Per aspera ad astra? Il viaggio di Gerontius da Mediolanum a Constantinopolis intorno all’anno 380

In the last five years I have been working on a prosopographical research on the relations between the East and Northern Italy in ancient and late antique times, with the aim of providing a new global vision of the links between the eastern and western frontiers of the Roman Empire, and I have come across numerous journeys narrated or hinted at in ancient testimonies, both epigraphic and literary. One of them can be considered a “forced journey” for political-religious reasons, that is the story of Gerontius, a deacon trained during the episcopate of the famous bishop Ambrose of Milan (374-397). Only the fifth-century ecclesiastical historiographer Sozomenus has described almost entirely the career of Gerontius, who one day, during religious service, told of some demonic apparitions. Ambrose asked him for a period of silence and penance to purify himself from such unworthy arguments, and in response Gerontius left for the eastern imperial capital (Soz. VIII 6, 3,4). After his arrival in Constantinople, the deacon quickly managed to establish powerful friendships within the court, which enabled the man who had left Milan as a humble clergyman on the verge of a period of expiation to completely overturn his position and even to be elected the new bishop of Nicomedia in 380 (Soz. VIII 6, 4). It seems legitimate, therefore, to ask a few questions: the initial destination of Gerontius’ journey was not accidental, what is the significance of the journey in Sozomenus’ brief biographical notes on a semi-unknown deacon from Milan and later even bishop? In the paper I am proposing I will try to provide an answer to these questions.