General Notes

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An Online Encyclopedia of Roman Emperors
Avitus (455-456 A.D.)
Ralph W. Mathisen

Avitus' Early Career

Eparchius Avitus, who was born of a senatorial family circa A.D. 400, wasa native of the Auvergne in Gaul. His father may have been the Agricolawho was consul in 421.  He pursued a distinguished career, and early inhis life formed close contacts with the Visigothic court at Toulouse.After serving under Flavius Aetius in several military posts, he becamePraetorian Prefect of Gaul by 439, in which capacity he was able tore-negotiate the treaty with the Visigoths. In 451, he was influential ingaining the aid of the Visigoths against the invading Huns. In 455, hewas appointed by the short-lived emperor Petronius Maximus (455) to theoffice of Master of Soldiers, and was sent as an ambassador to theVisigoths. When the news arrived of Maximus' death during the Vandal sackof Rome, the Visigothic king Theoderic II urged Avitus to seize thepurple himself. He did so shortly thereafter at Arles, and in October of455 he entered Italy with a retinue of Gauls and Visigoths.

Avitus' Reign

As a Gallic emperor in Italy, Avitus was not popular. By this time, thedifferent sections of the western empire had begun to go their own ways,and Italy was no exception.  Antipathy toward Avitus only increased whenhe removed the half of the bronze roof of the Capitoline temple that theVandals had left in order to pay off his Gothic supporters. Although thecommanders of the Italian army, Ricimer and Majorian, were able to holdthe Vandals at bay, they themselves soon began to conspire against thenew emperor. Eventually, local unrest forced Avitus to depart Rome andreturn to Gaul in the summer of 456. He returned in the fall, only to bedefeated by Ricimer at Piacenza. He then was forcibly consecrated bishopof Piacenza, the first time that this novel method was used to dispose ofa deposed emperor, but hardly the last. Soon thereafter, however, heattempted to make his was back to Gaul, and after being chased down byMajorian he either starved to death or was strangled. Avitus' brief reignwas the last attempt in the western empire to reverse the trend towardthe Italianization of the empire. Its failure indicates the degree towhich this trend had become irreversible.

Bibliography

Brehier, L.. "Un empereur romain a Brioude, Flavius Eparchius Avitus."Almanach de Brioude (1930): 39-55.

Bugiani, Carlo. L'imperatore Avito. Pistoia, 1909.

Mathisen, Ralph W. "Avitus, Italy and the East in A.D. 455-456." Byzantion
51(1981) 232-247.

"Resistance and Reconciliation: Majorian and the Gallic Aristocracy after
the Fall of Avitus." Francia 7(1979): 597- 627.

"Sidonius on the Reign of Avitus: A Study in Political Prudence."
Transactions of the American Philological Association 109(1979): 165-171.

"The Third Regnal Year of Eparchius Avitus.," Classical Philology 80(1985)

Copyright (C) 1996, Ralph W. Mathisen. This file may be copied on thecondition that the entire contents,including the header and thiscopyright notice, remain intact.


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