Hello, and welcome to the History of Rome, episode 161, The Swamps of Ravenna.

It wouldn't be fair to come down too hard on the successors of Theodosis, for their

failure to maintain even a semblance of cooperation between the Eastern and Western halves of

the Empire.

After all, as two civil wars fully attested, it's not like Theodosis's reign had been

a shiny beacon of collegiality.

But still, as the year 400 dawned, it was clear that the leaders of the Empire were simply

not up to the task of maintaining imperial unity.

In survey history books, the year 395 is often labeled as the year when the two halves of

the Empire became legally separate entities.

And they split into being constitutionally independent political apparatuses.

And though that is technically inaccurate, as a matter of understanding the transformations

of late antiquity, I would say that, sure, that is more or less correct.

From here on out, the East and West will act as rivals and enemies, at least as often

as they act as friends and allies.

Officially of course, there never was a legal divorce, and right up until the bitter end,

one paid lip service to a unified Rome.

But unofficially, off the record, yeah, they've been living in separate houses for years.

As the year 400 dawned though, that unofficial official separation was still in its infancy,

and there really was a reasonable hope that the growing rift might be bridged.

And so still echo, dominant statesmen in general over the West, focused a huge amount of time

and effort trying to build that bridge.

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