The city of Pola at the southern tip of Istria was the scene of two imperial executions in the fourth century. Crispus Caesar, son and presumed heir of the emperor Constantine was killed there by 'cold poison' after an obscure fall from grace in AD326. Gallus Caesar was taken there after his arrest on the orders of Constantius II in 354 and beheaded.
Why choose such an odd and isolated place to kill these two Caesars? If secrecy was desired there are plenty of more accessible hiding places. Was there something special about Pola that made it suitable for executing imperial heirs? Or was it just coincidence?
I wondered if, in the case of Crispus, there might be some connection with the Ravenna fleet. He had commanded the naval forces in the battle of Hellespont two years previously, and may have been popular with the fleet, which may in turn have had a base at Pola. Perhaps he was trying to meddle with their loyalties?
Alternatively, Crispus may have been on his way to or from Rome, taking a short cut across the Adriatic between Pola and (perhaps) Rimini, and stopped by his father's order. But was this a known or sensible route?
Neither suggestion explains why Gallus too was taken there to be killed. A mystery then - can anyone suggest a clue to solving it?
I don't know much about the two executions, but for the other things.
Pola or Pula now in Roman times has up to 30.000 people inside their walls with a amphitheatre that is still standing now. At that time surely it had protected port. If in ancient times you were going around the Adriatic sea in a ship, a stop there will be almost obligatory, if you were going around by foot you will choose the route 80 km to the north of Pola(almost in front of my current house
Again I don't know about piracy in the 4 century , but al the problems with it were settled already in the 2century BC(when the Romans almost wipe out the Histrians) and surely at the time of Augustus the area started to have villas all around the peninsula.
Surely next time when I will be visiting the Pola archaeological museum I will have something to ask(currently in restoration).
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Regards,
Miha Franca
"Balnea, vina, Venus corrumpunt corpora nostra; sed vitam faciunt balnea, vina, Venus."
Tiberius Claudius Secundus www.vespesjan.eu
Quote:The city of Pola at the southern tip of Istria was the scene of two imperial executions in the fourth century. Crispus Caesar, son and presumed heir of the emperor Constantine was killed there by 'cold poison' after an obscure fall from grace in AD326. Gallus Caesar was taken there after his arrest on the orders of Constantius II in 354 and beheaded.
Why choose such an odd and isolated place to kill these two Caesars? If secrecy was desired there are plenty of more accessible hiding places. Was there something special about Pola that made it suitable for executing imperial heirs? Or was it just coincidence?
I wondered if, in the case of Crispus, there might be some connection with the Ravenna fleet. He had commanded the naval forces in the battle of Hellespont two years previously, and may have been popular with the fleet, which may in turn have had a base at Pola. Perhaps he was trying to meddle with their loyalties?
Alternatively, Crispus may have been on his way to or from Rome, taking a short cut across the Adriatic between Pola and (perhaps) Rimini, and stopped by his father's order. But was this a known or sensible route?
Neither suggestion explains why Gallus too was taken there to be killed. A mystery then - can anyone suggest a clue to solving it?
I was reading the last night Ammianus, and you may believe me or not, but I'm wondering about the same matter! Thank for this interesting post .. I've read that the murder of Gallus was not ordered by Constantius but the executors (later punished by Julian) have been too zealous in their interpretation of the orders, anyway Constantius didn't punish them so .....
Anyway, thanks for your use of the ancient (true) name of the town, Pola is a wonderful place in a wonderful land.
Quote: the murder of Gallus was not ordered by Constantius but the executors (later punished by Julian) have been too zealous in their interpretation of the orders.
Yes, two of the killers (Barbatio and Scudilo) later died - one of a liver abcess and the other after an accusation of treason (thus giving Ammianus the opportunity to muse on justice and fate). Of the others, Serenian was executed during the usurpation of Procopius; Apodemius and Pentadius were tried by Julian at Chalcedon - the former was executed but the latter managed to argue his way out of it.
Ammianus does say that Gallus was killed in a place 'near the town of Pola' - presumably an imperial villa - and mentions that this is where Crispus died. This is our evidence for the first execution at that location, so it could just have been coincidence. Then again, Gallus was arrested at Poetovio, so why take him all the way to Istria?
Constantius was at Mediolanum at the time, so surely a sea voyage from Pola would not be any great shortcut if the killers were intending to take him to the emperor. Constantine was possibly in Rome at some point in 326 (for his vicennalia), so that might work for Crispus's itinerary. Maybe Barbatio and co were just playing sinister mind games with Gallus?
I want to re-read the bits in Ammianus concerning Julian but some little +_&*$& still has my text and I'm not walking to the library. Anyway I always wondered about Constantius and Gallus, he doesn't seem so reticent about sorting out family members and retainers normally does he? Diocle is right that if Constantius didn't punish them (since it was left to Julian to do so) that's a bit of a red flag: The Constantinian dynasty seemed to really go for the whole grandeur and majesty, right to rule, sort of thing so you'd think the death of an Imperial family member, a Caesar, would be pretty damn serious.
Constantius has always sort of troubled me. I find his principate to be on the whole admirable and competent but I doubt he was a nice person. Incidentally when I was last in Rome (September? August?) the Colosseum had a display on for Constantine which, I think, might have also spoke of some of his heirs. Not very in depth or anything but I was seriously amazed by how well everything was done and next year, Augustus' bimilennial, has its job cut out.
Anyway, sorry, as for the question I suspect its one of those quirks which made sense to them at the time but without extra information looks weird to us.
Quote:when I was last in Rome (September? August?) the Colosseum had a display on for Constantine.
I passed through Rome briefly towards the end of the exhibition but didn't know about it. As you can imagine, I had to kick myself quite savagely when I found out...
Quote:as for the question I suspect its one of those quirks which made sense to them at the time but without extra information looks weird to us.
Yes, probably. I'm inclining to the idea that Gallus was taken to Pola deliberately in order to freak him out and make him confess his crimes - he would have known that the city was principally famous for being the execution site of a previous Caesar, Crispus, who was even more of a golden boy than he was. Crispus, in turn, just happened to be in Pola en route to or from Italy by ship, and was held there by order of Constantine. That would make some sense of the conundrum - it could even be true...
