Helpidius (praetorian prefect)

Helpidius was the praetorian prefect of the East during the years 360 and 361.

Biography

Helpidius was a native of Paphlagonia.[1] According to Libanius, Helpidius was of low birth and not member of the provincial aristocracy. However, this is questionable as Helpidius would have hardly been able to afford to secure a post in the higher administration. Around 350, he seems to have registered as citizen in Constantinople in order to join the new imperial senate.[2]

At some time before 356, he visited with his family the hermits Anthony the Great and Hilarion in Egypt and Gaza, respectively.[3] According to Jerome, Hilarion was able to heal the children of Helpidius from fever.[4]

In 360, he succeeded Flavius Hermogenes as Preatorian prefect of the East and is attested in office on 4 February 360. He was dismissed by Julian at the end of 361.[5] His successor Secundus was in office by December 361. Ammianus describes Helpidius as humane and a good administrator.[1]

Helpidius is also mentioned in the oratio "To Polycles" of Libanius in which he accuses Helpidius of having contrived the lie that Julian had his wife Helena poisoned by a court doctor. The oratio consists in an attempt to defend the memory of Julian while discrediting his accusers Polycles and Helpidius.[6]

Family

Helpidius was married to Aristaenete and had three children. Their daughter Priscilla married Bassianus in 363, the son of the Antiochean praetorian prefect Thalassius, who owned large landholdings in Antioch, Tyre and the province of Euphratensis.[2] His grandson was Aristaenetus.[1]

References

1. Jones, A. H. M.; Martindale, J. R.; Morris, J. (2 March 1971). The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire: Volume 1, AD 260-395 (in Latin). Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-07233-5. Retrieved 14 October 2024.
2. Moser, Muriel (6 December 2018). Emperor and Senators in the Reign of Constantius II. Cambridge University Press. pp. 196, 247, 251. ISBN 978-1-108-48101-4. Retrieved 14 October 2024.
3. Elton, Hugh (22 November 2018). The Roman Empire in Late Antiquity: A Political and Military History. Cambridge University Press. p. 80. ISBN 978-1-108-68627-3. Retrieved 14 October 2024.
4. Barnes, Timothy David (2010). Early Christian Hagiography and Roman History. Mohr Siebeck. p. 190. ISBN 978-3-16-150226-2. Retrieved 12 October 2024.
5. Barnes, T. D. (1992). "Praetorian Prefects, 337-361". Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik. 94: 249–260. ISSN 0084-5388. JSTOR 20188808. Retrieved 14 October 2024.
6. MacDougall, Byron (2017). "17.01.05, Cribiore, trans., Between City and School". The Medieval Review. ISSN 1096-746X. Retrieved 14 October 2024.

Preceded by Flavius Hermogenes

Praetorian prefect of the East 430–431

Succeeded by Saturninius Secundus Salutius