06-26-2018, 01:18 AM
(06-22-2018, 12:44 PM)Nathan Ross Wrote: It is indeed confusing, and one of the most baffling turnarounds in later Roman history; in 396 Alaric was ravaging Greece as leader of a Gothic warband, in 397 he was fighting Stilicho in Greece and then withdrawing into Epirus, and then suddenly a year later he emerges as one of the principal generals of the eastern empire! This gives him access to the arsenals of Illyricum, allowing him to resupply and rearm his troops.
Whenever it happened, the eastern Pr Pr Eutropius appears to have awarded the title to Alaric in order to bring him under some kind of control - if that makes sense - and use him as a tool against Stilicho and the west. Or so it would seem...
Thank you for the source on that. Those magister militum posts can be hard to keep track of, especially in regards to Illyricum around that time when Ravenna and Constantinople were arguing over who was entitled to that region.
An appointment like that is probably what the western court should have given Alaric in 395 after Theodosius' death. I get the sense that Stilicho wanted to do this, based on his subsequent actions, but it was politically unpalatable. Alaric and his men proved at the Battle of the Frigidus that they were brave and loyal -- and probably deserved some official, permanent status in the western army.
I keep reading and re-reading about this era, trying to glean some new information, and it's hard not to feel some sympathy for Alaric. He seems like a reasonable man who was treated unreasonably.
