I have read many books about Roman history, but as all these books were about general Roman history or about the Western Roman empire, these books mostly stopped at 476, with the times after 455 often only brushed. Consequently, this is the first book I have read about the Eastern Roman empire, the Roman empire after 450 generally and Aspar specifically, who seems to have ruled in the East as Stilicho and Aetius did in the West. However, so far, I knew much less about his career than about those of Stilicho and Aetius. Moreover, I thought, learning about Zeno would also teach me about Leo, as Zeno rose under Leo. And this hope was not disappointed as indeed almost half of this book is about Leo’s reign.
In chapter one, Peter Crawford outlines the historical background of the Roman Empire in the fifth century. Concerning the division of the Empire in a Western and an Eastern half, he remarks: “While it was not a planned and definitive political split in 395, dynastic politics, personal ambitions, geography and military decline made it one with the fullness of time.” While the Eastern frontier was quiet in the fifth century; “Rome and Persia had their own internal and external distraction,” so that there was a prolonged peace between these two powers during the whole of the fifth century, the Eastern Empire was struggling with the Huns during the first fifty years of the century that made repeated recursions over the Danube, so that the whole Danube frontier collapsed. After the death of Attila 453, the Hunnic cohesion ended but that made the situation only worse: Instead of facing one strong foe across the Danube, they were now confronted with several barbarian tribes that had shaken off the Hunnic yoke and that had been left to their own devices.
The next chapter then discusses the historical background of Zeno’s region of origin, the Isuarian mountainous hinterland, which had remained semi-barbarous throughout the time, so that’s its inhabitants still often resorted to brigandage or rebellion, depending on the point of view. Zeno specific background is also illuminated here. Even when Zeno’s background is sometimes describes as tribal chieftain from Isaura, Peter Crawford maintains that Zeno must have come from a civilized provincial Isaurian elite and must already have had well-established connections in the Constantinopolitan aristocracy, also seeing his first wife Arcadia, for Leo to promote him and marry him to his daughter.
The third chapter introduces the Goths of this age; the Goths of Trace and the Goths of Pannonia, who were running military affairs in the East as much as Alaric’s Goths had done fifty years previously in the West. Although not really clear from the sources, Theoderic Strabo’s Thracian Goths must have been there for longer, as otherwise, their close proximity to Constantinople and Theoderic’s family connection to Aspar would not make sense. Valamir and his Pannonian Goths probably arrived after the battle of Nedao or were already there before and just gained independence after Nedao. After some strikes into Roman Illyricum between 459 and 462, they received subsidies in exchange for peace, and Valamir’s nephew Theoderic the Amal was sent to Constantinople as hostage.
Aspar, himself an Arian Alan, rose to such a high prominence that he could influence the succession in 450; Marcian seems to have been the result of his scheming. In 457, it is likely that Aspar was again behind the plot of not having Anthemius, Marcian’s son-in-law, declared emperor but Leo. It looks like Aspar thought Leo was easier to control, which was to turn out wrong. Aspar seems to have chosen Leo as Leo had a daughter but no son. Consequently, he tried to get his son married to Leo’s daughter, but Leo kept procrastinating. One day in 465, Zeno arrived in Constantinople with a letter proving that Aspar’s oldest son had been colluding with the Persians. The son was disgraced and Aspar had to dishonor him. Leo took the opportunity to fill this open magister position and the one in Thrace with his appointees. Zeno was promoted to comes domesticorum. Sometimes it is said that Zeno arrived at the head of a large Isaurian army, or that Leo staffed the excubitores with a contingent of Isaurians and that only this military support for Zeno made his career possible. However, Peter Crawford maintains that nothing speaks against Zeno just going through a normal military career. In 466, Zeno married Leo’s daughter Ariadne, marking him as the designate successor of Leo.
