Division of the Roman Empire
The division of January 395 CE was not unprecedented — the empire had been governed by co-emperors for much of the third and fourth centuries — but no previous division had proven permanent. Arcadius in the East inherited the richer, more urbanised half: Egypt, Syria, Asia Minor, and the Balkans. Constantinople was already a thriving metropolis. The East would survive as the Byzantine Empire for another thousand years. Honorius in the West was a child emperor dominated by his general Stilicho, half-Vandal and half-Roman. The West was economically weaker, with longer, more exposed frontiers and less urban density. The Rhine-Danube frontier had already been penetrated repeatedly. The West's situation deteriorated rapidly: the Visigoths under Alaric ravaged Greece and Italy. In 410 CE they sacked Rome itself. The Rhine frontier collapsed in 406-407 CE when Germanic peoples crossed the frozen river into Gaul and Spain. Province after province slipped from imperial control until the last western emperor was deposed in 476 CE. The division of 395 CE marks the point at which the western and eastern trajectories definitively diverged.
- Year: 395 CE
- Category: Political
