Theodosius I defeats Western Roman ruler Eugenius at the Battle of Frigidus River

Category
War
Place
Italy
Date
394
Reference
." [Aldrete: Decisive Battles]
Excerpts from Books and Wikipedia
"Because the Western Emperor Eugenius (though nominally Christian) had pagan sympathies, the war assumed religious overtones, with Christianity pitted against the last attempt at a pagan revival. The battle was the last serious attempt to contest the Christianization of the empire; its outcome decided the outcome of Christianity in the western Empire, and the final decline of Greco-Roman polytheism in favour of Christianity over the following century." [Wikipedia] When the battle ended, Theodosius controlled the entire empire: the east as senior emperor, the west as regent for his young son Honorius. It was the last time the Roman empire would be united under a single ruler. Theodosius died in 395, the year after the battle. At his death, his two sons from his first marriage divided the rule as co-Augusti. Arcadius, eighteen, took the throne of Constantinople; Honorius inherited the west." [Bauer, Medieval World, p. 72-3]"Our only sources for this battle are Christian ones, which emphasize the role of this storm, claiming that it was so powerful that it blew the arrows of Eugenius’s men back at them. The army of Theodosius was victorious."

This event is linked to the following periods

PeriodMiner
Begin
End
Category
Decline of Western Roman Empire
180
476
Roman Empire