The next year, Zeno was campaigning in Thrace against Goths or Huns still coming over the frontier. In 468, the great Vandal expedition was launched. Ricimer had accepted Anthemius as Western emperor to get the support from the East. The Western troops were supposed to join the Eastern troops under Marcellinus, magister in Dalmatia, who had conquered before Sardinia and Sicily, but he was killed in Sicily, probably on the instigation of Ricimer, who lost so a competitor. Basiliscus’ fleet was supposed to join with troops of Heraclius and Marsus who had taken Tripolis and marched along the North African coast. But Basiliscus fleet stalled anchored at Mercurium, possibly bribed by Geiseric, until the wind changed. Geiseric now sent fireships to cause havoc in the Roman fleet. Peter Crawford says that even though both Aspar and Basiliscus have both been blamed with sabotage, but they would have risked their lives or at least their reputation. Probably, it was just basic incompetence on Basiliscus’s side. Leo, who had not directly led the attack, was sheltered to a degree, as was Zeno, who became consul in 469. This year, Zeno was sent on a campaign to Thrace. On his way back to Constantinople, troops persuaded by Aspar tried to kill Zeno. Zeno managed to escape to Serdica and then to exile, according to Peter Crawford first to Isauria and then as magister militium per orientem to Antioch.
In the next years, Zeno fought a rebellion in Isaura and a secessionist movement in Lazica, the Roman-allied kingdom in the Caucasus. Meanwhile, back in Constantinople, Aspar finally managed to have Leo allowing his son Patricius to marry Leo’s daughter and to have him proclaimed Caesar in 470. With this, Leo seems to have had enough. Heracleius and Marsus were recalled from Tripolis after a treaty was agreed with Geiseric, Zeno was recalled, staying in Chalcedon, and Basiliscus was waiting in Heraclea. Aspar and his son Ardaburius were called for a conventus and killed, Patricius was never heard of again. The backslash was relatively minor; the Thracian Goths protested but were swiftly dealt with by Armatus. Theoderic Strabo negotiated with Leo, firstly being rejected but eventually in 473 being appointed as magister militum preasentalis.
In a short excursus on ethnicity, Peter Crawford elucidates that we should not the see the showdown between Leo’s/Zeno’s and Aspar’s supporters as a standoff between an Alan/Gothic faction and a Isaurian faction, as is often portrayed in books. Rather, either side would employ any allies they could. In the meanwhile, the Pannonian Goths, under Theoderic the Amal, who had returned from Constantinople, started to move south to Thessaly. Taking Singidunum in 472, they moved over Naissus to Thessalonica. There, they received land but no subsides. It seems that Leo had set them up for a showdown with Strabo’s Goths and that Strabo also therefore felt to strengthen his position in 473. However, before the two Gothic factions could engage with each other, Leo died in 474.
With Zeno and his family back in Constantinople, Leo could organize his succession. Leo II was elevated to Augustus in November 473. Shortly thereafter, Leo died in January 474. Within a fortnight, Leo II had Zeno crowned co-ruler. Ten months later, Leo II died himself in November 474 at the age of 7, leaving Zeno as sole Augustus. However, as Zeno was quite unpopular and Leo I had left ambitious relatives behind, within two months, Zeno’s was removed from power in January 475.
Basiliscus, the brother-in-law of Leo, managed to get everybody behind him; the imperial family, Theoderic Strabo and the two Isaurian generals Illus and Torcundes. However, Leo managed to escape to Isuaria and Basiliscus quickly lost the support of his former co-conspirators. In the spring 476, Illus and Torcundes who has been sent to capture Zeno, switched sides. Moreover, Basiliscus had completely alienated the two highest spiritual leaders of Constantinople, the patriarch Acacius and Daniel the Stylite, with his anti-Chalcedonian stance. Acacius had the monasteries and the population of Constantinople come out in revolt around spring 476. Maybe due to this, or because of a fire in Constantinople, Basiliscus removed himself to Hebdomon. Hebdomon was an imperial army camp, so this was no abdication. Negotiating with Acacius and retracting, he lost the last political capital he still had. Theoderic the Amal started to move towards Thrace, indicating to Zeno that he would support him against Strabo in exchange for the subsidies that Strabo currently received. With Strabo bound to clash with Theoderic in the summer 476, it looked like Basilisus had now only the troops of his nephew Armatus left. However, moving towards Zeno’s troops, Armatus changed sides near Nicaea for the promise that Armatus’ son Leo Basiliscus would become Caesar. By August 476, Zeno was thus restored and had Basiliscus and family cast into a dry cistern to starve to death. The religious troubles and the circumstances of Zeno’s restoration would however still come to haunt him.
