Revolt of Gildo

Gildo was a son of Nubel, a Moorish prince of Mauretania Caesariensis. When his brother Firmus rebelled against Valentinian I in the 370s, Gildo sided with Rome and received Firmus’s confiscated estates; in 385 or 386 Theodosius I made him Count of Africa, and he later held the supreme military command there. After the division of the empire in 395, Africa, the granary of Rome, belonged to the western emperor Honorius, whose government was run by Stilicho. Gildo held back the grain shipments to Italy and in 397 declared that he would place Africa under the eastern court of Arcadius, then directed by the eunuch Eutropius. The Donatist bishop Optatus of Thamugadi was among his close supporters.

The Senate declared Gildo an enemy of the state, and Stilicho gave the command to Gildo’s brother Mascezel, who had fled to Italy after Gildo had his two sons killed. Mascezel landed with a small force of Gallic veterans, and near Ammaedara Gildo’s army went over to him before a real battle was fought. Gildo tried to escape by sea to the East, but contrary winds drove him back to Tabraca, where he was seized; he died on 31 July 398, probably by his own hand. His estates were so vast that a special official, the count of Gildo’s patrimony, was created to manage them. Mascezel drowned soon afterwards. The main source is the poet Claudian’s De bello Gildonico.