Far smaller than its neighboring province, Tingitana occupied a limited area from Gibraltar and the Pillars of Hercules to the Atlas Mountains. In the west it stopped at the Atlantic, and in the east it was isolated by a desert. Culturally, this position prompted a northward gaze, toward Hispania Baetica and the rest of Spain. Ties had existed with Hispania for centuries, and early colonization had taken place on its coasts, with immigrants coming from southern Spain. The Phoenician city of Tingis (Tangiers) just south of Gibraltar, had been granted a Roman franchise because of its loyalty during the civil war with Marc Antony and was under the jurisdiction of Hispania Baetica, until Claudius made it the capital of Mauretania Tingitana.
Administration of Tingitana was easier than in Cae-sariensis, except that the major cities were most often situated along the coast and the roads reflected this geography. An obvious exception was Volubilis, which was located inland. When Diocletian reorganized the provinces in the late third century c. e., he placed Mauretania Tingitana in the diocese of Hispania.
Mavia (d. after 378 c. e.) Queen of the wild Arabian tribes of the Saraceni, or Saracens
Mavia succeeded her husband after his death, sometime in the middle of the fourth century c. e. For several years (c. 373-378) she waged war against Roman power throughout Palestine, using her warriors’ stealth and skills in guerrilla warfare to great effect. Peace was made with her sometime around 378, when two conditions were met by Roman authorities. First, her daughter was married to the MAGISTER EQUITUM Victor, then a hermit named Moses was consecrated bishop of the Saracens. As an ally of the empire, Mavia proved faithful, sending a contingent of her soldiers to help defend Constantinople from the advancing Goths after the battle of Adrianople in 378.
Maxentius, Marcus Aurelius Valerius (279-312 c. e.) Emperor in Italy and Africa from 306 to 312 Maxentius was born to the eventual coruler Maximian and his wife Eutropia. Despite being raised among the
Empire’s most powerful figures, he was not chosen to succeed them. In 305, when Diocletian and his father Maximian retired, and Galerius and Constantius I Chlorus became joint Augusti in the tetrarchy, Maxentius, despite his senatorial rank and his marriage to Galerius’s daughter Valeria Maximilla, was not elevated to Caesar (coemperor). Constantius, who died the following year, was succeeded by Severus II, and Maxentius was again passed over, this time by Constantine, Constantius’s son. Maxentius promptly instigated a revolt in Rome, aided by the Romans and the forgotten praetorian guard. Rome had recently lost its immunity to taxation and its centuries-old special status, and was thus ready to support anyone who would bring back its traditional privileges. The Praetorians had been replaced by Diocletian’s SCUTARII, domesticii, and the Jovians and Herculeans (all filling the role of imperial guards without the danger of assassination or mutiny); they became followers of Maxentius.
On October 28, 306, all of Rome joined in proclaiming his emperor. He discovered other allies as well, in Italy and Africa. Galerius, the senior Augustus, was opposed to all efforts to secure recognition of Maxentius’s claims. Severus was thus ordered to march on Rome. His advance faced obstacles in enemy agents, incompetence and the continued popularity of the rebel among the soldiers of his father Maximian, brought out of retirement to help his son. Severus’s host collapsed, and Galerius was forced to take to the field personally, only to experience the same disaster.
Meanwhile, Maxentius was strengthened through an alliance with Constantine. In return for his acceptance of Maxentius’s position, Constantine received in marriage Maximian’s daughter Fausta. The political union was strained almost immediately by the defeat of Galerius, for Spain declared itself on Maxentius’s side. Then Max-imian, jealous of his son, attempted a coup in 308, only to be crushed and forced to flee to Constantine. The actions of Maximian heralded a period of decline in Max-entius’s powers. At Carnuntum, later that year, the united masters of the Roman Empire agreed to declare him a public enemy. While his control over Italy was in no way weakened, he lost Africa when the prefect there, Domi-tius Alexander, revolted and declared the region his own. Alexander cut off the crucial grain supply to Rome, and so desperate was the starvation by 311 that the prefect OF THE PRAETORIAN GUARD, Rufius Volusianus, was sent to Africa to recapture both the province and its grain. CARTHAGE suffered the torments of retribution and Alexander died.
These setbacks for Maxentius convinced Constantine that the time was ripe for a final assault. He knew that his enemy had not recovered from the African crisis and could no longer wield his father as a weapon of influence (Maximian had died in 310). Thus, in 312, Constantine marched across the Alps, through Mount Genevre Pass and into Italy. Maxentius’s larger but inferior forces were defeated at Segusis and at Augusta Taurinorum, and Constantine advanced to the Walls of Rome where, as the Christian historians liked to write, the great battle between Christianity and paganism took place on the
MILVIAN BRIDGE.
Only Maxentius’s Praetorian units proved reliable in this battle, and his army was destroyed. As the soldiers retreated back to Rome, a bridge of boats collapsed into the Tiber, and Maxentius fell into the river. Unable to escape from his weighty armor, he drowned with thousands of his followers.