As all supporters had previously supported Basiliscus, Zeno knew that they could easily change sides again. Consequently, he was determined to act preemptively. Armatus as father of the designated heir was the most dangerous. Zeno consequently had him killed. Then, there were two attempts on Illus’ life, but as Illus had Zeno’s brother Longinus as hostage, would it make sense for Zeno to be after Illus’ life? Illius retreaded to Isauria in 477, taking a large part of the imperial field army with him. Zeno, in the meanwhile, tried to deal with his Gothic problems and told both of them that he could only support one group. In the winter 477 – 478, Theoderic the Amal was supposed to attack Theoderic Strabo’s troops, being reinforced on the way by imperial troops. The reinforcements failed to materialize, but the Amal’s troops were led directly to face Strabo’s Goths. Both of them saw the ruse and refused to fight, but for this case, Zeno had planned to attack each group by himself one by one. However, as Illus had taken his large part of the army with him, Zeno was unable to do so. Zeno tried to negotiate first with the Amal, but he refused, and retreaded in 478 to Dyrrhachium in Epirus. Zeno had thus to take Strabo back into service. In 479, negotiations with the Amal went on, and one of the suggestions of him was that his Goths might help to put Julius Nepos back on the Western throne. As if Odoacer had heart that, in 480, he struck into Dalmatia, killed Julius Nepos and annexed the territory. But when Theoderic’s baggage train was intercepted, Zeno felt secure enough to let the negotiations break down. Theoderic, instead of feeling resignated and out of options, only to directly attacking Strabo, decided to wait until the agreement between Zeno and Strabo would break down, which inevitably happened still in 479. Zeno could not help but to make good again with Illus. They met in Chalcedon where Illus asked as hostage Verina, Zeno’s mother-in-law. Maybe encouraged by this treatment of the imperial family, Marcianus, husband of Leo’s second wife Leontia, son of Anthemius and so grandson of Marcian, tried to make a bid for the throne in late 479. First, while Zeno was still in Chalcedon, he blocked the Bosporus, so that Zeno could not bring any reinforcements, and attacked the imperial palace. During the night, Zeno however managed to have the navy ferry reinforcements over. The next day, Marcianus’ forces were quickly subdued. But Zeno had to let Marcianus live and sent to a monastery probably due to family connections. Marcianus duly fled and tried to capture Ancyra. This time, Trocundes cornered him and brought him to a fortress in Isauria. Now, Zeno had only to bring the last supporter of Marcianus to justice; Theoderic Strabo. As the Thracian army was already busy shadowing the Pannonian Goths, Zeno invited barbarian from beyond the Danube to attack Strabo, Bulgars that Peter Crawford thinks were remnants of Huns. This worked in 480. In 481, Strabo stood in front of Constantinople, but could not make any impact, whether he wanted to take the city or invoke a revolt. Consequently, he retreated in direction of Dyrrhachium. Probably, he wanted to seek an alliance with the Amal, but he died on the way; impaled on a spear. His son Recitach took over, but Zeno saw now an opportunity to destroy the Thracian Goths. For this, he needed the support of the Amal, who had hereto been in the weaker position than Strabo. The result of these negotiation saw the Amal promoted to magister militum praesentalis, his Goths settled in Dacia and Moesia and Theoderic even given the consulship of 484. So much had Zeno to pay for the double-crossing of 478. Strabo’s Goths either joined the Roman army, returned over the Danube, or, probably most of them, joined Theoderic’s forces. Zeno had thus managed to get rid of some of his rivals, with the consequence that the remaining ones, Illus and Theoderic, had become stronger.
The next chapter presents a short excursus on the Romano-Persian relationship during the fifth century, which remained peaceful besides two short outbreaks of hostilities in 421/422 and 440.
One chapter further, Peter Crawford gives an introduction into the Christological discussions of this time, as Zeno became deeply involved in them. Acacius had the patriachs of Alexandria and Antioch replaced with pro-Chalcedonian candidates. The anti-Chalcedonian patriarch of Jerusalem was left in position, as he was still elected under Leo. In 482, Leo tried to reach out to the Alexandrians with the Henotikon, a compromise document that was silent on Chalcedon. It worked in the sense that the patriarch of Alexandria accepted it, but it brought Acacius the excommunication from Rome in 484. Zeno at this time valued religious unity in his empire more than his standing with Rome. But later in his life, once he felt more secure after 488 and after the death of Acacius in November 489, he tried to come to an agreement with Rome again. However, this was not possible, as the pope wanted to have Acacius anathematized, which Zeno could do. Anastasius would later us the Henotikon to promote his anti-Chalcedonian stance. Whereas some pagans were hunted down during Zeno’ reign, Peter Crawford states they were probably allies of Illus. There are no proofs of widespread persecutions of pagans. The Temple of Asclepius and the Parthenon in Athens were closed during this time.
