His youth), and with them fought against the Visigoths and Burgundians throughout Gaul (432-39).
As a servant of Emperor valentinian iii, Aetius had to contend not only with the Franks, Goths, and Burgundians but also with the emperor’s mother, Galla Placidia, the Augusta of the Western Empire. The two were bitter political enemies, and Aetius was forced to defend his position in Gaul when Galla Placidia sent her own champion, Boniface, chief of the African legions, against him. The Huns proved valuable allies during the campaign. While Boniface succeeded in winning several engagements, the commander of the African legions fell in battle, leaving Aetius victorious and de facto ruler of the Western Empire.
Events turned against Aetius in 451, when attila, King of the Huns, swept through Belgica and into Gaul. Aetius summoned the Franks and Goths to aid in the defense of the West. Attila was halted at the bloody battle of the Catalaunian Plain, but the survival of the Hun host permitted Attila to turn south and ravage italy. Aetius could do little to resist the Hun advance into italy. He subsequently acquired the enmity of the usurper and future emperor, Petronius Maximus. In 454, Aetius was assassinated. His death hastened the decline and instability of the Western Empire. The following year, Rome was sacked by the Vandals.
Afer, Gnaeus Domitius (d. 59 a. d.) One of the finest orators of the early Empire
Afer served as an advocatus, both in accusation and in defense, and Emperor Tiberius used him often in the condemnation of his opponents, especially Claudia pulchra and Furnius. He was generally unpopular as an individual, and in his later years, when his powers failed him, he could not keep silent. Afer died in 59. He was supposedly from Gallia Narbonensis.
Afranius, Lucius (d. 46 c. e.) Legate, consul, and an official of Pompey the Great
Afranius distinguished himself in the civil war of the First Triumvirate, more by his persistence than his tactical skills in the field. In 60 C. E., he was appointed consul but could not compete with the far more effective metel-LUS celer; he later acquired the governorship of gallia CISALPINA. The Civil Wars gave him further opportunities to advance his career, and in 55, with petrenis, he set out for Hispania Citerior (Spain) to serve as Pompey’s legate, with three legions under his command. Spain attracted Caesar’s attention immediately, and at ilerda in 49, Afra-nius was defeated and captured. He was spared by Caesar after vowing not to take up arms again. Undaunted by his oath, Afranius went to Pompey at dyrrhachium and fought at PHARSALUS, escaping after the defeat. He fled to Africa, where Caesar’s legate, R Silius, hunted him down after the battle at thapsus in 46; Caesar had him executed.
Africa (province) Africa’s responsibility for the supply of Roman grain made it essential to Rome’s survival as an empire. Africa’s value as a territory began with the destruction of Carthage in 146 C. E., when the Republic laid claim to all of Carthage’s holdings. Most of Africa in the Tunisian region was given back to the original kingdoms from which it had been carved, but the fertile, northeast area of Tunis was converted into the province of Africa Vetus, with a frontier called the fossa regia. After the battle of thapsus in 46 c. e., Caesar created Africa Nova, sliced out of numidia.
The empire changed the African borders again. Augustus combined Africa Vetus and Nova into Africa Procon-sularis, which stretched from the Cyrenaican frontier westward to the Numidian Kingdom. This arrangement did not last because during Augustus’s reign the Roman colonization of the region began in earnest. From then on there was a growing and eventually rich Roman presence in Africa, which the writers apuleius, fronto, and Tertul-lian describe. Thirteen colonies were founded in Mauretania. The provincial capital was moved from Utica to the larger, reconstructed Carthage. The proconsul there ruled principally through a bureaucracy, for there was never any organized resistance to Roman domination. Only one legion, the iii Augusta, was ever stationed there. Gaius Caligula ended the tradition by which the governor controlled the legion and placed the unit under the sole authority of his legate. Further, the troops were subsequently stationed on the frontier near Numidia, which became a separate province by decree of Septimius Severus. Finally, Claudius added two more colonies in Mauretania.
The legion in Africa faced only a few wars and was consequently used almost exclusively in the vital work of construction and engineering. Through centuriation—the organization of the territories into segmented, regular plots and estates—the province came to possess nearly 500 villages or communities, of which 200 were cities. The result of these efforts was total pacification and intense Romanization.
Agriculture was preeminent, with corn serving for centuries as the staple crop. Carthage alone exported annually over half a million tons to Rome. In Tunisia, Numidia, and Mauretania, olives grew readily, and farmers were encouraged to diversify. By the second century, the olive harvest was nearly equal to that of corn, and soon both were joined by cereal, fruits, and textiles.
Africa became one of the leading centers for intellectuals, including Cornelius Fronto, Apuleius, and others, who found the environment rich. A number of senators came from Africa and eventually an emperor (Septimius SEVERUS). Christianity spread quickly through the province, overcoming the Graeco-Roman gods, who themselves had defeated the Punic deities of old.
World History
