Aetius (praetorian prefect)

Aetius (fl. 419–425) was a politician of the Eastern Roman Empire, praefectus urbi of Constantinople and praetorian prefect of the East.

Life[]

Aetius was praefectus urbi of Constantinople. He is first attested in office on February 23, 419, when an old man called Cyriacus tried to kill him in the Great Church,^[1] and again on October 4 of the same year, when he received a law preserved in the Codex Theodosianus.^[2] He also received a law^[3] dated to 409, but emended by scholars to 418, 420 or 422, in which he was to reduce the staff of the Great Church (this reduction has been suggested as a possible reason for the assassination attempt).^[4] In 421 a large open-air water reservoir called "of Aetius" was built in Constantinople;^[5] this Aetius might be the praefectus urbi, who could be still in office^[4] as his successor, Florentius, is first attested in November 422.

A law addressed to him was issued on May 5, 425 that calls him a praetorian prefect;^[6] it is not clearly stated if he was praetorian prefect of the East or of Illyricum, but the former is more probable.^[4]

Notes[]

Sources[]

• John Robert Martindale, "Aetius 1", The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire, Volume 2, Cambridge University Press, 1980, ISBN 0-521-20159-4, pp. 19-20.