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

Anthemius Procopius Anthemius (died 11 July 472) was western Roman emperor from 467 to 472. Perhaps the last capable Western Roman Emperor, Anthemius attempted to solve the two primary military challenges facing the remains of the Western Roman Empire: ...

(467–472) and

Marcia Euphemia Marcia Euphemia (also known as Aelia Marcia Euphemia) was the wife of Anthemius, Western Roman Empire, Western Roman Emperor. Family Marcia Euphemia was the only known daughter of Marcian, Eastern Roman emperor, with an unknown woman. Her stepmot ...

, daughter of the

Eastern Roman The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

emperor An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereignty, sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), ...

Marcian Marcian (; la, Marcianus, link=no; grc-gre, Μαρκιανός, link=no ; 392 – 27 January 457) was Roman emperor of the East from 450 to 457. Very little of his life before becoming emperor is known, other than that he was a (personal as ...

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

Chronica Gallica of 511 The ''Chronica'' or ''Cronaca Gallica of 511'', also called the ''Gallic Chronicle of 511'', is a chronicle of late antiquity preserved today in a single manuscript of the thirteenth century now in Madrid. It resembles in all its traits another lat ...

''. He was sent by his father to

Gaul Gaul ( la, Gallia) was a region of Western Europe first described by the Romans. It was inhabited by Celtic and Aquitani tribes, encompassing present-day France, Belgium, Luxembourg, most of Switzerland, parts of Northern Italy (only during ...

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

Visigoths The Visigoths (; la, Visigothi, Wisigothi, Vesi, Visi, Wesi, Wisi) were an early Germanic people who, along with the Ostrogoths, constituted the two major political entities of the Goths within the Roman Empire in late antiquity, or what is ...

then occupying

Provence Provence (, , , , ; oc, Provença or ''Prouvènço'' , ) is a geographical region and historical province of southeastern France, which extends from the left bank of the lower Rhône to the west to the Italian border to the east; it is bor ...

and threatening to conquer the

Auvergne Auvergne (; ; oc, label=Occitan, Auvèrnhe or ) is a former administrative region in central France, comprising the four departments of Allier, Puy-de-Dôme, Cantal and Haute-Loire. Since 1 January 2016, it has been part of the new region Auverg ...

. He and his generals were defeated by the Visigothic king

Euric Euric (Gothic: ''* Aiwareiks'', see ''Eric''), also known as Evaric, or Eurico in Spanish and Portuguese (c. 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 (, , ; oc, label= Provençal, Arle ; Classical la, Arelate) is a coastal city and commune in the South of France, a subprefecture in the Bouches-du-Rhône department of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, in the former province of ...

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 Flavius Ricimer ( , ; – 18/19 August 472) was a Romanized Germanic general who effectively ruled the remaining territory of the Western Roman Empire from 461 until his death in 472, with a brief interlude in which he contested power with An ...

(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 of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the British Overseas Territories, and the Crown dependencies.: British nationality law governs mod ...

Riothamus Riothamus (also spelled Riutimus or Riotimus) was a Romano-British military leader, who was active circa AD 470. He fought against the Goths in alliance with the declining Western Roman Empire. He is called "King of the Britons" by the 6th-century ...

was defeated near

Déols Déols () is a commune in the department of Indre, region of Centre-Val de Loire, central France. Déols is an ancient town with a famous Benedictine abbey, Abbaye Notre-Dame-du-Bourg-Dieu. Today it is somewhat overshadowed by the nearby city o ...

. 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