Division of the Roman Empire
On the death of Theodosius I at Milan his sons divided the empire: Arcadius took the East with Constantinople and Honorius the West; it was never again ruled by a single emperor.
- Date
- 17 January 395exact dateDate in the Julian calendar
- Place
- Milan (Mediolanum)today: Milan, Italy · Western and Central Europe
- Participants
- Theodosius I, Arcadius, Honorius, Roman Empire, Western Roman Empire, Byzantine Empire
- Threads
- Europe in the Roman age (1st–5th c.)
- Also known as
- Partition of the Roman Empire; Division of 395; Разделение Римской империи
Theodosius died on 17 January 395, a few months after defeating the western usurper Eugenius on the Frigidus. Both his sons were already Augusti: Arcadius, about seventeen, ruled from Constantinople, and Honorius, aged ten, from Milan under the guardianship of the general Stilicho; in 402 the western court moved to Ravenna.
Contemporaries saw not two states but one empire with two colleagues, and earlier emperors had often shared out the provinces. But the division of 395 proved final. The East, richer and more populous, survived for more than a thousand years as the Byzantine Empire; the West was overrun by barbarian peoples within a century.
Connections
Related events
- Deposition of Romulus Augustulus4 September 476 · Western and Central Europethe western half set apart in 395 ended in 476
Same participants
- Edict of Thessalonica27 February 380 · Balkans and Anatoliavia Theodosius I
- End of Roman rule in Britain383–410 · Western and Central Europevia Honorius
- Council of Chalcedon8 October – 1 November 451 · Balkans and Anatoliavia Byzantine Empire
Same place
- Establishment of the Tetrarchy1 March 293 · Western and Central Europe
- Edict of MilanFebruary 313 · Western and Central Europe
- Siege of Pavia and fall of the Lombard kingdomSeptember 773 – June 774 · Western and Central Europe
- Leonardo da Vinci’s Last Supperc. 1495 – 1498 · Western and Central Europe
- Voltaic pile20 March 1800 · Western and Central Europe
Meanwhile in the world
Other regions, within 25 years of this event
Eastern Europe
- Vinitharius’ war with the Antes of Bozbetween 375 and 380
- The Huns conquer the Alans and the Greuthungic. 370 – 376
- Chernyakhov culturebetween 200 and 250 – between 400 and 430
- Kyiv culturec. 200 – between 400 and 430
Balkans and Anatolia
- Edict of Thessalonica27 February 380
- Gothic War (376–382)376 – 3 October 382
- Battle of Adrianople9 August 378
The same period
Sources
- Wikipedia (English): Theodosius I
- Wikipedia (English): Western Roman Empire
- Wikipedia (Russian): Раздел Римской империи
- Wikipedia (Russian): Западная Римская империя
- История Византии: в 3 т. / Отв. ред. С. Д. Сказкин. — Т. 1. — М.: Наука, 1967.
- Wikidata: Q2139797