Anthemius - Early Life

Early Life

Anthemius belonged to a noble family, the gens Procopia, which gave several high officers, both civil and military, to the Eastern Roman Empire. His mother Lucina, born c. 400, descended from Flavius Philippus, Praetorian prefect of the East in 346, and was the daughter of the influential Flavius Anthemius, Praetorian prefect of the East (404–415) and Consul in 405. His father was Procopius, magister militum per Orientem from 422 to 424, who was descended from the Procopius who had been a nephew of Emperor Constantine I and a usurper against the Eastern Emperor Valens (365–366).

Born in Constantinople around 420, he went to Alexandria to study in the school of the Neoplatonic philosopher Proclus; among his fellow students there were Marcellinus (magister militum and governor of Illyricum), Flavius Illustrius Pusaeus (Praetorian prefect of the East and Consul in 467), Messius Phoebus Severus (Consul in 470 and praefectus urbi), and Pamprepius (Pagan poet).

In 453 he married Marcia Euphemia, daughter of the Eastern Emperor Marcian (450–457); after the marriage he was elevated to the rank of comes and sent to the Danubian frontier with the task of rebuilding the border defences, left in bad condition after Attila's death in 453. In 454 he was recalled to Constantinople, where he received the title of patricius in 454 or 455 and became one of the two magistri militum or magister utriusque militiae of the East. In 455 he received the honour of holding the consulate with the Western Emperor Valentinian III as colleague.

This succession of honourable events – the wedding with Marcian's daughter; a promotion to an important military rank, but with administrative rather than military tasks; the prestigious rank of patricius and the highest military position; the consulate held with an Emperor as colleague – suggests that Marcian had selected Anthemius as a possible candidate for the Eastern or Western throne. This hypothesis is further strengthened by the fact that Anthemius' prestige misled the 6th century historian John Malalas to state that Marcian had actually designated Anthemius as Western Emperor after Avitus.

In October 456, in fact, the Western Emperor Avitus had been deposed; it is probable that Marcian considered Anthemius as successor, but the Eastern Emperor died in January 457 before choosing his colleague. Therefore both empires had no Emperor, and the power was in the hands of the Western generals, Ricimer and Majorian, and of the Eastern Magister militum, the Alan Aspar. As Aspar could not sit on the throne because of his barbaric origin, he opposed Anthemius whose prestige would have made him independent and chose a low-ranking military officer, Leo; in the West, as his barbaric origin barred Ricimer from the throne, it was Majorian who received the purple.

Anthemius stayed in service under the new Emperor; as magister militum, his task was to defend the Empire from the barbaric populations pressing on its border. Around 460, he defeated the Ostrogoths of Valamir in Illyricum. During the winter of 466/467 he defeated a group of Huns, led by Hormidac, who had crossed the frozen Danube and were pillaging Dacia. The raiders had conquered Serdica, and Anthemius besieged the city until the starved Huns decided to accept open battle; despite the treachery of his cavalry commander (a Hun), Anthemius led his infantry to victory, and when Hormidac offered surrender Anthemius asked for the deserter to be given to him.