35 Facts About Emperor Theodosius

1.

Emperor Theodosius held independent command in Moesia in 374, where he had some success against the invading Sarmatians.

FactSnippet No. 1,042,896
2.

In 386, Emperor Theodosius signed a treaty with the Sasanian Empire which partitioned the long-disputed Kingdom of Armenia and secured a durable peace between the two powers.

FactSnippet No. 1,042,897
3.

Emperor Theodosius was a strong adherent of the Christian doctrine of consubstantiality and an opponent of Arianism.

FactSnippet No. 1,042,898
4.

Emperor Theodosius convened a council of bishops at Constantinople in 381 which confirmed the former as orthodoxy and the latter as a heresy.

FactSnippet No. 1,042,899
5.

Emperor Theodosius sponsored several measures to improve his capital and main residence, Constantinople, most notably his expansion of the Forum Tauri, which became the biggest public square known in antiquity.

FactSnippet No. 1,042,900
6.

Emperor Theodosius was said to have been a diligent administrator, austere in his habits, merciful, and a devout Christian.

FactSnippet No. 1,042,901
7.

For centuries after his death, Emperor Theodosius was regarded as a champion of Christian orthodoxy who decisively stamped out paganism.

FactSnippet No. 1,042,902
8.

Emperor Theodosius is fairly credited with presiding over a revival in classical art that some historians have termed a "Theodosian renaissance".

FactSnippet No. 1,042,903
9.

Emperor Theodosius has received criticism for defending his own dynastic interests at the cost of two civil wars.

FactSnippet No. 1,042,904
10.

The descendants of Emperor Theodosius ruled the Roman world for the next six decades, and the east–west division endured until the fall of the Western Empire in the late 5th century.

FactSnippet No. 1,042,905
11.

Emperor Theodosius's father, called Theodosius, was a successful and high-ranking general under the western Roman emperor Valentinian I, and his mother was called Thermantia.

FactSnippet No. 1,042,906
12.

One modern historian instead thinks Emperor Theodosius must have grown up among the army, participating in his father's campaigns throughout the provinces, as was customary at the time for families with a tradition of military service.

FactSnippet No. 1,042,907
13.

One source says he received a decent education and developed a particular interest in history, which Emperor Theodosius then valued as a guide to his own conduct throughout life.

FactSnippet No. 1,042,908
14.

Emperor Theodosius implemented stern and desperate recruiting measures, resorting to the conscription of farmers and miners.

FactSnippet No. 1,042,909
15.

Emperor Theodosius admitted large numbers of non-Roman auxiliaries into the army, even Gothic deserters from beyond the Danube.

FactSnippet No. 1,042,910
16.

Emperor Theodosius brokered a peace agreement between Valentinian and Magnus Maximus which endured for several years.

FactSnippet No. 1,042,911
17.

Emperor Theodosius's died at Scotumis in Thrace and was buried at Constantinople, her funeral oration delivered by Gregory of Nyssa.

FactSnippet No. 1,042,912
18.

Galla and Emperor Theodosius's first child, a son named Gratian, was born in 388 or 389.

FactSnippet No. 1,042,913
19.

Bowersock and authors Stephen Williams and Gerard Friell, think that Emperor Theodosius ordered the massacre in an excess of "volcanic anger".

FactSnippet No. 1,042,914
20.

Wolf Liebeschuetz says "Emperor Theodosius duly complied and came to church without his imperial robes, until Christmas, when Ambrose openly admitted him to communion".

FactSnippet No. 1,042,915
21.

Washburn says the image of the mitered prelate braced in the door of the cathedral in Milan blocking Emperor Theodosius from entering is a product of the imagination of Theodoret who wrote of the events of 390 "using his own ideology to fill the gaps in the historical record".

FactSnippet No. 1,042,916
22.

Emperor Theodosius observes that the documents revealing the relationship between these two formidable men do not show the personal friendship the legends portray.

FactSnippet No. 1,042,917
23.

In 391, Theodosius left his trusted general Arbogast, who had served in the Balkans after Adrianople, to be magister militum for the Western emperor Valentinian II, while Theodosius attempted to rule the entire empire from Constantinople.

FactSnippet No. 1,042,918
24.

Emperor Theodosius had to carry on governing without the ability to issue edicts and rescripts from a legitimate acclaimed emperor.

FactSnippet No. 1,042,919
25.

At least two embassies went to Emperor Theodosius to explain events, one of them Christian in make-up, but they received ambivalent replies, and were sent home without achieving their goals.

FactSnippet No. 1,042,920
26.

Emperor Theodosius was interred in a porphyry sarcophagus that was described in the 10th century by Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus in his work De Ceremoniis.

FactSnippet No. 1,042,921
27.

The Forum Tauri in Constantinople was renamed and redecorated as the Forum of Emperor Theodosius, including a column and a triumphal arch in his honour.

FactSnippet No. 1,042,922
28.

In 390, Emperor Theodosius oversaw the removal of the other to Constantinople.

FactSnippet No. 1,042,923
29.

Emperor Theodosius had just been baptized, by bishop Ascholius of Thessalonica, during a severe illness.

FactSnippet No. 1,042,924
30.

Emperor Theodosius seems to have adopted a cautious policy toward traditional non-Christian cults, reiterating his Christian predecessors' bans on animal sacrifice, divination, and apostasy, while allowing other pagan practices to be performed publicly and temples to remain open.

FactSnippet No. 1,042,925
31.

Emperor Theodosius voiced his support for the preservation of temple buildings, but nonetheless failed to prevent the damaging of many holy sites, images and objects of piety by Christian zealots, some including even his own officials.

FactSnippet No. 1,042,926
32.

Emperor Theodosius turned pagan holidays into workdays, but the festivals associated with them continued.

FactSnippet No. 1,042,927
33.

Emperor Theodosius nominated the last pair of pagan consuls in Roman history in 391.

FactSnippet No. 1,042,928
34.

Emperor Theodosius officially supported temple preservation, but Garth Fowden says Cynegius did not limit himself to Emperor Theodosius' official policy, but instead, commissioned temple destruction on a wide scale, even employing the military under his command for this purpose.

FactSnippet No. 1,042,929
35.

For example, Malalas claimed Constantine destroyed all the temples, then he said Emperor Theodosius did, then he said Constantine converted them all to churches.

FactSnippet No. 1,042,930