THE MEDITERRANEAN WORLD IN LATE ANTIQUITYof uncertainty, and the tendency of individuals to switch sides in the tangled
network of alliances. Anyone with a grudge against the emperor was liable to
see their salvation in opposing him, and indeed Illus’ supporters included the
pagan intellectual Pamprepius. Zeno also had to contend with other problems
from barbarians: on the fall of Aspar in the previous reign, Theodoric Strabo,
the Ostrogothic leader, had managed to make Leo buy the safety of the Bal-
kans by extorting political and fi nancial concessions which included his own
recognition, and having inherited this situation Zeno’s fi rst years were spent in
uneasy balancing acts between Strabo and another Gothic leader, confusingly
also called Theodoric. The eastern government alternated between promises
of payment and threats of war; meanwhile, Thrace and Illyricum were the
prey of the second Theodoric, Ostrogoth and future ruler of Italy. This time
the east was exposed to the type of barbarian pressure already familiar in the
west, and eventually Zeno was compelled to make substantial concessions by
giving Theodoric territory in Moesia and Dacia as well as making him Master
of the Soldiers in 483 and consul in 484. Not surprisingly the policy failed, and
Theodoric marched on Constantinople in 487. Fatefully for Italy, but fortu-
nately for the east, an opportunity presented itself: Zeno was able to commis-
sion Theodoric, secretly of course, to replace Odoacer, the general who had
deposed Romulus Augustulus in 476 and now ruled Italy, Sicily and Dalmatia.
Theodoric defeated and killed Odoacer and far from ruling Italy on Zeno’s
behalf, as the latter had intended, gained control of Italy himself (Chapter 2).
The resilience of the east is remarkable. It was helped by its capacity to pay
subsidies in gold, as it had done already to the Hun Rugila and his successor
Attila under Theodosius II. Annual payments to Attila amounted to 700 lbs
of gold and, after a defeat infl icted by him on the imperial troops in Thrace,
increased to 2,100 lb, with a payment of 6,000 lb under the treaty of 443. The
demands made by Attila drove the eastern government to despair, but the Hun
king managed to foil an assassination plot made by the eunuch Chrysaphius.
On Theodosius II’s death, Marcian took the risky line of refusing to give in to
this blackmail and ended the annual subsidy. Again the east was saved from
danger, this time by a change of mind on the part of Attila, who now turned
towards Italy, where as we have seen he soon met his premature death.
When Anastasius was elevated to the throne in Constantinople in 491, The-
odoric the Ostrogoth was establishing himself in Italy. Both sides were cau-
tious towards each other, but in 497 Anastasius recognized Theodoric, who
still held the post of Master of the Soldiers, as ruler of Italy, though in some
sense still within the protectorate of the empire. Theodoric’s exact constitu-
tional position was more a matter of tact and delicate manoeuvring than of
hard and fast defi nition (Chapter 2), and there was still a considerable way to
go before the shape of Ostrogothic rule became clearer. But even if in theory
and in sentiment the ideal of a unifi ed empire survived, by the end of the fi fth
century the barbarian kingdoms which were to be Rome’s early medieval suc-
cessors were coming into being. It was a situation to which Constantinople
would have to adapt.^48