#theodosius i

[twofielder]

Coin of the Day #49 (6/22/2024)

A nice LRB with a large die break on the reverse…

Roman Empire

AE24 - 5.67g

Theodosius I 383-388 AD

Heraclea Mint

Obverse D N THEODOSIVS P F AVG

Bust of Theodosius I right, pearl-diademed, draped, cuirassed

Reverse VIRTVS EXERCITI

Emperor standing right, holding labarum and globe, left foot on captive, •SMHA mint

RIC IX 24b

[lightdancer1]

With Theodosius I the end of the Imperial biographies:

And out of the great historical hero-Emperors Theodosius had the most lasting impact. Constantine the Great legalized Christianity and marked a dramatic sea-change in the Empire. It was Theodosius who turned legalizing Christianity into the persecution of paganism. Like Constantine Theodosius faced a divided empire, like Constantine he won a sequence of battles that left it united. In his clashes with Bishop Ambrose of Milan he began the long history that would culminate in the Pyrrhic victory of the Holy Roman Emperors in the Investiture Controversy of rivalry between the great magnates of the Church and the great lords of the state.

In this sense one can say that Late Antiquity began with Diocletian and that it was under Constantine and Theodosius that the Empire began to grapple, slowly and in complete unawareness that this is what was actually happening to it, with the transition to the medieval world. Neither would Theodosius have seen, nor expected, that his actions to re-establish the Empire all but assured the final fall of the Western half and the rise of the foundation of the future European state system.

Such is the cruel whim of irony and of historical chance.

9/10.

[sforzesco]

the way the valentinian and theodosian dynasties intermarried gives me a headache, so we'll just (hand waving) the marriage of licinia eudoxia and valentinian iii, also some normal ribbing between theodosius ii and valentinian iii

can you believe that we got another set of co-emperors with the theodosius-valentinian name set after the absolute disaster of the first pair? incredible!

⭐ places I’m at! bsky / pixiv / pillowfort /cohost / cara.app / tip jar!

[thepastisalreadywritten]

FUN FACT:

In 393 CE, Emperor Theodosius I (347–395) banned the Greek Olympics due to the religious element of the celebration.

He considered the Olympics to be a pagan festival, which had no place in his Christian empire.

As a consequence, the games were cancelled and didn’t start up again for over 1,400 years — until 1896.

[attila-werther]

ngl for all the 'people are obsessed with the roman empire' jokes, I keep running into roman emperors who don't have dedicated biographies

[hi-my-name-is-cosmopathy]

Hey so my internet went out when I came home for New Years so this is very very late

Happy New Year. And uhhh

Happy 1/1 day to the Thomas mf

[theodosius-the-great]

My feet are as fat as Eugenius, I hope this 10 year old can rule.

[longthymenosee]

(he's 27)

[artifacts-archive]

Tetradrachm (Coin) Depicting the God Zeus

Greek, Reign of Phillip II (359–336 BCE)

The official record of quadrennial games honoring the supreme Greek god Zeus at a sanctuary dedicated to him at Olympia began in 776 BCE. With few interruptions, they took place every four years for about 1,100 years. In 394, CE the Christian emperor Theodosius I (reigned 379–95) abolished them as pagan rites. The most prestigious competition remained the footrace, but eventually it was supplanted in popularity by the horse races. Horses were symbols of socioeconomic status, since only the privileged could afford to buy, feed, and train them and transport their teams and trainers to Olympia every four years. In time, many of the victors in the horse races included kings and tyrants. Philip II, king of Macedon, who minted this coin, owned the horse that won the race in Olympia in 356 BCE. The same year his son was born; he would grow up to become Alexander the Great (356–332 BCE). The head of Zeus on the front referred to Philip’s claim that his family descended from the god. On the back Philip commemorated his victory in the horse races of the Olympic Games with an image of a jockey astride his mount.

