Editing Allectus

{{Short description|Augustus of Gaul and Britannia from 293 to 296}}
{{Infobox Roman emperor
| name            =Allectus
|full name=Allectus
|title=[[Augustus (title)|Augustus]] of [[Gaul]] and [[Britannia]]
| image= Quinarius Allectus galley-RIC 0128.2.jpg
| caption         =Allectus on a coin, with a <br>galley on the reverse
| reign           =293–296
| predecessor     =[[Carausius]]
| successor       =None
| spouse 1        =
| spouse 2        =
| issue           =
| dynasty         =
| father          =
| mother          =
| birth_date   =
| birth_place  =
| death_date   =296
| death_place  =[[Roman Britain|Britannia]]
| place of burial =
||succession=[[Carausian Revolt|Emperor of Britannia]]|regnal name=Imperator Caesar Allectus Augustus}}
'''Allectus''' (died 296) was a [[Britannic Empire|Roman-Britannic]] [[Roman usurper|usurper]]-[[Roman emperors|emperor]] in [[Roman Britain|Britain]] and northern [[Gaul]] from 293 to 296.<ref name="DGRBM">{{cite encyclopedia | last = Schmitz | first = Leonhard | author-link = Leonhard Schmitz | title = Allectus | editor = William Smith | editor-link = William Smith (lexicographer) | encyclopedia = [[Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology]] | volume = 1 | pages = 132 | publisher = [[Little, Brown and Company]] | location = Boston | year = 1867 | url = http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/pageviewer-idx?c=moa;cc=moa;idno=acl3129.0001.001;q1=demosthenes;size=l;frm=frameset;seq=147}}</ref>

==History==
Allectus was [[treasurer]] to [[Carausius]], a [[Menapii|Menapian]] officer in the Roman navy who had seized power in Britain and northern Gaul in 286. In 293 Carausius was isolated when the western [[Caesar (title)|Caesar]], [[Constantius Chlorus]], retook some of his Gallic territories, particularly the crucial port of Bononia (modern [[Boulogne-sur-Mer|Boulogne]]), and defeated [[Franks|Frankish]] allies of Carausius in [[Batavians|Batavia]]. Allectus assassinated [[Carausius]] and assumed command himself.<ref>Wolfgang Kuhoff, ''Diokletian und die Epoche der Tetrarchie. Das römische Reich zwischen Krisenbewältigung und Neuaufbau (284–313 n. Chr.).'', 2001, p. 136–142.</ref>

[[File:Constantius I capturing London after defeating Allectus Beaurains hoard.jpg|150px|thumb|left|Medal of [[Constantius Chlorus|Constantius I]] capturing [[London]] (inscribed as LON) after defeating Allectus. [[Beaurains Treasure|Beaurains hoard]]]]
His reign has left little record, although his coin issues display a similar distribution to those of Carausius. They are found in north western Gaul, indicating that the recapture of Bononia did not spell the end of the rebel empire on that side of the [[English Channel]].<ref>[[Sheppard Frere]], ''Britannia: A History of Roman Britain'', third edition, 1987, p. 330</ref>

Constantius launched an invasion to depose him in September 296. His forces sailed in several divisions. Constantius led one division from Bononia, but seems to have been delayed by bad weather. Another division, under the [[praetorian prefect]] [[Julius Asclepiodotus|Asclepiodotus]], took advantage of fog to avoid Allectus's ships stationed at the [[Isle of Wight]], and landed near [[Southampton Water]], where they burnt their ships. Allectus's forces were forced to retreat from the coast, but were cut off by another of Constantius's divisions and defeated. Allectus himself was killed in the battle, having removed all insignia in the hope that his body would not be identified. Archaeology suggests that [[Calleva Atrebatum]] ([[Silchester]]) or the area surrounding the town was the site of his defeat.<ref>Frere, ''Britannia'' p. 331</ref> A group of Roman 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, mostly Franks, at Londinium ([[London]]) and massacred them. Constantius himself, it seems, did not reach Britain until it was all over, and his [[Panegyrici Latini|panegyrist]] claims he was welcomed by the Britons as a liberator.<ref name="sources">''[[Panegyrici Latini]]'' 8:12–19; [[Aurelius Victor]], ''Book of Caesars'' [http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/victor.caes.html#39 39]; [[Eutropius (historian)|Eutropius]], ''Abridgement of Roman History'' {{usurped|1=[https://archive.today/20121228022346/http://www.forumromanum.org/literature/eutropius/trans9.html#21 21-22]}}; [[Paulus Orosius|Orosius]], ''Seven Books of History Against the Pagans'' [http://www.attalus.org/latin/orosius7A.html#25 7:25]</ref>

