Gratian fled and was killed at Lyon on 25 August 383. įollowing his landing in Gaul, Maximus went out to meet Gratian, whom he defeated after five days of skirmishing near Paris. He went to Gaul to pursue his imperial ambitions, taking a large portion of the British garrison with him. In 383 Maximus was proclaimed emperor by his troops. The Western emperor Gratian had become unpopular because of perceived favouritism toward Alans-an Iranian speaking people (see also Sarmatians and Ossetians) who were early adopters of Christianity and migrated both east and west from their homeland-over Roman citizens. Assigned to Britain in 380, he defeated an incursion of the Picts and Scots in 381. He served under Count Theodosius in Africa in 373.
Maximus was a distinguished general he was probably a junior officer in Britain in 368, during the quelling of the Great Conspiracy. Near contemporaries described his dignity as offended when lesser men were promoted to high positions. Maximus was the son of the general Flavius Julius Eucherius and the brother of Marcellinus.
335 in Gallaecia, on the estates of Count Theodosius (the Elder), to whom he claimed to be related.
