Gildo

Who was Gildo?

Gildo was a Roman general in the province of Mauretania. He revolted against Honorius and the western empire but was defeated and committed suicide.

Gildo was a Berber by birth. Being a son of military officer Nubel, he was brother to Firmus. When Firmus revolted against Valentinian I, Gildo stayed loyal to his emperor and, at the suppression of the revolt, was awarded with the immense patrimony confiscated from his brother. His name means ruler in the Lybico-Berber language and is connected to the modern-Berber word for king, Agellid.

In 386, Theodosius I appointed Gildo Comes Africae and Magister utriusque militiae per Africam, as reward for his support to his father Theodosius the Elder in the suppression of Firmus' revolt. The Africa Province was ruled by Gildo with some sort of independence, and oppressed by every species of tyranny.

After the death of Theodosius and the rise to the throne of his sons, Arcadius and Honorius, Gildo saw an increase in his importance: the Africa Province, in fact, became entrusted with the grain supply to the city of Rome, a role played by Egypt until the split of the Empire into two halves. Incited by the political machinations of the eunuch Eutropius, Gildo seriously entertained the notion of joining the Eastern Roman Empire by pledging fidelity to Arcadius. The possibility of losing the granary of Rome led to civil turmoil in the city, and acting on an appeal by Stilicho, the Roman Senate declared Gildo an "enemy of the State" and started a war against him.