ied
after 416
Place of death
Lipari Islands
Priscus Attalus
(d. after 416) was twice
Roman
usurper
(in 409 and in 414), against
Emperor
Honorius
,
with
Visigothic
support.
Priscus Attalus was a Greek from Asia
whose father had moved to Italy under Valentinian I. Attalus was an
important
senator
in
Rome
, who
served as
praefectus urbi
in
409.
He was twice proclaimed emperor by the Visigoths, in an effort to impose their terms on the
ineffectual Emperor Honorius, in Ravenna.
He held the title of emperor in Rome, during 409, and later in Bordeaux in 414. His
1two
reigns
lasted only a few months; the first one ended when Alaric believed it was hampering his
negotiations with Honorius, and the second came to an end after he was abandoned
by the Visigoths and eventually captured by Honorius' men. Attalus was obliged
to participate in the triumph Honorius celebrated in the streets of
Rome in 416, before finishing his days exiled in the Lipari Islands.