported were supreme in Constantinople. He was, however, finally forced to leave, and having plundered for some time in See also:Thrace was captured and killed by the loyal Goth Fravitta.

The Roman party recovered its See also:

power; Aurelian was again praetorian prefect in 402; and the Germanization which was to befall the western See also:world was averted from the See also:east. Another import-See also:ant question was decided in this reign, the relation of the See also:patriarch of Constantinople to the emperor. The struggle between the See also:court and the patriarch See also:John See also:Chrysostom (q.v.), who assumed an See also:independent attitude and gravely offended the empress by his sermons against the worldliness and frivolity of the court, with open allusions to herself, resulted in his fall and See also:exile (404). This virtually determined the subordination of the patriarch of Constantinople to the emperor. The rivalry of the see of See also:Alexandria with Constantinople was also displayed in the See also:con-test, See also:Theophilus, patriarch of Alexandria, assisting the court in bringing about the fall of Chrysostom. Throughout the reign of Arcadius there was estrangement and See also:jealousy between the two See also:brothers or their governments. The See also:principal ground of this hostility was probably dissatisfaction on both sides with the territorial See also:partition. The See also:line had been See also:drawn east of See also:Dalmatia. The ministers of Arcadius desired to annex Dalmatia to his portion, while the general See also:Stilicho, who was supreme in the west, wished to wrest from the eastern See also:realm the prefecture of Illyricum or a considerable See also:part of it. His designs were unsuccessful, and during the reign of Theodosius II., son of Arcadius (who died in 408), Dalmatia was transferred to the dominion of the eastern ruler. AuTxoRITlES.—Ancient: Fragments of See also:Eunapius and See also:Olympiodorus (in Mailer's Fragmenta Historicorum Graecorum, vol. iv.); fragments of Philostorgius, See also:Socrates, See also:Sozomen, See also:Zosimus, See also:Synesius of See also:Cyrene (" The See also:Egyptian "), Claudian. See also:Modern: Gibbon's Decline and Fall, vol. iii., ed.

See also:

Bury; J. B. Bury, Later Roman Empire, vol. i. (1889) ; T. See also:Hodgkin, Italy and her Invaders, vol. i. (ed. 2, 1892) ; Guldenpenning, Geschichte See also:des ostromischen Reiches unter den Kaisern Arcadius and Theodosius II. (1885).

End of Article: ARCADIUS (378–408)

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