When the emperor Valentinian III murdered the general Flavius Aetius, it has been observed that he had ‘cut his right hand with his left’, and the story of the fall of the ‘last Roman’ has been put in the greater context of the subsequent dissolution of the Roman Empire in the West. However, a similar deed committed by the emperor Leo in the East in 471, when he ordered the killing of the general Aspar, certainly did not gain such a legendary status. The underappreciated stor...
When the emperor Valentinian III murdered the general Flavius Aetius, it has been observed that he had ‘cut his right hand with his left’, and the story of the fall of the ‘last Roman’ has been put in the greater context of the subsequent dissolution of the Roman Empire in the West. However, a similar deed committed by the emperor Leo in the East in 471, when he ordered the killing of the general Aspar, certainly did not gain such a legendary status. The underappreciated stor...
Lata trzeciej ćwierci V w. są jednym z najciekawszych okresów w historii Europy. To czasy przełomowe, w których ostatecznie wygasła dynastia teodozjańska, rządząca cesarstwem rzymskim przez ponad siedemdziesiąt lat, zaś napór barbarzyńców i wojny domowe doprowadziły do upadku jego zachodniej części. Na ten kluczowy okres w historii całego Mediterraneum przypadają rządy dwóch cesarzy wschodniorzymskich: Marcjana (450–457) i Leona I (457–474). Właśnie ich polityce zachodniej po...