In 481, there was another attempt on Illus’ life. This time, Ariadne, was indicted. To placate Illus, this time Zeno had to make him magister militium per orientem in Antioch, where he arrived in early 482. He appointed there his own commanders and ruled as a small king in his own kingdom. No emperor could tolerate this; civil war was thus inevitable. In 483, Zeno demanded the release of Longinus. As this request had probably been made before, Illus rejected. Troops started to march into Isauria in 484. Illus now elevated his own emperor, Leontius, probably not taking the purple for himself as he could be rehabilitated as general, but not as usurper. However, Illus could not garner much support beyond his current resources. Zeno attacked in a position of strength and could even afford to recall Theoderic. In September 484, the troops clashed outside Antioch, or even in Isauria. Zeno’s troops won decisively. Illus retreated to his Isaurian fortress, where he was blockaded for another four years. Verina died, maybe still 484, Longinus was released later. In 488, the fortress fell by treason, and Illus’ and Leontius’ heads were sent to Constantinople. Zeno, for the first time in his reign, could feel secure.
This led probably to Zeno withholding the subsidies for Theoderic, so in 486 Theoderic was again at war with the empire. In 487, Theoderic campaigned outside Constantinople. Zeno had to pay a massive sum to get him to the negotiation table. The result of these negotiations was that Zeno was sending Theoderic and his Goths to Italy. After a year of preparation, they set out. By the end of 488, they had reached upper Slavonia, already in the lands of the rex Italiae. Theoderic might have considered taking over the Adriatic by boat, but couldn’t find enough ships. They thus marched 489 through the Julian Alps into Northern Italy. Odoacer waited there with his army and was defeated by Theoderic at the Isontius River. Odoacer retreaded to Verona, but Theoderic followed suit and defeated Odoacer again one month later. Odoacer managed to retreat to Ravenna. During the winter, he made a sortie, taking back Cremona and besieging Theoderic wintering in Ticinum. Theoderic was relieved by an Visigothic army, which he might have summoned through his cousin Videmir, who was at the Visigothic court. Theoderic gathered his army and in August 490 defeated Odoacer again between Cremona and Lodi. Ocoacer could once more escape to Ravenna. Unable to besiege Ravenna, Theoderic started to blockade it. In July 491, the Goths could repel the last serious breakout attempt by Ocoacer, still Theoderic had to gain control over the whole hinterland of Ravenna in order to block it effectively. And Ravenna could be supplied over sea, thus only after the capture of Arminium, modern Rimini, had Thoderic enough ships to block Ravenna in earnest. Odoacer started to get desperate and elevated his own emperor. Still Ravenna was difficult to take and in the end Theoderic agreed to negotiate. In March 493, the gates of Ravenna were opened for Theoderic, who at a banquet killed Odoacer. Zeno was probably happy that Theoderic would not be returning east.
In 488, after Illus had been dead and Theoderic gone, Zeno might have felt that he could finally enjoy the fruits of his labor. However, on 9 April 491, Zeno died. Sources speaking of Zeno’s epilepsy or him being buried alive come from radical pro-Chalcedonians that had been put out by Zeno trying to compromise. Zeno seems to have wanted his brother Longinus to succeed him and prepared him as much. However, Zeno left no overt declaration. Therefore, Ariadne chose Anastasius, probably encouraged by the population of Constantinople, who didn’t want another Isaurian, and the senate, who didn’t want a strong emperor. Longinus was seized before he could react and sent into banishment to Egypt. However, Anastaius banished also all Isaurians from Constantinople. This led to the Isuarian war, with imperial forces taking six years to subdue the Isaurians. In the end, anti-Isaurian propaganda in the Isaurian war would contribute to tarnish Zeno’s reputation.
To close, his is an interesting book that does not only elucidate Zeno’s reign, but the whole second half of the fifth century. Even though Peter Crawford seems to have the habit to pick subjects where the sources are equivocal or even lacking, like his
book
of the Muslim conquests, this one is also full of ”it could be that”, “perhaps” and “maybe”, and even though Peter Crawford cannot stop jumping between subjects, the Christological discussions, Theoderic’s Italian campaign, I can still wholeheartedly recommend this book to anybody who wants to know more about this crucial period in Roman history. As for me, I have noticed that I have to learn more about the
Council of Chalcedon.
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