Stranded in Persian territory and short of supplies, the leading commanders of the eastern army selected an officer named Jovian to succeed Julian. He extricated his forces firom Persia by substantial concessions to the Persians, but died in 364 before being able to secure his position; by then, however, he had restored to the Christians the position they had enjoyed up to the reign of Julian (Curran 1998: 78-80). It was a group of senior officers once again that assembled, this time at Nicaea, to determine the next emperor. Their choice fell on another officer, Valentinian, who within five weeks appointed his brother Valens co-emperor. While the former moved westwards-to defend the Gallic provinces from barbarian invasions, the latter had to deal first with an attempted usurpation by Julian’s relative Procopius, and then with groups of Tervingi and Greuthungi (tribes which would soon combine to be known as Goths) on the Danube, who were threatening Roman territory in defiance of an earlier treaty concluded with Constantine I. Three years of indecisive warfare (367-9) led to a new treaty, more favourable to the two groups (Heather 1991: 115-21; Lenski 2002: 127-52). While Valentinian continued to campaign against the Alemanni on the Rhine frontier, Valens moved to Antioch, from where he intended to counter Persian encroachments into Armenia. His plans came to nothing, however, as the situation on the Danube frontier worsened. Valentinian died in 375 in the course of negotiations with the Quadi; shortly afterwards, his young son Valentinian II was proclaimed emperor, joining his half-brother Gratian who had been raised to the rank of Augustus in 367. Meanwhile, the Greuthungi and Tervingi, subject to attacks by Huns as they pushed westwards across modern-day Ukraine, insistently urged the Romans to allow them to cross the Danube and enter Thrace. Valens reluctantly agreed to permit the Tervingi to cross into Roman territory, where they were nevertheless treated with disdain by the local Roman commanders. Armed conflict soon broke out, in which the Tervingi gained the upper hand; Valentinian’s son Gratian therefore moved east in order to help retrieve the situation. In 378 Valens arrived on the scene with the eastern field army; in August he encountered the assembled Gothic forces at Adrianople. Without waiting for the arrival of Gratian’s army, Valens engaged the enemy and suffered a resounding defeat. The emperor died in battle, along with perhaps two-thirds of the eastern field army (Wolfram 1988: 117-31; Heather 1991: 122-47; Curran 1998: 91-101; Lenski 2002: 320-67).
World History
