Flavius Constantius, Galla Placidia, and the Aquitanian Settlement of the Goths

Bibliographic Data

ID4865701
AuthorsGeoffrey D Dunn Geoffrey D Dunn, Geoffrey David Dunn (0000-0001-5880-1351, corresponding author)
Year2015
Volume69
Issue3/4
Pages376
Publication date2015-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenuePhoenix (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0031-8299 • E-ISSN: 1929-4883
PublisherProject MUSE (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1353/phx.2015.0039
OpenAlexW4247092619
LanguageEN
Citations received3
References cited20

Olympiodorus (fr.33) 1 informs us that Galla Placidia, half-sister to Honorius, Roman emperor in the West from 395 to 423, resisted marrying Flavius Constantius (> pollˆmn a[t| únaneoeousa), magister utriusque militiae and consul in 413, after she had been restored to Rome following the death of her Gothic husband Athaulf in 415. 2 Constantius had been instrumental in securing Galla's return by harrying the Goths for several years until they agreed to do so.Under pressure from her brother, Galla did marry Constantius on 1 January 417, on the day her brother entered his eleventh consulship and her new husband entered his second.We are told it was a dazzling event (t ̃lampr-taton). 3 Constantius, a Roman from Niš (Naissus), in contrast with non-Roman predecessors like Stilicho, was the great hope of the empire and a man who, in the words of Orosius (Hist.adu.pag.7.42.1-3),had dealt successfully with usurpers before turning his attention to barbarians.The return of Galla was not the end of Constantius' interest in the Goths.Hydatius (Chron.24.61[69]) reports that Constantius employed them in the Spanish provinces against barbarians there, after which the Goths were recalled (reuocati) to Aquitania Secunda and given homes (sedes) from Toulouse (Palladia Tolosa) in the province of Narbonensis Prima to the ocean.Prosper of Aquitaine (Epit.chron.1271) 4 states that it was Constantius who made this land deal with Wallia, giving him the province and certain cities to live in (ad inhabitandum), although he says nothing about the Goths being in Spain.I shall return to the statements of Hydatius and Prosper later to argue that the Goths were given land and not just tax revenue from them.Although the Gothic settlement of Aquitania has been the subject of much scholarly interest, particularly with regard to its date and the Roman motives and benefits to be derived from such a move, 5 none of this interest has associated the Gothic settlement with anything relating to Galla Placidia

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