Caesar Constantius Gallus (351–354 AD) and His Military Policy at the Near East Provinces of the Late Roman Empire

Abstract

The paper addresses the military-administrative activities of Constantius Gallus, a nephew of Emperor Constantius II (337–361), who administered the Late Roman Empire’s eastern provinces from 351 to 354 on behalf of Constantius II, holding the title of caesar. Constantius Gallus’ military policies in the east has been studied against the background of Greek and Latin sources along with the Talmudic texts written in Hebrew (in translations into modern Western European languages). This paper is aimed at the analysis of the main directions of Constantius Gallus’ military policy and his reform of the command structure of the troops stationed in the Roman provinces in the Near East in the period in question. This study allowed the author to clarify Constantius Gallus’ contribution to the general development of the Late Roman military organization in the eastern provinces of the Empire. The author has researched Constantius Gallus’ military polices by three topics: the struggle against the Persians in Syria and Mesopotamia; the military campaign against the rebellious Jews in Palestine; and the struggle against the Arab invaders into Arabia Petraea in 353. The research of these issues allows the author to conclude that, in his works, Constantius Gallus followed the separation of powers principle: he did not command the troops, neither he personally conducted military operations or interfered into the course of combat operations. He followed a simpler task of creating the mechanisms providing coordinated relations between commanders of expeditionary and frontier troops, coordinating joint actions of the commanders, and keeping conditions for effective collaboration of different kinds of troops.