33 Facts About Stilicho

1.

Stilicho was a military commander in the Roman army who, for a time, became the most powerful man in the Western Roman Empire.

2.

Stilicho was of Vandal origins and married to Serena, the niece of emperor Theodosius I Stilicho became guardian for the underage Honorius.

3.

Stilicho's fall culminated in his arrest and execution in 408.

4.

Stilicho was the son of a Vandal cavalry officer and a provincial woman of Roman birth.

5.

Stilicho joined the Roman army and rose through the ranks during the reign of Theodosius I, who ruled the Eastern-half of the Roman Empire from Constantinople, and who was to become the last emperor to rule both the eastern and western halves of the empire jointly.

6.

In 393 Theodosius promoted Stilicho to comes et magister utriusque militiae and gave him command of the campaign against the Goths in the Balkans.

7.

The emperor recognized that Stilicho could be a valuable ally, and to form a blood tie with him, Theodosius married his adopted niece Serena to Stilicho.

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Theodosius I
8.

Stilicho distinguished himself at the Frigidus, and Theodosius, exhausted by the campaign, saw him as a man worthy of responsibility for the future safety of the empire.

9.

Stilicho used his military leadership as well as Honorius' youth and inexperience to consolidate his authority over the empire, though he acquired many rivals and enemies in the process, both in the West and East.

10.

Stilicho led the army, which had been victorious at the Frigidus and was still assembled in Italy, into the Balkans to confront the Goths, eventually surrounding them somewhere in Thessaly.

11.

Stilicho resented the orders, for he was in a position to defeat Alaric's Goths, but he obeyed them anyway.

12.

In 396 Stilicho campaigned against the Franks and other Germanic tribes in Gaul.

13.

The next year, in 397, Stilicho defeated Alaric's forces in Macedonia, but Alaric himself escaped into the surrounding mountains.

14.

Edward Gibbon, drawing on Zosimus, criticizes Stilicho for being overconfident in victory and indulging in luxury and women, allowing Alaric to escape.

15.

Stilicho declared his intention to place the African provinces, the critical source of Rome's grain supply, under the control of the Eastern Empire.

16.

Stilicho sent Mascezel, the brother of Gildo, into Africa with an army, which quickly suppressed the rebellion.

17.

The year 400 saw Stilicho accorded the highest honour within the Roman state by being appointed consul.

18.

Stilicho fought a war in Britain in this time period, likely in the year 398, dubbed Stilicho's Pictish War.

19.

Stilicho did send orders and funds to strengthen the defences around Hadrian's Wall.

20.

In 401 Stilicho led the praesental army from Italy into Raetia and Noricum in response to an invasion by Vandals and Alans.

21.

In 402 Stilicho returned to Italy and hastened forward with a selected vanguard in advance of his main body, breaking the siege of Mediolanum and rescuing the besieged emperor.

22.

At Verona, Stilicho again bested Alaric, who managed to escape with a diminished force.

23.

Stilicho, scraping together a force of c 20,000 men through a variety of desperate methods, including efforts to enroll slaves in the army in exchange for their freedom, at Ticinum led this force at the beginning of the campaigning season in 406 against Radagaisus.

24.

Stilicho executed Radagaisus and enrolled 12,000 of his warriors in his army.

25.

In late 406, Stilicho demanded the return of the eastern half of Illyricum, threatening war if the Eastern Roman Empire resisted.

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Theodosius I
26.

Stilicho left it defended "only by the faith of the Germans and the ancient terror of the Roman name", as Gibbon put it.

27.

The destruction that occurred in Gaul and the lack of an effective response from the court in Ravenna lent support to the rebellion of Constantine III in Britain, which Stilicho proved unable to quash.

28.

Sarus withdrew and Stilicho decided to seal off the Alps to prevent Constantine from threatening Italy.

29.

The senate, "inspired by the courage, rather than the wisdom, of their predecessors", as Gibbon put it, favored war with Alaric until Stilicho persuaded them to give into Alaric's demands.

30.

Stilicho retired to Ravenna, where he was taken into captivity.

31.

Stilicho besieged Rome three times without attacking while the Roman army of Italy watched helplessly, but only after a fourth failed attempt at a deal was Alaric's siege a success.

32.

Many historians argue that the removal of Stilicho was the main catalyst leading to this monumental event, the first barbarian capture of Rome in nearly eight centuries and a part of the fall of the Western Roman Empire.

33.

Stilicho maintained correspondence with his friend, the renowned pagan senator Symmachus.