Anthemius
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| Anthemius | |
| Emperor of the Western Roman Empire |
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 Anthemius on a gold coin. His title is Our Lord, Anthemius, Pious, Fortunate, Augustus. |
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| Reign | April 12, 467 - July 11, 472 |
|---|---|
| Born | c. 420 |
| Died | July 11, 472 |
| Predecessor | Libius Severus |
| Successor | Olybrius |
- See Anthemius of Tralles for an architect of Hagia Sophia. For the Praetorian prefect and grandfather of the Emperor, see Anthemius (praetorian prefect).
Procopius Anthemius or Prokopios Anthemios (c. 420 – 11 July 472) was a Western Roman Emperor from 12 April 467 until his death.
One of the "shadow emperors" of the 5th century, he was perhaps the last able emperor. Anthemius attempted to solve the two primary military challenges facing the remains of the Western Roman Empire: the resurgent Visigoths, under Euric, whose domain straddled the Pyrenees; and the unvanquished Vandals, under Geiseric, in undisputed control of North Africa.
Anthemius was of the gens Procopia. His reign began on a hopeful note. Anthemius had the backing of Leo I, Emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire, and had married his daughter to the chief military strongman of Italy, Ricimer. A skilled general in Illyricum, Marcellinus, ceased his active opposition and pledged his allegiance to the new emperor. Anthemius also gained support from a backer far outside of the existing circle of possible supporters: one Riothamus with a Romano-British army joined with Anthemius, and the alliance attempted to encroach on Euric. However, Euric was able to defeat not only Riothamus's army and the various Roman forces, but annexed numerous Gallic cities that still remained in Roman hands.
Meanwhile, the kingdom of the Vandals had presented a constant threat to Roman seafare in the Mediterranean, and Anthemius and his Eastern Roman colleague Leo I undertook a concerted effort to dislodge them from North Africa (468). As commanders were appointed the western patrician Marcellinus and the eastern general Basiliscus. Although the campaign against Gaiseric initially made significant gains, Basiliscus allowed his fleet to be destroyed before Carthage by Gaiseric. Thus the expedition ended in utter failure, and in its wake, Marcellinus was murdered that same year on Sicily.
In 470, following all of this misfortune, Anthemius fell into a serious sickness, and believing that it was caused by sorcery, exacted vengeance on numerous prominent men. The magister militum, Ricimer, lost patience with Anthemius, summoned 6000 men who had been enlisted for the war against the Vandals, and began armed opposition in Milan against Anthemius in Rome. This conflict between emperor and military strongman ended five months later with Ricimer's conquest of Rome, and the capture and execution of Anthemius.
Sources for Anthemius's life are richer than for most fifth century Western Emperors, partly because of his origin in Constantinople, where the tradition of court histories was kept alive, and partly because of the details that can be extracted from a panegyric delivered January 1, 468 by the Gallo-Roman poet Sidonius Apollinaris. A son of Anthemius, Anthemiolus, is mentioned in the near-contemporary Chronica Gallica of 511.
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[edit] Early life
Anthemius was born in Galatia, and came from a wealthy and distinguished and highly influential family in the eastern empire, a recent ancestor of his, Procopius, having been declared Augustus at Constantinople in the brief rebellion against Valen's rule in AD 365, and his father, also called Procopius, being of patrician rank and having held the post of 'Master of Soldiers'. His maternal grandfather Anthemius was praetorian prefect and had acted as regent while Theodosius II was still a child.
Anthemius himself held military command in Thrace in AD 453-4, and became 'magister militum' in 454-67. He also was appointed consul and granted the rank of patrician (patricius) in AD 455.
At Marcian's death, Anthemius was even understood to be the most likely man to succeed him to the throne of the eastern empire, except that Aspar, the powerful 'Master of Soldiers', preferred to see one of his own men on the throne. Hence the choice fell upon Leo instead.
