Editing Aspar

{{Short description|Eastern Roman patrician}}
{{About||the village in Iran|Aspar, Iran|the Grand Prix motorcycle racing team|Aspar Team|the Roman spy of the 1st century CE|Aspar (Numidian)}}

[[File:Piatto di ardaburio, argento fuso, 434 d.c. (found in 1769) 03.JPG|thumb|Detail of a dish depicting Aspar and his elder son [[Ardabur (consul 447)|Ardabur]] ({{Circa}} 434).]]

'''[[Flavia gens#Later use|Flavius]] Ardabur Aspar''' ([[Greek language|Greek]]: Ἄσπαρ, fl. 400{{spaced ndash}}471) was an [[Eastern Roman Empire|Eastern Roman]] [[Patrician (ancient Rome)|patrician]] and ''[[magister militum]]'' ("master of soldiers") of [[Alans|Alanic]]-[[Goths|Gothic]] descent.<ref name="Wolfram142"/> As the general of a [[Germanic peoples|Germanic]] army in Roman service,<ref name="EB">{{cite encyclopedia |url=http://global.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/38845/Flavius-Ardaburius-Aspar |title=Flavius Ardaburius Aspar |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopædia Britannica Online]] |publisher=[[Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.]] |access-date=November 2, 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite encyclopedia |url=http://global.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/336182/Leo-I |title=Leo I (Roman emperor) |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopædia Britannica Online]] |publisher=[[Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.]] |access-date=November 2, 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite encyclopedia |url=http://global.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/656509/Zeno |title=Zeno (Eastern Roman emperor) |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopædia Britannica Online]] |publisher=[[Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.]] |access-date=November 2, 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite encyclopedia |url=http://global.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/87186/Byzantine-Empire/9228/Relations-with-the-barbarians |title=Byzantine Empire (historical empire, Eurasia): Relations with the barbarians |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopædia Britannica Online]] |publisher=[[Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.]] |access-date=November 2, 2012}}</ref> Aspar exerted great influence on the Eastern Roman Emperors for half a century, from the 420s to his death in 471, through the reigns of [[Theodosius II]], [[Marcian]] and [[Leo I the Thracian|Leo I]], who, in the end, had him killed. His death led to the ending of the Germanic domination of Eastern Roman policy.<ref name="EB"/>

==Biography==
Aspar was born the son of the magister [[Ardabur (consul 427)|Ardaburius]],<ref>Williams, p. 45.</ref> and was of [[Alans|Alanic]]-[[Goths|Gothic]] descent.<ref name="Wolfram142">{{cite book |last=Wolfram |first=Herwig |author-link=Herwig Wolfram |year=1997 |title=The Roman Empire and Its Germanic Peoples |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tOnQDfRU-poC |publisher=[[University of California Press]] |page=197 |isbn=0-5200-8511-6 |access-date=2 November 2013 }}</ref> The name Aspar ([[Avestan]]: ''Aspari'')<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uFogAQAAMAAJ|title=An English-Avesta Dictionary|last1=Kanga|first1=Kavasji Edalji|last2=Dhabhar|first2=Bamanji Nasarvanji|date=1909|publisher=Printed at the Fort Printing Press|pages=260|language=en}}</ref> in [[Iranian languages]] means "Horse-rider".<ref>Bachrach, Bernard S. 1973. A history of the Alans in the West; from their first appearance in the sources of classical antiquity through the early Middle Ages. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. p.98</ref><ref>Basirov, Oric: The Origin of the Pre-Imperial Iranian Peoples. in: SOAS, 26/4/2001</ref> Aspar played a crucial role in his father's expedition in 424 to defeat the Western [[roman usurper|usurper]] [[Joannes]] of [[Ravenna]] and to install [[Galla Placidia]] and her son, [[Valentinian III]], in his place. He also helped to negotiate a peace treaty with [[Geiseric]] after the [[Vandal]] invasion of [[Africa Province|Africa]].

Aspar attained the [[Roman consul|consul]]ship in 434 after campaigning in Africa.<ref name="bunson 38"/> However, Aspar could not become [[Roman Emperor|emperor]] because of his [[Arianism|Arian]] religion. Instead, he played the role of kingmaker with his subordinate [[Marcian]], who became emperor by marrying [[Theodosius II]]'s sister [[Pulcheria]].

