Eugenius, 392-394. Siliqua (Silver, 18 mm, 2.07 g, 1 h), Lugdunum. D N EVGENI-VS P F AVG Pearl-diademed, draped and cuirassed bust of Eugenius to right. Rev. [VR]BS ROMA / [L]VGPS Roma seated left on cuirass, holding Victory on globe in her right hand and inverted spear in her left. Bastien 230. RIC 46. RSC 18A. Struck on excellent silver and with beautiful iridescent toning. Small flan crack and with tiny scratches on the obverse, otherwise, extremely fine.


Contemporary sources blame the magister militum Flavius Arbogastes for the death of Emperor Valentinian II on 15 May 392. However, evidence suggests that Valentinian committed suicide: Arbogast had little to gain from the emperor’s death and seemed caught off guard by the event. Following the emperor’s demise, Arbogast requested that Theodosius I appoint a successor, but the eastern emperor hesitated, likely unwilling to entrust one of his young sons, Arcadius or Honorius, to the powerful Frankish general who controlled the western court.

As a non-Roman and a military officer, Arbogast was barred from claiming the imperial throne himself. Consequently, he elevated Flavius Eugenius to the rank of Augustus on 22 August 392 in Lugdunum. Eugenius, first attested as a vir clarissimus in 385, was of noble descent but an improbable contender for the throne. A teacher of rhetoric and grammar, his political fortunes depended entirely on the patronage and influence of Arbogast.

Even after Eugenius's accession, both he and Arbogast sought to reconcile with Theodosius, offering gestures of goodwill such as minting coins that depicted Theodosius and his sons and inscribing their names in public dedications. Despite these overtures, Theodosius refused to compromise and began preparations for war.

The two sides finally clashed in the Battle of the Frigidus, fought over two days on 5–6 September 394. This bloody confrontation, one of the most devastating in Roman history, culminated in the defeat of Eugenius and Arbogast. Eugenius was captured and executed, while Arbogast took his own life.

Theodosius’s victory reunited the Roman Empire under a single ruler for the final time. However, his death only a few months later led to the permanent division of the empire into western and eastern halves, an arrangement that would endure for the remainder of antiquity.