Avitus
395 CE – 457 CE · aged 62
Roman Emperor (455–456) (395-457)
- Born
- 395 CE · Clermont-Ferrand
- Died
- 457 CE · Gaul
Life timeline
Their life from birth to death. On the timeline, world events of the time are shown faintly.
- 395 CEBornBorn in Clermont-Ferrand
- 455 CE – 456 CERoleWestern Roman emperor
- 457 CEDiedDied in Gaul
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Meanwhile in the world
Major world events during their lifetime (395 CE – 457 CE).
- 395 CE – 1453Byzantine Empire
- 395 CE – 476 CEWestern Roman Empire
Biography
Eparchius Avitus (died 456/7) was Roman emperor of the Western Empire from July 455 to October 456. He was a senator of Gallic extraction and a high-ranking officer both in the civil and military administration, as well as Bishop of Piacenza.
He opposed the reduction of the Western Roman Empire to Italy alone, both politically and from an administrative point of view. For this reason, as Emperor he introduced several Gallic senators in the Imperial administration; this policy, however, was opposed by the senatorial aristocracy and by the people of Rome, who had suffered from the sack of the city by the Vandals in 455.
Avitus had a good relationship with the Visigoths, in particular with their king Theodoric II, who was a friend of his and who acclaimed Avitus Emperor. The possibility of a strong and useful alliance between the Visigoths and Romans faded, however, when Theodoric invaded Hispania at Avitus's behest, which rendered him unable to help Avitus against the rebel Roman generals who deposed him.
Text from the Wikipedia article Avitus, CC BY-SA 4.0
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