[edit] Anthemius
Anthemius though was not the kind of man to hold a grudge against Leo and went on to serve him well, winning military victories for his emperor - first against the Ostrogoths in Illyricum from AD 459-464 and then against the Huns at Serdica (Sofia) in AD 466/7. To further cement the relationship between the two men, Anthemius married Leo's daughter Euphemia.
With the western throne having fallen vacant with the death of Libius Severus in November AD 465, and the Vandals proposing Olybrius as their candidate, Leo now saw it necessary to invest his own candidate. If only to prevent a western ruler with allegiances toward the Vandals. Also, a Vandal raid in AD 467 on the Peloponnese in Greece drove home to Leo just how great the threat posed by these barbarians had become.
With Anthemius having shown such loyal service and being of distinguished descent, he was the ideal candidate. So, in AD 467 Leo nominated Anthemius as western emperor.
Anthemius, aware of Ricimer's power in the west, first allied himself with him, by marrying his daughter Alypia to him. His arrival in Rome was greeted by the support of the people, the allegiance of the barbarian federates and the support of the senate.
[edit] Emperor of the West
Anthemius being a champion of the east, brought about the end of the hostilities between the eastern and western empire. And both empires soon after embarked on another giant effort to overcome the Vandals. A massive fleet was assembled to carry the troops to their destinations. But the commanders were badly chosen. Basiliscus, who commanded the eastern fleet, was notoriously unreliable. Meanwhile the choice of Marcellinus as the commander of the western fleet, no doubt angered Ricimer, as he was Ricimer's foremost enemy.
Marcellinus successfully attacked Sardinia and landed troops in Tripolitania. But Basiliscus led the eastern fleet into disaster against Geiseric off Carthage. Most of the fleet was sunk, its remainder fleeing to Sicily with Basiliscus and Marcellinus. There Marcellinus was killed, more than likely as a result of a plot by Ricimer.
Then in Gaul a new threat arose as Euric murdered his brother Theodoric II and took over the rule of the Visigoths, and set out on an attempt to bring the whole of Gaul under his control. Anthemius' attempt to put a stop to Euric's ambitions ended in a crushing defeat in a battle on the western bank of the river Rhône, in which the emperor's son Anthemiolus and three leading Roman generals lost their lives.
[edit] Fall
After this setback, relations between Anthemius and Ricimer deteriorated sharply. For Ricimer obviously wanted to rid himself of yet another unsuccessful emperor and Anthemius well knew that Ricimer's past record proved that an emperor had good reason to be suspicious of Ricimer. So bad did relations between the emperor and his 'magister militum' grow that Italy was virtually divided in two; Ricimer ruling his part from Mediolanum (Milan) and Anthemius ruling his from Rome.
In AD 470 the bishop of Ticinum (Pavia) managed to reconcile them, but the peace was not to last for long. Already by AD 472 Ricimer marched south at the head of his army to depose Anthemius and in his place put Olybrius, the candidate favoured by the Vandals. Backed up by a Visigoth force, Anthemius held out against the siege for three months, until eventually Ricimer's troops managed to force their way across the Pons Aelius (Ponte Sant'Angelo) and into Rome.
Anthemius disguised himself as a beggar in an attempt to flee. But he was betrayed and by order of Ricimer's nephew Gundobad Anthemius was beheaded in March or April AD 472.
[edit] External links
The Wikimedia Commons has media related to Anthemius.- De Imperatoribus Romanis website: Anthemius, Ralph W. Mathisen (University of South Carolina)
| Preceded by Libius Severus |
Western Roman Emperor 467–472 |
Succeeded by Olybrius |
| Preceded by Flavius Aetius, Flavius Studius |
Consul of the Roman Empire 455 with Imp. Caesar Flavius Placidus Valentinianus Augustus VIII |
Succeeded by Flavius Iohannes, Flavius Varanes, Imp. Caesar Eparchius Avitus Augustus |
| Preceded by Flavius Pusaeus, Flavius Iohannes |
Consul of the Roman Empire 468 |
Succeeded by Flavius Marcianus, Flavius Zeno |
