6 settembre, giorno infausto

[Iunthanaka]

The Battle of Frigidus, September 6, 394, was perhaps one of the most important battles in the late Roman period. The western Frankish commander Arbogast, along with the Senate in Rome, staged a revolt against the Emperor Theodosius I, based in Constantinople. While revolts of barbarian federates were not new in the turmoils of the 4th century, this revolt was one of pagan versus Christian, and the outcome of the battle decided the course of Christianity in the western Empire. The battle is on par with that of the Battle of the Milvian Bridge in importance, for it was seen not only as a victory in a civil war, but a vindication of God and the triumph of Christianity.

Arbogast and his pagan troops had the support of the pagan Senate in Rome, who had been arguing with Christian emperors in Constantinople for over two generations. They wrote letters and argued for a return to paganism; but they functioned much as academics would today, all talk and no action. It was through Arbogast they found the opportunity to restore pagan rule in the Empire through force. The Senate put up a new Emperor named Eugenius, although the real brains behind the revolt was Arbogast.

Theodosius marched west from Constantinople with an army, which included over 20,000 Goths who had recently been made federates after the debacle at the Battle of Adrianople. The battles of Frigidus were fought in the Julian Alps, in key passes there, in the vicinity of present-day Vipava. It was a total victory for Theodosius, and a total loss for the pagans. The pagan senate would be humiliated, and within a generation, the elite pagan families of Rome would give up any serious resistance to Christianity and re-invent themselves as the papal families of Late Antiquity.

[Helios]

Onore agli Eroi del Frigido. PER ASPERA AD ASTRA!

Non fu vera morte.