[whencyclopedia]

Theodosian Walls

The Theodosian Walls are the fortifications of Constantinople, capital of the Byzantine Empire, which were first built during the reign of Theodosius II (408-450 CE). Sometimes known as the Theodosian Long Walls, they built upon and extended earlier fortifications so that the city became impregnable to enemy sieges for 800 years. The fortifications were the largest and strongest ever built in either the ancient or medieval worlds. Resisting attacks and earthquakes over the centuries, the walls were particularly tested by Bulgar and Arab forces who sometimes laid siege to the city for years at a time. Sections of the walls can still be seen today in modern Istanbul and are the city's most impressive surviving monuments from Late Antiquity.

Making the City Safe

Although the city had benefitted from previous emperors building fortifications, especially Constantine I when he moved his capital from Rome to the east, it is Emperor Theodosius II who is most associated with Constantinople's famous city walls. It was, though, Theodosius I (r. 379-395 CE) who began the project of improving the capital's defences by building the Golden Gate of Constantinople in November 391 CE. The massive gate was over 12 metres high, had three arches, and a tower either side. It was entirely built of marble and decorated with statues and was topped with a sculpture of a chariot pulled by four elephants. The Golden Gate probably marked the start of triumphal processions which ended in the Hippodrome. Two decades later, Theodosius II was alarmed at the recent fall of Rome to the Goths in 410 CE and set about building a massive line of triple fortification walls to ensure Constantinople never followed the same fate. The man credited with supervising their construction is Theodosius' Praetorian Prefect Anthemius. The walls extended across the peninsula from the shores of the Sea of Marmara to the Golden Horn, eventually being fully completed in 439 CE and stretching some 6.5 kilometres. They expanded the enclosed area of the city by 5 square kilometres.

Continue reading...

[chthonic-sorcery]

All me and my homes hate Theodosius I

[sforzesco]

many thanks @twobeesornottwobees for helping me out with the theodosius biography!! at long last, agrippa makes a reappearance on my blog! and additionally octavian because it feels wrong to draw agrippa without him

[wandering-cemeteries]

The Mausoleum of Galla Placidia, built in 5th century. It is thought to contain the tomb of Galla Placidia (died 450), the daughter of the Roman Emperor Theodosius I. Someone accidentally burned the contents of the tomb in 1577. Emperor Valentinian III or Emperor Honorius and Galla’s husband Emperor Constantius III may still be buried in the tomb. Ravenna, Italy

[ingolds]

they feel the weight of armand's stare on their temple, on the ruby red vitality that dribbles steadily down beside their ear. even without looking directly at his gaze, theo can see the vast black of his pupils, how serrated the turn of his smile is. the air smells like sweat and dirt, turning coppery deep in their sinuses, and theo wonders — does he enjoy this?

and if so, is it the violence amongst beasts that thrills him, or the blood oozing from theo's split brow?

“ he's getting there. he doesn't know how to balance when i switch sides. ” their gaze cuts to their opponent, where he leans heavily on the sides of the ring and drags his paws through the dust, testing the strength of his muscles. armand admonishes him; theo scoffs. “ one of us has to be confident in me. ”

the moderator gestures, and theo stands, shakes off the exhaustion from their shoulders. the ring clears, and theo tries not to track where armand flutters away to. the lycan across from them leaps, messy and uncoordinated, and theo sidesteps, a dance they've practiced many times. when he stumbles up against the wall, theodosius rises in theo, through theo, breaking bones and shedding skin, all shining gold teeth and strength. the shift takes long enough for his opponent to rouse, to slash at his belly with quick claws; he takes the attempt in stride, pain sluicing hot and biting just above his navel, and tears the gray wolf's throat clean open.

bring me his cuspids, armand had said, and the command sizzles through their veins; theodosius shows teeth, a wolf on the hunt, and pries that jaw open easily with his claws. he oozes blood, still breathing, but he won't be conscious again anytime soon; if at all. the jeers only grow louder, the crowd calling out for blood, for violence, and he fits his fingers around those iron-slicked teeth, four quick tugs depositing gleaming fangs into his paw.

