The Emperor Honorius

"The Byzantine Emperor Honorius," by Jean-Paul Laurens, 1880, at the Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk. Public Domain. Courtesy of Wikipedia.

On this day in A.D. 393, Honorius became co-ruling emperor. He was 8-years old. At the time Honorius became Augustus, his father, Theodosius I, was still emperor. After Theodosius' death in A.D. 395, the Roman empire was split between Honorius in the West and Arcadius in the East. The most notable event during Honorius' 30 years in power was the sack of Rome by the Visigoths in A.D. 410. Although Honorius is depicted as foolish, he recovered from that sack (granted, it was probably easier to do so than after the Gallic sack in 390 B.C., since the capital of the Western Roman empire was no longer in Rome, but in Ravenna) and actually managed to die of natural causes.

• Honorius
• Fall of Rome Honorius, Stilicho, and the Collapse of the West
• Last Best Chance to Beat the Goths
• Revolt of Gildo in Africa, A.D. 386-398. - Gibbon
• Invasions and Distribution of the Barbarians, by Robert F. Pennell

"This day in ancient history" caveat: please see Unreliability of Dates.