The Shields of the Empire: Eastern Roman Military Elites during the Reigns of the Emperors Theodosius II, Marcian and Leo I No. XLVII

The subject of interest of this monograph are the Eastern Roman military elites and their influence on the functioning of the Empire during the reigns of the emperors Theodosius II, Marcian and Leo I (408–471). The author explores the process of the re-establishment of the military elites after the revolt of Gainas, their growing importance thanks to the wars of the early reign of Theodosius II, and the dissatisfaction of the generals with the emperor’s foreign policy towards the end of his rule. The resulting opposition brought together such different characters as Flavius Zeno, Aspar or Apollonius consolidating the group. It is argued that the following reign of Marcian was in many ways the realization of the political goals of the military elite. Over its course, Aspar, who outlived other commanders, became the most powerful man in the Empire, being able to single-handedly choose the next emperor – Leo. The author explores how the power of Aspar and his family manifested throughout Leo’s reign, and how the general and the emperor ended up quarrelling, and how their conflict escalated. The monograph challenges many preconceptions established in the scholarship, especially, the common in the older literature, framing of the conflicts between the emperors and the generals as driven by ethnic factors, but also re-evaluates more modern ideas that seek to explain the dynamic of those events in terms of dynastic or religious struggles. The author claims that the primary motivation of the military elites was political in nature, and it was to protect the Empire, however, the conflicts between the generals and the emperors were due to differences in how it needs to be done. The military elites were generally opposed to engaging limited military resources in risky expeditionary campaigns, and it seems they did not perceive the attempts to help the Western Roman Empire as their duty, only feeling responsible for the security of the part centred around Constantinople.