Roman Emperor Eugenius
Flavius Eugenius, or as he was simply known, Eugenius, was a Roman usurper to the throne of Emperor Theodosius I, who was in power for only a short period of two years beginning in the year 392 AD to the year 394 AD. As a political and religious leader, his reign was representative of the last time that a Polytheist religious leader triumphed against the teachings of the prevailing monotheist Christianity in the coveted role of official faith of the State.
Due to the scarcity of public records that were kept on the common classes at that time, the exact date of Eugenius' birth was unknown and in fact remains so to the present time. It was known however, that Eugenius was a teacher of grammar and rhetoric of some acclaim as well as being magister scrinorum. He counted amongst his most powerful political alliances his friendships with the Frank magister militum as well as de facto ruler of the Western Roman Empire who was named Arbogast.
The death of Valentinian II sometime around the year 392 AD brought about some very cunning political manoeuvrings on the part of Arbogast. He knew full well that proclaiming himself as the new rightful Roman emperor would have the possibility of later backfiring on him. The reason for this of course was that he was Frank and therefore would have made quite a poor choice of emperor indeed in the eyes of the Roman senate.
Eugenius as a Roman would have been far more welcome to the fickle Roman senate that was typically wary of foreigners assuming control over the throne of the Roman emperor. Arbogast was well aware of this danger and he wisely decided to appoint Eugenius to purple on the 22nd of August in the year 392 AD. This appointment therefore worked to the benefit of Arbogast and had the longer lasting effect of strengthening his political stability further.
Upon the election of Eugenius to the throne, he began to take steps to make widespread changes to the ranks of the imperial administrators. This political move was quite necessary in the wake of Valentinian's own actions in the western half of the empire, which was left to him by Theodosius. Valentinian, in a calculated move to keep a strong hand of control over the entire Roman Empire, had previously installed many of his own men in the highest offices in the land.
One of Eugenius's first actions upon taking control was the removal of these men in place of his own selected appointees. He was of course very careful to select only men who not only were from the senatorial class but whose loyalty to him was proven beyond doubt. In the wake of these reforms, Nichomacus Flavianus the Elder was granted the title of Praetorian Prefect of Italy, while his son Nichomachus Flavianus the Younger was granted the title of Prefect of Rome. Numerius Proiectus was given the title of praefectus annonae.
During an encounter with Theodosius, Eugenius was executed as a war criminal. He died on September 6th, 394 AD.
Original Authors: Doods Pangburn
Edit Update Authors: M.A.Harris
Updated On: 13/05/2008
