Wikipedia
Flavius Eutropius was an Ancient Roman historian who flourished in the latter half of the 4th century. He held the office of secretary (magister memoriae) at Constantinople, accompanied the Emperor Julian (361–363) on his expedition against the Persians (363), and was alive during the reign of Valens (364–378), to whom he dedicates his Breviarium historiae Romanae and where his history ends.
The Breviarium historiae Romanae is a complete compendium, in ten books, of Roman history from the foundation of the city to the accession of Valens. It was compiled with considerable care from the best accessible authorities, and is written generally with impartiality, and in a clear and simple style. Although the Latin in some instances differs from that of the purest models, the work was for a long time a favorite elementary school-book. Its independent value is small, but it sometimes fills a gap left by the more authoritative records. For the early parts of his work, Eutropius depended upon an epitome of Livy; for the later parts, he used the now lost Enmannsche Kaisergeschichte. The Breviarium was enlarged and continued down to the time of Eastern Roman Emperor Justinian the Great by Paulus Diaconus; the work of the latter was in turn enlarged by Landolfus Sagax (c. 1000), and taken down to the time of the emperor Leo the Armenian (813–820) in the Historia Miscella.
Of the Greek translations by Paeanius (around 380) and Capito Lycius (6th century), the version of the former is extant in an almost complete state. The best edition of Eutropius is by H. Droysen (1879), containing the Greek version and the enlarged editions of Paulus Diaconus and Landolfus. There are also numerous English editions and translations.
Eutropius (died 399) was a fourth-century Eastern Roman official.
He began his career as a eunuch in the palace of Theodosius I. After Theodosius' death in 395 he successfully arranged the marriage of the new emperor, Arcadius, to Aelia Eudoxia, having blocked an attempt by Arcadius' chief minister, Rufinus, to marry the young and weak-willed emperor to his daughter. After Rufinus' assassination that same year, Eutropius rose in importance in the imperial court, and he soon became Arcadius' closest advisor. His ascension to power was assisted by his defeat of a Hun invasion in 398. The next year he became the first eunuch to be appointed a consul. But his enemies Gaïnas, the leader of the imperial army's Gothic mercenaries, and Eudoxia, the empress he had created, engineered his downfall the very year he became a consul.
After Eutropius's fall from power, John Chrysostom's pleas kept him alive for a short time; he was eventually executed before the year ended.
During his rise to the consulship, Eutropius earned a reputation for cruelty and greed. He may also have played a role in the assassination of his predecessor Rufinus.
Eutropius or Eutropios may refer to:
- Eutropius (historian) (4th century)
- Eutropius (consul) (died 399)
- Saint and Bishop Eutropius of Saintes (3rd century)
- Saint and Bishop Eutropius of Orange (5th century)
- Bishop Eutropius of Valencia (died 610)