wolf stands, tall and proud, hackles lifted into ragged spikes, and paces towards the edge of the arena. careful, minding the talons, he holds out a palm to the vampire: one, two, three, four cuspids, just for him. theodosius shows all his own teeth, still where they belong in his maw, bloodier now but no less triumphant.

in the heat of a fight armand often loses all sense of his surroundings. even the violent ring - side jeering reduces down to an ignorable buzz. there was beauty to it. even in the midst of cracking knuckles and blood that flowed from the hot source, straight from the heart, armand is not bothered in the least.

it was not home by any means, but when he crawls up into that ring with theodosius and the world comes crashing back down between them, it was as close as any home armand had ever lived experienced.

blood drips from theo's eyelashes.

the sanguinity of those tears brings armand back down to earth. red, garishly red, blood seeps from theo and he quickly pulls a bandage package from the small bag strapped to his thigh. within moments of bringing it to the man's eyebrow it seeps through with his blood.

“ i think he's quite tired. ”

when he turns his head to get a good look at the man he's surprised to see just how much blood splays out across the cement. it looks wet and slick.

“ keep knocking him down. look at his legs. ” armand faces theo again. his pupils are large, bulbous in his face. hungry with the victory already as near as it is. “ he's still shaking. it's endurance at this point, that's all. don't get cocky. ” a smile.

“ you haven't come this far just to come this far. ”

“ bring me his cuspids. ”

[attila-werther]

anyway, this is funny to me

[girlactionfigure]

Gaza was once destroyed over a watermelon!

URI KURLIANCHIK

NOV 6

It’s true!

In my previous newsletter, I mentioned that Gaza was abandoned during Crusader Times. This wasn’t the first time the city stood empty and ruined.

Throughout her long history, Gaza was destroyed many times. Alexander the Great killed all the men of Gaza and sold all the women and children into slavery in 332 BCE. The Judean king Alexander Janus forced the people of Gaza to convert to Judaism after conquering the city and killing its leaders in 100 BC. The Mongol horde massacred everyone and everything in 1260 CE. Yes, Gaza was never a stranger to violence. However, none of its many ruinations had a sillier reason than the Arab destruction of the city in 8th century CE.

The first thing that you need to know is that two Arab tribes, Qays and Yaman, both alike in dignity, have feuded for over a 100 years all over the Caliphate. In fact, these tribes kept feuding well into the 19th century under Ottoman rule, but that’s a different story. Say one thing for these guys, say they know how to hold grudge.

It all began in 792, when a member of the al-Qays tribe from Jund Filastin (modern Israel) came to grind wheat in al-Balqa in Jund al-Urduun (modern Jordan) and stole some watermelons on the way. Now, Bedouins aren't famous for their de-escalation technique so this minor offense rapidly spiraled into a full-fledged civil war in the Bilad al-Sham province. 

Casualties began to mount as tribes from the Golan Heights joined the war as allies of the Yamani coalition. The entire region was reduced to anarchy. The roads became impassable due to attacks by Bedouin bands. Arab tribes resumed raiding the Christian monasteries of the Judean Desert that were until recently under imperial protection. 

The St. Chariton Monastery was robbed. Dozens of monks at Mar Saba were murdered. The monasteries of St. Cyriacus, St. Theodosius, and St. Euthymius were all raided and looted.

Yours truly overlooking the Mar Saba monastery. It’s still active!

Caliph Harun al-Rashid viewed this as a rebellion and dispatched a large army headed by his Persian vizier Jafar al-Barmaki to restore order to the wayward district, which the latter accomplished after much bloodshed and destruction. Sadly, this seems to be the only way anyone can bring peace to this region. By the time the dust settled, 1,400 people were dead and several cities, including Gaza lay in ruins. 

This Arab civil war came to be known as the War of the Watermelon. And now it seems we’re having another!