A Study On The Political Activities Of Eutropius,the Power Eunuch Of The Eastern Roman Empire

In 395,Theodosius I died.On his deathbed,he divided the empire into two.The eastern part of the Empire was inherited by his eldest son Arcadius,and the younger son inherited the western part of the Empire.Because their two sons were young,Theodosius I appointed two Regents to assist them.The two Regents were Rufinus and Stihcho.The two political ministers are weak,but they listen to the power of the emperor.Although they are nominally the supreme emperors of the Empire,they basically do not care about political affairs,and state affairs are basically controlled by the Regent.The two Regents soon revealed the essence of greed and ambition after taking power alone.They criticized each other,competed for power and profit,and eliminated dissidents by cruel and vicious means.Rufinus,the Regent of the eastern empire,was assassinated by Gothic general Gainas in a court plot,and his power was quickly replaced by eunuch Eutropius.Eutropius was born in a humble background.As a child,he was castrated and sold as a slave.He spent his youth in a humble industry.It was not until his old age that Eutropius was free and appreciated by general Abundantius,who was recommended to serve in the palace.In the palace,Eutropius soon gained the trust of Theodosius I and was promoted to the grand chamberlain of the court.After Arcadius succeeded to the throne,Eutropius expanded his influence by manipulating the emperor’s mate selection,and quickly controlled the situation of the eastern empire and became the new Regent after Rufinus was assassinated.After monopolizing power,Eutropius had several conflicts with the Regent of the Western Empire,Stihcho,and the two sides stopped temporarily after a tentative exchange of hands.Later,Eutropius successfully appeased the Visigoths who plundered in the Empire,and personally led the army to repel the Hungarians who invaded Anatolia,and successfully won the position of " consul".Shortly after receiving this honor,Eutropius was overthrown by Gainas in a coup and was still killed by Gainas after exile in Cyprus.As a humble eunuch,utropius held the power of the whole empire.In his short three-and-a-half years in power,utropius deepened the reform of Deacons since the era of Diocletian and further strengthened the centralization of power in the eastern empire;Stabilize the economic situation of the Empire and try to combat the increasingly severe land annexation;Reorganized the Imperial Army and personally led the army to defeat the Hungarian invasion of the Empire;After his position was stable,he united with John Jinkou as a religious ally to try to improve the religious status of eunuchs.Utropius’ political activities improved the status of court eunuchs,and left a typical example for the later power eunuchs.This article expects to take the life of Eutropius as the starting point and analyze his influence on the late Roman Empire from four aspects: politics,military,economy and religion.