Rome's enemies (the
Germans,
Sarmatians and
Huns) are taken into Imperial service; as a consequence, barbarian leaders begin to play an increasingly active role in the
Roman Empire.
November 24 – Theodosius I makes his adventus, or formal entry, into Constantinople.
Easter Island, in the south Pacific Ocean, has been occupied by
Neolithic seafarers under
Hotu Matu'a ("supreme chief"), who about this time begin to fortify the island.
By topic
Arts and sciences
Important works on mathematics and astronomy are written in
Sanskrit.
The
Visigothic chieftain
Athanaric becomes the first foreign king to visit the Eastern Roman capital of
Constantinople. He negotiates a
peace treaty with emperor
Theodosius I that makes his people foederati as "one body within the imperial soldiery".[2] Athanaric dies 2 weeks later[3] after an 18-year reign in which he has been undisputed king of all the
Goths for just 1 year. The peace will continue until Theodosius's death in
395.
The
Sciri together with the
Huns attack along Rome's lower Danubian frontier.[4]
October 3 – Emperor
Theodosius I commands his general
Saturninus to conclude a peace treaty with the
Visigoths, allowing them to settle south of the
Danube. They are installed as foederati in
Moesia and
Thrace with the title of "Allies of the Roman People", in exchange for furnishing a contingent of
auxiliary troops to defend the borders.
Roman troops in
Britain proclaim
Magnus Maximus Emperor. He crosses over to the continent and makes
Trier his capital.[8]Gaul, the Italian provinces and
Hispania proclaim loyalty to him.
King
Shapur III signs a treaty with Theodosius I.
Armenia is divided in two kingdoms, and becomes a
vassal state of the
Roman Empire and
Persia. The friendly relations survive for 36 years.
Asia
King
Chimnyu ascends to the throne of
Baekje (
Korea);[11] he welcomes the Indian Buddhist monk
Marananta into his palace, and later declares
Buddhism the official religion.
The
Battle of Fei River -
Former Qin forces are defeated by the numerically inferior
Eastern Jin army, preserving the Jin state in the south and precipitating the destruction of Former Qin in the north.
Jerome, Christian prophet, writes his celebrated letter "De custodia virginitatis" (
vow of virginity) to
Eustochium, daughter of the ascetic
Paula. He has by this time completed his
Vulgate translation of the
Gospels.
Ambrosius refuses the request of Empress
Justina for a church in
Milan, where she can worship according to her
Arian belief.
The
Gallaeci or
Gallic woman
Egeria concludes her
Christian pilgrimage to the
Holy Land at about this date; her narrative of it, the Itinerarium Egeriae, may be the earliest surviving formal writing by a woman in western European culture.[12]
The Roman
synod exiles the prophet
Jerome, who has incorporated ideas first propounded by the Roman statesman
Cicero. He departs for
Egypt,
Bethlehem, and
Jerusalem, accompanied by the Christian ascetic
Paula, who will edit Jerome's translation of the
Bible, which becomes the Latin
Vulgate.[13]
The
Serapeum of Alexandria, one of the largest Greek temples in Egypt, is destroyed by a Christian mob. The precise date is disputed, with 391 sometimes given as the moment of final destruction.[15]
The
Greuthungi cross the
Danube to raid the Roman
garrisons on the northern frontier. They are met midstream by a well-armed fleet, and their
rafts and
dugouts sink. Those not drowned are slaughtered.
Spring – Emperor
Theodosius I increases the
taxes in
Antioch. A peasant uprising leads to a
riot, and public buildings are set afire. Theodosius sends imperial troops to quell the disturbance, and closes the
public baths and
theatres.
^Mierow, Charles Christopher (1916). The gothic history of Jordanes in English version with an introduction and a commentary (2nd ed.). New Jersey: Evolution Publishing (published 2006). pp. 91–92.
^Donini, Guido, and, Ford, Gordon B. (1970). Isidore of Seville's History of the Goths, Vandals. Leiden: Brill. pp. 7–8.{{
cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (
link)
^Heather, Peter (2010). Empires and Barbarians: The Fall of Rome and the Birth of Europe. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 222.
ISBN978-0-19-973560-0.
^Socrates Scholasticus. The Ecclesiastical History: Book 5, Chapter 8.
^Mac Annaidh, S, ed. (2001). Illustrated Dictionary of Irish History. Dublin:
Gill and Macmillan.