Gratian Flavius
359 – 383 · Generation XVIII · Western emperor (r. AD 375–383) · Valentinian · Theodosian
Gratian (AD 359 – AD 383). Western emperor (r. AD 375–383). Married Constantia around AD 374. Emperor at sixteen, married to Constantius II’s posthumous daughter; abandoned by his army and murdered at Lyon. He crossed the Rhine to defeat the Lentienses, and when his uncle Valens fell at Adrianople he steadied the empire by raising the general Theodosius to rule the East. His deeper mark was religious: with his co-emperors he issued the Edict of Thessalonica, making Nicene Christianity the only lawful faith, removed the winged Victory from the Senate house, and stripped the Vestal Virgins of their privileges — measures that drew protest from Rome’s pagan senators. A Gallic city on the Isère was renamed Gratianopolis for him, in time becoming Grenoble. His favour toward Alan deserters, whom he made his bodyguards, helped turn the army against him — and it deserted to the usurper Magnus Maximus.
One of 16 people of Valentinian · Theodosian (321–462) in this archive. The last house to rule both halves of the empire at once.
Line of descent: Gratianus Funarius → Valentinian I Flavius → Gratian Flavius.
Parents
- Valentinian I Flavius (321 – 375)
- Marina Severa (330 – 375)
Siblings
- Galla Flavia (370 – 394) (half)
- Valentinian II Flavius (371 – 392) (half)
Partners
- Married Constantia Postuma (361 – 383) in 374
Life
- 359 — Born
- 374 — Married Constantia
- 383 — Died