Nevitta was a military leader and official in the Roman Empire. His career is closely linked to that of Flavius Claudius Julianus

Julian the Apostate

Julian "the Apostate" , commonly known as Julian, or also Julian the Philosopher, was Roman Emperor from 361 to 363 and a noted philosopher and Greek writer....

, the Caesar Julian. He was master of the cavalry

Magister militum

Magister militum was a top-level military command used in the later Roman Empire, dating from the reign of Constantine. Used alone, the term referred to the senior military officer of the Empire...

 and in 362

362

Year 362 was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Mamertinus and Nevitta...

 served as consul.

Life

An officer of Frankish ancestry, Nevitta is first mentioned regarding a battle against the Alamanni who had been pillaging the region of Raetia

Raetia

Raetia was a province of the Roman Empire, named after the Rhaetian people. It was bounded on the west by the country of the Helvetii, on the east by Noricum, on the north by Vindelicia, on the west by Cisalpine Gaul and on south by Venetia et Histria...

 in 357. The Romans were led by Barbatio

Barbatio

Barbatio was a Roman general of the infantry under the command of Constantius II. Previously he was a commander of the household troops under Gallus Caesar, but he arrested Gallus under the instruction of Constantius, thereby ensuring his promotion on the death of Claudius Silvanus...

 and Ammianus Marcellinus

Ammianus Marcellinus

Ammianus Marcellinus was a fourth-century Roman historian. He wrote the penultimate major historical account surviving from Antiquity...

 writes that "Nevitta, commander of a troop of cavalry and afterwards consul, was present and conducted himself manfully." In 361 Julian promoted Nevitta to the rank of magister equitum.

When Julian decided to move against Constantius

Constantius

Constantius may refer to:*Constantius I, Roman emperor 305–306*Constantius II, Roman emperor 337–361*Constantius III, Roman co-emperor in 421* Constantius , consul in 327...

 in a bid for power, Nevitta was one of his two generals, the other being Jovinus. The bulk of Julian's force was divided between these two. It was Nevitta's task to lead his army through Raetia and then guard the pass of Succi, thus protecting Julian's rear as the Caesar moved on to Constantinople

Constantinople

Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...

. Ammianus took the opportunity to describe Nevitta at this point in his career: "a man neither in high birth, experience nor renown comparable with those on whom Constantius conferred the highest magistracy, but on the contrary somewhat boorish, and (what was more intolerable) cruel in his high office."

When the emperor Julian set up a tribunal at Chalcedon

Chalcedon tribunal

Shortly after the death of Roman emperor Constantius II, his successor Julian the Apostate held a tribunal at the city of Chalcedon, which was then a suburb of Constantinople...

 to try those involved in the excesses of the previous government, Nevitta was appointed as one of the judges. In January 362 he was appointed as consul along with Claudius Mamertinus

Claudius Mamertinus

Claudius Mamertinus was an official in the Roman Empire. In late 361 he took part in the Chalcedon tribunal to condemn the ministers of Constantius II, and in 362, he was made consul as a reward by the new Emperor Julian; on January 1 of that year he delivered a panegyric in Constantinople by way...

. The following year Nevitta accompanied Julian on his Parthian expedition. With the death of his emperor no further mention is found of Nevitta.

Sources

• Jones A.H.M., Martindale J.R., Morris J. The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire: Volume I A.D. 260—395. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, 1971. Flavius Nevitta.

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