(Anicius) Maximus (died 552) was a Roman senator and patrician during the

Ostrogothic kingdom The Ostrogothic Kingdom, officially the Kingdom of Italy (), was a barbarian kingdom established by the Germanic Ostrogoths that controlled Italian peninsula, Italy and neighbouring areas between 493 and 553. Led by Theodoric the Great, the Ost ...

, who celebrated the last games in the Flavian Amphitheater.

Biography

Maximus was a descendant of Roman emperor

Petronius Maximus Petronius Maximus (31 May 455) was Roman emperor of the Western Roman Empire, West for two and a half months in 455. A wealthy Roman Senate, senator and a prominent aristocrat, he was instrumental in the murders of the Western Roman ''magister ...

, and of the noble Anicii. His father was

Volusianus Gaius Vibius Volusianus (Latin: ''Gaius Vibius Afinius Gallus Veldumnianus Volusianus''; died August 253), commonly called Volusian, was a Roman emperor from 251 to 253, ruling with his father Trebonianus Gallus. After Emperor Decius and his ...

, consul in 503, and he had a brother called Marcianus and an uncle called Liberius.Mommaert & Kelly, 2002 Maximus married for the first time in 510, then obtained, at a young age, the consulate in the West ''sine collega'' for the year 523. On that occasion he received King

Theodoric Theodoric is a Germanic given name. First attested as a Gothic name in the 5th century, it became widespread in the Germanic-speaking world, not least due to its most famous bearer, Theodoric the Great, king of the Ostrogoths. Overview The name w ...

's permission to celebrate the event with '' venationes'' in the

Colosseum The Colosseum ( ; , ultimately from Ancient Greek word "kolossos" meaning a large statue or giant) is an Ellipse, elliptical amphitheatre in the centre of the city of Rome, Italy, just east of the Roman Forum. It is the largest ancient amphi ...

, the last games ever held there, but later the king complained about the waste of money these entailed. Between 525 and 535, he was elevated to the rank of '' patricius''; King

Theodahad Theodahad, also known as Thiudahad (; 480 – December 536), initially ruled the Ostrogothic Kingdom jointly with his cousin Amalasuintha. She elevated him to co-monarch in late 534, following the death of her son, King Athalaric, likely see ...

gave him an Ostrogothic princess as wife in 535, appointed him ''primicerius domesticorum'' and gave him the property of Marcianus, which later

Justinian I Justinian I (, ; 48214 November 565), also known as Justinian the Great, was Roman emperor from 527 to 565. His reign was marked by the ambitious but only partly realized ''renovatio imperii'', or "restoration of the Empire". This ambition was ...

had him split with Liberius. In 537, during the Siege of Rome in the Gothic War, Maximus was expelled from the city along with other senators at the behest of

Belisarius BelisariusSometimes called Flavia gens#Later use, Flavius Belisarius. The name became a courtesy title by the late 4th century, see (; ; The exact date of his birth is unknown. March 565) was a military commander of the Byzantine Empire under ...

, who was afraid that they would collaborate with the Gothic besiegers, only to return at the end of the siege in 538. On 17 December 546, however, King

Totila Totila, original name Baduila (died 1 July 552), was the penultimate King of the Ostrogoths, reigning from 541 to 552 AD. A skilled military and political leader, Totila reversed the tide of the Gothic War (535–554), Gothic War, recovering b ...

was able to

take A take is a single continuous recorded performance. The term is used in film and music to denote and track the stages of production. Film In cinematography, a take refers to each filmed "version" of a particular shot or "setup". Takes of each ...

the ''Urbs'', and Maximus and other ''patricii'' hid in

Old St. Peter's Basilica Old St. Peter's Basilica was the church buildings that stood, from the 4th to 16th centuries, where St. Peter's Basilica stands today in Vatican City. Construction of the basilica, built over the historical site of the Circus of Nero, began dur ...

. Captured and sent to

Campania Campania is an administrative Regions of Italy, region of Italy located in Southern Italy; most of it is in the south-western portion of the Italian Peninsula (with the Tyrrhenian Sea to its west), but it also includes the small Phlegraean Islan ...

, he was still there when, in 552,

Narses Narses (also spelled Nerses; ; ; ; c. 478–573) was a distinguished Byzantine general and statesman of Armenian heritage, renowned for his critical role in Emperor Justinian I’s military campaigns. Alongside the famed Belisarius, Narses was ...

conquered Rome; the senators were preparing to return to Rome, but the Goths who guarded them, enraged by the death of Totila, killed them all.Procopius, 4.34.6

Notes

Bibliography

Primary sources

* ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; *

Cassiodorus Magnus Aurelius Cassiodorus Senator (c. 485 – c. 585), commonly known as Cassiodorus (), was a Christian Roman statesman, a renowned scholar and writer who served in the administration of Theodoric the Great, king of the Ostrogoths. ''Senato ...

,
Variae
', V.42, X,11-12 *

Procopius Procopius of Caesarea (; ''Prokópios ho Kaisareús''; ; – 565) was a prominent Late antiquity, late antique Byzantine Greeks, Greek scholar and historian from Caesarea Maritima. Accompanying the Roman general Belisarius in Justinian I, Empe ...

,
Bellum Gothicus
', 1.25.14-15, 3.20.18-19, 4.34.6

Secondary sources

* * * {{end 552 deaths 6th-century western Roman consuls Anicii Medieval murder victims Patricii Year of birth unknown