On 27 January 457 Marcian died, and the political and military establishment figures of the Eastern court took eleven days to choose a successor. Despite the presence of a strong candidate to the purple, the ''magister militum'' and Marcian's son-in-law [[Anthemius]], the choice was quite different. Aspar, who in this occasion was probably offered the throne by the senate but refused,<ref>The episode was told by [[Theodoric the Great]] at a synod held in Rome in 501; Aspar refused, cryptically stating, "I fear I would launch an imperial tradition", (Croke, p. 150).</ref> could have chosen his own son [[Ardabur (consul 447)|Ardabur]], but instead selected an obscure tribune of one of his military units, [[Leo I (emperor)|Leo I]].<ref>Croke, p. 150.</ref> The account of [[Coronation_of_the_Byzantine_emperor#Coronation_of_Leo_I|Leo's coronation ceremony]] records a "foremost patrician" sitting in the chariot with Leo during the procession and a "leading senator" offering him a golden crown at the [[Forum of Constantine]]. Aspar is suspected to be both of these.<ref>Croke, p. 152.</ref>

In 470, in an episode of the struggle for power between Aspar and the [[Isaurians|Isaurian]] general [[Zeno (emperor)|Zeno]], Aspar persuaded the emperor to appoint his second son, [[Patricius (Caesar)|Patricius]], as ''[[caesar (title)|caesar]]'' and give him in marriage his daughter [[Leontia (daughter of Leo I)|Leontia]]. However, since the clergy and people of [[Constantinople]] did not consider an Arian eligible to become emperor, at the news of the appointment riots broke out in the [[Hippodrome of Constantinople|city hippodrome]], led by the head of the [[Acoemetae|Sleepless Monks]], Marcellus: Aspar and Leo had to promise to the bishops that Patricius would convert to Orthodoxy before becoming emperor, and only after the conversion would he marry Leontia.

In 471 an imperial conspiracy organized by Leo I and the Isaurians caused the death of Aspar and of his elder son Ardabur. It is possible that Patricius died on this occasion, although some sources report that he recovered from his wounds. His death led to the ending of the [[Germanic peoples|Germanic]] domination of Eastern Roman policy.<ref name="EB"/>

Aspar had another son, Ermanaric, with the sister of [[Theodoric Strabo]] and daughter of [[Triarius]].<ref>[[Herwig Wolfram]], p. 32.</ref> Aspar's wife was an Ostrogoth, as the Ostrogoth King [[Theodoric the Great]] was her nephew.<ref name="bunson 38">Bunson, 38.</ref> [[Cistern of Aspar|A cistern]] attributed to Aspar still exists today in [[Istanbul]].

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

==References==
*Bleeker, R. A. '' Aspar and the Struggle for the Eastern Roman Empire, AD 421–71. '' London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2923. 
*Bunson, Matthew (1994). ''Encyclopedia of the Roman Empire''. New York: Facts on File Inc.
*Croke, Brian, "Dynasty and Ethnicity: Emperor Leo and the Eclipse of Aspar", ''Chiron'' 35 (2005), 147–203.
*McEvoy, Meaghan, [https://muse.jhu.edu/article/648670 "Becoming Roman?: the not-so-curious case of Aspar and the Ardaburii"], ''Journal of Late Antiquity'' 9.2 (2016), 483–511.
*McEvoy, Meaghan, "Celibacy and survival in court politics in the fifth century AD", in S. Tougher (ed.), ''[https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/e/9780429060984 The Emperor in the Byzantine World]'' (London, 2019), 115–134.
*Williams, Stephen, and Gerard Friell, ''The Rome That Did Not Fall'', Routledge, 1999, {{ISBN|0-415-15403-0}}.
*[[Herwig Wolfram|Wolfram, Herwig]], ''History of the Goths'', trans. Thomas J. Dunlap. University of California Press, 1988, {{ISBN|0-520-06983-8}}.

==External links==
*[[iarchive:prosopography-later-roman-empire/PLRE-II/page/164|Profile of Aspar]] in the [[Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire]]

{{s-start}}
{{s-bef
| before = [[Theodosius II|Theodosius Augustus]] XIV,<br /> [[Petronius Maximus]]
}}
{{s-ttl
| title = [[Roman consul]]
| years = 434
| regent1 = [[Areobindus (consul 434)|Areobindus]]
}}
{{s-aft
| after = [[Theodosius II|Theodosius Augustus]] XV,<br /> [[Valentinianus III|Placidus Valentinianus Augustus]] IV
}}
{{s-end}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Aspar}}
[[Category:Year of birth unknown]]
[[Category:471 deaths]]
[[Category:Byzantine generals]]
[[Category:Gothic warriors]]
[[Category:Magistri militum]]
[[Category:Alanic people]]
[[Category:Byzantine people of Gothic descent]]
[[Category:5th-century Byzantine people]]
[[Category:5th-century Arian Christians]]
[[Category:5th-century western Roman consuls]]
[[Category:Assassinated Byzantine people]]