Gratian (18 April 359 – 25 August 383) was emperor of the Western Roman Empire from 367 to 383. The eldest son of Valentinian I, Gratian was raised to the rank of Augustus as a child and inherited the West after his father's death in 375. He nominally shared the government with his infant half-brother Valentinian II, who was also acclaimed emperor in Pannonia on Valentinian's death. The East was ruled by his uncle Valens, who was later succeeded by Theodosius I.
Gratian was pursued by Andragathius, Maximus' magister equitum and killed at Lugdunum (Lyon) on 25 August 383,[53][66][67] supposedly against orders.[68] Maximus then established his court at the former imperial residence in Trier.  On the death of Gratian, the 12 year old Valentinian II became the sole legitimate augustus in the west.[69]
Maximus initially kept Gratian's body for political reasons, and Ambrose's second embassy to him in 385 or 386 to recover it was unsuccess It would not be until 387, possibly even after the death of Magnus Maximus, that Gratian's remains were interred at Mediolanum in the imperial mausoleum ] Gratian was deified in Latin: Divus Gratianus, lit. 'the Divine Gratian'.