380 – 390s

Events in the 380s 2

• 376 – 382 Visigoths cross the Danube In 376 AD, the Visigoths — fleeing the Hunnic invasion from the east — are permitted by Emperor Valens to cross the Danube into Roman territory. They are promised land and food; instead Roman officials exploit and abuse them. They revolt. At the Battle of Adrianople (378 AD), the Visigoths annihilate the Roman eastern army and kill Emperor Valens — the worst Roman military defeat since Cannae. For the first time a major barbarian group settles permanently inside the empire's borders with their own leadership intact.
• 380 Edict of Thessalonica — Christianity becomes state religion In 380 AD, Emperor Theodosius I issues the Edict of Thessalonica, declaring Nicene Christianity the only legitimate religion of the Roman Empire. All subjects must profess the faith of the bishops of Rome and Alexandria. Heretics lose civil rights; pagan sacrifice is banned. In 391 AD Theodosius closes all pagan temples and outlaws pagan worship entirely. The Olympic Games — held every four years since 776 BC — are abolished in 393 AD as a pagan festival. Rome's millennium of gods is over.