Carausius had deliberately used his coinage for propaganda purposes, and some of his slogans, such as a claim to have restored 'liberty', were designed to appeal to British sentiment.  Constantius answered such claims in a famous medal struck on the morrow of his victory, in which he described himself as ''redditor lucis aeternae'', 'restorer of the eternal light (viz. of Rome).'

In March 2019 an ancient coin showing the head of Allectus was found in Dover by a metal detectorist. The coin sold for £552,000 at an auction by [[Dix Noonan Webb]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.kentonline.co.uk/dover/news/killer-emperor-coin-bought-for-half-a-million-206134/|title=Roman coin of killer emperor found near Dover sells for half a million|last=Sam|first=Lennon|date=6 June 2019|website=Kent Online|access-date=10 June 2019}}</ref>

==Legend==
[[Geoffrey of Monmouth]] included Allectus in his legendary ''[[Historia Regum Britanniae|History of the Kings of Britain]]'' (ca. 1136). Here, Allectus is an officer sent with three legions by the Romans to depose [[Carausius]], a native British king. He does so, but his rule proves oppressive, and he is in turn deposed by Asclepiodotus, here the [[Duke of Cornwall]]. The last of Allectus's troops are besieged in London, and surrender on the condition they are granted safe passage out of Britain. Asclepiodotus agrees, but the surrendering soldiers are massacred, and their heads thrown into the river [[River Walbrook|Galobroc]], by his allies the [[Kingdom of Gwynedd|Venedoti]].<ref>[[Geoffrey of Monmouth]], ''[[Historia Regum Britanniae]]'' [[Wikisource:History of the Kings of Britain/Book 5#4|5.4]]</ref>

==In fiction==
Allectus's assassination of Carausius and the opposition to his regime, culminating in Constantius's invasion, are central to [[Rosemary Sutcliff]]'s 1957 novel, [[The Silver Branch (Sutcliff novel)|''The Silver Branch'']].

== References ==
{{Commons category|Allectus}}
{{Reflist}}

== Further reading ==
* P. J. Casey, ''Carausius and Allectus. The British usupers'', 1994.
* Wolfgang Kuhoff, ''Diokletian und die Epoche der Tetrarchie. Das römische Reich zwischen Krisenbewältigung und Neuaufbau (284–313 n. Chr.)'', 2001, esp. p. 136–142, 155–159 and 659–669.

{{s-start}}
{{s-reg | leg }}
{{s-bef | before = [[Carausius]] }}
{{s-ttl | title  = [[List of legendary kings of Britain|King of Britain]] }}
{{s-aft | after  = [[Julius Asclepiodotus|Asclepiodotus]] }}
{{s-end}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Allectus}}
[[Category:British traditional history]]
[[Category:Ancient Romans in Britain]]
[[Category:296 deaths]]
[[Category:3rd-century Roman usurpers]]
[[Category:3rd-century monarchs in Europe]]
[[Category:Year of birth unknown]]
[[Category:Ancient Romans from unknown gentes]]
[[Category:Tetrarchy]]
[[Category:Ancient Roman assassins]]
[[Category:Treasurers]]
[[Category:Emperors in Europe]]