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the province. He was known mostly for his association with the Goths, especially the Visigoth King
Theodoric I. In 437, Avitus had joined the powerful magister militum AETIUS in his fight against the
Goths and had personally persuaded King Theodoric to accept a peace. In 451, Avitus once more proved
useful to the Western cause by persuading the king to join in the fight against Attila the Hun. Victory was
attained, but Theodoric was killed. His son Theodoric II was, however, a friend of Avitus, and in 455 this
association proved to be of tremendous political value.
Petronius Maximus reigned as emperor for less than four months in 455. When his death was reported to
him at Tolosa, Avitus was approached by Theodoric with the idea of the prefect succeeding to the throne.
On July 9-10, 455, Avitus was hailed as emperor by the Goths, and several weeks later was invested at
Aries. He entered Italy and assumed the consulship for 456. Although he was accepted by Marcian, the
emperor of the East, he had trouble convincing the Roman Senate and the people that he should be
emperor. He chose the magister militum RICIMER to defeat the Vandals who were threatening Italy, and
the Romans chose to make Ricimer's triumphs personal. Avitus, snubbed in this manner, found his own
imperial position deteriorating. The Senate despised him and the mobs of Rome were enraged by his
handling of a famine. In an attempt to ease the situation, Avitus dismissed his contingents of Gothic and
Gallic troops but paid them off by shipping Rome of its bronze statues. Horrified, the people rebelled,
forced Avitus out of the city and accepted the return of Ricimer and the other imperial candidate,
Majorian.
Avitus was defeated in 456, probably in September of that year, at Placentia and was allowed to step
down to seek a religious life. The Senate sentenced him to death, despite his being consecrated a bishop in
late October. He fled to Gaul but died suspiciously on the way.
¤ AXONA
At the Aisne River, between Laon and Reims;
site of a battle between Galba, king of the
Suessiones (Soissons), and Julius Caesar in 57 B.C. Galba led the Belgae with a force of about 75,000
men but was defeated. Caesar, as a result, marched northward into Belgica
¤ AXUM African kingdom in the region of Abyssinia.
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