Anthemiolus (died c. 471 AD) was the son of the Western Roman Emperor

Anthemius Procopius Anthemius (; died 11 July 472) was the Western Roman Empire, Western Roman emperor from 467 to 472. Born in the Byzantine Empire, Eastern Roman Empire, Anthemius quickly worked his way up the ranks. He married into the Theodosian dyna ...

(467–472) and

Marcia Euphemia Marcia Euphemia, also known as Aelia Marcia Euphemia (Greek language, Greek: Μαρκία Εύφημία), was the wife of Anthemius, Western Roman Empire, Western Roman Emperor. Family Marcia Euphemia was the only known daughter of Marcian, East ...

, daughter of the Eastern Roman

emperor The word ''emperor'' (from , via ) can mean the male ruler of an empire. ''Empress'', the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), mother/grandmother (empress dowager/grand empress dowager), or a woman who rules ...

Marcian Marcian (; ; ; 392 – 27 January 457) was Roman emperor of the Byzantine Empire, East from 450 to 457. Very little is known of his life before becoming emperor, other than that he was a (personal assistant) who served under the commanders ...

Name

His name means "little Anthemius" and is a diminutive of his and his father's name Anthemius, in order to distinguish them both.

Life

His life is known only from the '' Chronica Gallica of 511''. He was sent by his father to

Gaul Gaul () was a region of Western Europe first clearly described by the Roman people, Romans, encompassing present-day France, Belgium, Luxembourg, and parts of Switzerland, the Netherlands, Germany, and Northern Italy. It covered an area of . Ac ...

with a powerful army, accompanied by three generals — Thorisarius, Everdingus, and Hermianus — in order to oppose the

Visigoths The Visigoths (; ) were a Germanic people united under the rule of a king and living within the Roman Empire during late antiquity. The Visigoths first appeared in the Balkans, as a Roman-allied Barbarian kingdoms, barbarian military group unite ...

then occupying

Provence Provence is a geographical region and historical province of southeastern France, which stretches from the left bank of the lower Rhône to the west to the France–Italy border, Italian border to the east; it is bordered by the Mediterrane ...

and threatening to conquer the

Auvergne Auvergne (; ; or ) is a cultural region in central France. As of 2016 Auvergne is no longer an administrative division of France. It is generally regarded as conterminous with the land area of the historical Province of Auvergne, which was dis ...

. He and his generals were defeated by the Visigothic king

Euric Euric ( Gothic: 𐌰𐌹𐍅𐌰𐍂𐌴𐌹𐌺𐍃, ''Aiwareiks'', see ''Eric''), also known as Evaric ( 420 – 28 December 484), son of Theodoric I, ruled as king (''rex'') of the Visigoths, after murdering his brother, Theodoric II, from ...

near

Arles Arles ( , , ; ; Classical ) is a coastal city and Communes of France, commune in the South of France, a Subprefectures in France, subprefecture in the Bouches-du-Rhône Departments of France, department of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Reg ...

and all four of them lost their lives. The ''Chronica'', in entry 649, states:

Antimolus a patre Anthemio imperatore cum Thorisario, Everdingo et Hermiano com. stabuli Arelate directus est, quibus rex Euricus trans Rhodanum occurrit occisisque ducibus omnia vastavit Antimolus was sent by his father, Emperor Anthemius, to Arles, with Thorisarius, Everdingus and Hermanius, ''comes'' r ''comites''''stabuli'': King Euric met them on the far side of the Rhone and, having killed the ''duces'', laid everything waste.* Barnwell, P.S
"3. The Imperial Court"
/ref>

According to the ''Chronica'', this event falls between the succession of

(467) and the war between Anthemius and

Ricimer Ricimer ( , ; – 19 August 472) was a Romanized Germanic general, who ruled the remaining territory of the Western Roman Empire from 456 after defeating Avitus, until his death in 472, with a brief interlude in which he contested power wit ...

(471–472). It can probably be further narrowed to the period when Anthemius is known to have been organising a concerted effort to remove the Visigoths from Gaul between 468 and 471, a period during which an army led by the

Briton British people or Britons, also known colloquially as Brits, are the citizens of the United Kingdom, the British Overseas Territories, and the Crown dependencies.: British nationality law governs modern British citizenship and nationality, w ...

Riothamus was defeated near Déols. It is not impossible that Anthemiolus' army was sent to reinforce Riothamus and that Euric defeated both forces in turn, probably in either 470 or 471.

References

Sources

*Burgess, R. "The Gallic Chronicle of 511: A New Critical Edition with a Brief Introduction." ''Society and Culture in Late Antique Gaul: Revisiting the Sources''. edd. R. W. Mathisen and D. Shantzer. Aldershot, 2001. pp. 85–100. *Barnwell, P.S. "Emperors, Prefects & Kings: The Roman West, 395-565". University of North Carolina Press, 1992. pp. 38 {{DEFAULTSORT:Anthemiolus 470s deaths 5th-century Romans Ancient Roman generals Theodosian dynasty Year of birth uncertain Generals of Anthemius Sons of Roman emperors