- Julius Asclepiodotus
Julius Asclepiodotus was a Roman
praetorian prefect who served underAurelian ,Probus andDiocletian ["Historia Augusta": "Probus" [http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Historia_Augusta/Probus*.html#22 22] ; "Aurelian" [http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Historia_Augusta/Aurelian/3*.html#44 44] ] and was consul in 292. In 296 he assisted the western CaesarConstantius Chlorus in re-establishing Roman rule in Britain following the illegal rules ofCarausius andAllectus .Allectus, having assassinated Carausius in 293, remained in control of Britain until 296, when Constantius staged an invasion to retake the island. While Constantius sailed from Boulogne, Asclepiodotus took a section of the fleet and the legions from
Le Havre , slipping past Allectus's fleet at theIsle of Wight under cover of fog, and landed presumably in the vicinity ofSouthampton orChichester , where he burned his ships. Allectus attempted to retreat from the coast but was cut off by Constantius's forces and defeated. Some of Constantius's troops, who had been separated from the main body by the fog during the channel crossing, caught up with the remnants of Allectus's men at London and massacred them. [Eutropius , "Abridgment of Roman History" [http://www.forumromanum.org/literature/eutropius/trans9.html#22 9.22] ; Aurelius Victor, "Liber de Caesaribus" [http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/victor.caes.html#39 39.42] ; "Panegyric of Constantius" 6-17;Orosius , "Seven Books of Histories Against the Pagans" [http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/orosius7.html#25 7.25] ;Bede , "Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum " ]Asclepiodotus appears in medieval British legend as a native king of Britain.
Geoffrey of Monmouth 's "History of the Kings of Britain" (1136) portrays him as a duke ofCornwall who is raised to the kingship in opposition to Allectus, a Roman who oppressed the people of Britain. [Geoffrey of Monmouth , "Historia Regum Britanniae " ] He defeats and kills Allectus nearLondon , and besieges the rest of his forces in the city. The Romans eventually surrender on condition of safe conduct out of Britain, which Asclepiodotus is willing to grant; but his allies the Venedoti attack them, cut off their heads and throw them into the river Gallobroc. [In the 1860s,Augustus Pitt Rivers dug up a large number of human skulls, and almost no other bones, from the bed of the riverWalbrook in London (Lewis Thorpe, "The History of the Kings of Britain", Penguin, 1966, p. 19).] Asclepiodotus is then officially crowned king, and rules justly for ten years. However, his rule is contemporary with the persecutions of Christians underDiocletian , and Geoffrey places the martyrdom ofSaint Alban at this time. In response to these atrocities, Coel, duke ofColchester , leads a revolt against him, kills him, and takes his crown.References
External links
*Stephen J. Murray, " [http://www.stephen.j.murray.btinternet.co.uk/empires2.htm Empire of Carausius] ", retrieved 14 August 2006.
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.