The control regaining over the Danube provinces as described by Claudianus

Abstract

The  paper  analyzes  the  poetic  work  of  a  late  antique  court  poet  from  Western  Roman  Empire  Claudius  Claudianus.  The  key  verbal  constructions describing the situation on the Lower-Danube region after the Goths have settled are identified. The analysis of the Claudianus’ discourse shows the state  of  alarm  of  the  Honorius  court  looked  at  the  Balkan  region. The high officials of Western Empire sought to establish Roman authority over the Danube region, regardless of whether the Eastern or Western court would rule there. Claudianus conveys to the readers that desire to see those lands under Roman rule. The study of contexts in which the Danube is mentioned by Claudianus allows to assume that in the official discourse at court of the Western Emperor Honorius the Lower-Danube lands were pronounced pacified. They were beginning to recover from the destruction of the past wars, although still being perceived as a hotbed of instability. It was supposed that after Theodosius I first concluded the Treaty with the Goths in 382, and then Alaric and his people left Thrace in 395, the Danubian lands returned to Roman rule regardless whether the Roman institutes of power there functioned or not.