Anicius Hermogenianus Olybrius ( 395–397) was a politician and aristocrat of the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post- Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings around the Mediter ...

Life

Olybrius was a son of Sextus Petronius Probus, one of the most influential men of his era and consul in 371, and wife and cousin Anicia Faltonia Proba. His brothers were

Anicius Probinus Anicius Probinus ( 395–397) was a politician and aristocrat of the Roman Empire. Biography A member of the noble gens Anicia, Probinus was the son of Sextus Claudius Petronius Probus, one of the most influential men of his era and consul in ...

and Anicius Petronius Probus. His sister was Anicia Proba. Olybrius was raised with his brother Probinus in Rome, where he was born. He and his brother Anicius Probinus shared the consulate in 395, while both were very young; Claudian dedicated ''Panegyricus de consulatu Probini et Olybrii'' to the brothers on this occasion. Although they belonged to a traditionally pagan senatorial family, Olybrius and Probinus were

Christians Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words '' Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρ ...

Arusianus Messius Arusianus Messius, or Messus, Latin grammarian, flourished in the 4th century. Life He was the author of a small extant work ''Exempla Elocutionum'', dedicated to Olybrius and Probinus, consuls for the year 395. It contains an alphabetical list, ...

dedicated his ''Exempla elocutionem'' to both brothers, and

Quintus Aurelius Symmachus Quintus Aurelius Symmachus signo Eusebius (, ; c. 345 – 402) was a Roman statesman, orator, and man of letters. He held the offices of governor of proconsular Africa in 373, urban prefect of Rome in 384 and 385, and consul in 391. Symmachus ...

addressed a letter to both in 397 (''Epistles'', v). He married his cousin Anicia Juliana and had: one son, Anicius Probus ('' fl.'' 424-459),

praetor Praetor ( , ), also pretor, was the title granted by the government of Ancient Rome to a man acting in one of two official capacities: (i) the commander of an army, and (ii) as an elected '' magistratus'' (magistrate), assigned to discharge vari ...

in 424 and ''vir illustris'' in 459, married to Adelphia, daughter of Valerius Adelphius and paternal granddaughter of Valerius Adelphius Bassus ('' fl.'' 383 and 392), ''vir consularis'' and ''consul. Venet.'' in 383 and in 392, and great-granddaughter of

Lucius Valerius Septimius Bassus Lucius Valerius Septimius Bassus (c. 328 - aft. 379 or 383) was a Roman politician. Life He was the son of Valerius Maximus (praetorian prefect), Valerius Maximus and first wife Septimia Bassa. He was ''praefectus urbi'' Romae under the emperors ...

and his possible wife Adelphia, as their son's ''nomina'' and ''cognomen'' suggest; and one daughter,

Demetrias Demetrias ( grc, Δημητριάς) was a Greek city in Magnesia in ancient Thessaly (east central Greece), situated at the head of the Pagasaean Gulf, near the modern city of Volos. History It was founded in 294 BCE by Demetrius Polior ...

.Anne Kurdok, "''Demetrias ancilla dei'': Anicia Demetrias and the problem of the missing patron", in Kate Cooper,

Julia Hillner Julia Hillner is Professor for Dependency and Slavery Studies at the University of Bonn. She was previously Professor of Medieval History at the University of Sheffield. She is an expert on late antiquity, applying digital methods of social netw ...

, ''Religion, dynasty and patronage in early Christian Rome, 300-900'', Cambridge University Press, 2007, , pp. 190-224.

Notes

Sources

Arnold Hugh Martin Jones Arnold Hugh Martin Jones FBA (9 March 1904 – 9 April 1970) (known as A. H. M. Jones or Hugo Jones) was a prominent 20th-century British historian of classical antiquity, particularly of the later Roman Empire. Biography Jones's best-known wor ...

, John Martindale, John Morris, ''

The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire ''Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire'' (abbreviated as ''PLRE'') is a work of Roman prosopography published in a set of three volumes collectively describing many of the people attested to have lived in the Roman Empire from AD 260, the date ...

'' (PLRE). vol. 1, Cambridge 1971, p. 639. * Hartmut Leppin, ''Theodosius der Große. Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft'', Darmstadt 2003, p. 222. {{Authority control 4th-century Christians 4th-century Romans 4th-century Roman consuls Olybrius, Hermogenianus Imperial Roman consuls Year of death unknown