Flavius Anicius Auchenius Bassus (''fl''. 425–435) was a high official of the

Western Roman Empire The Western Roman Empire comprised the western provinces of the Roman Empire at any time during which they were administered by a separate independent Imperial court; in particular, this term is used in historiography to describe the period ...

. He was appointed as consul by the Western court with

Antiochus Chuzon Antiochus Chuzon (''floruit'' 429–438), called "the Elder" to distinguish him from his nephew, was a high official of the Eastern Roman Empire, praetorian prefect of the East and consul, who was a key figure in the compilation of the ''Codex Theo ...

as a colleague. In 435 he held for the second time the office of praetorian prefect of Italy.

Biography

Bassus belonged to the noble ''gens'' Anicia; his father was the Anicius Auchenius Bassus who was consul in 408. In 425 he held the rank of ''

comes rerum privatarum In the Roman Empire during late antiquity, the ''comes rerum privatarum'' ( gr, κόμης τῆς ἰδικῆς παρουσίας, ''kómēs tēs idikēs parousías''), literally "count of the private fortune", was the official charged with admin ...

'' at the Western court; the following year was praetorian prefect, perhaps of Italy. He made accusations against

Pope Sixtus III Pope Sixtus III was the bishop of Rome from 31 July 432 to his death on 18 August 440. His ascension to the papacy is associated with a period of increased construction in the city of Rome. His feast day is celebrated by Catholics on 28 March. ...

; when Emperor

Valentinian III Valentinian III ( la, Placidus Valentinianus; 2 July 41916 March 455) was Roman emperor in the West from 425 to 455. Made emperor in childhood, his reign over the Roman Empire was one of the longest, but was dominated by powerful generals vying ...

learned of these accusations, he ordered a synod to be convoked, at which the accusations were investigated and the Pope cleared by 56 bishops.Raymond Davis, translator, ''The Book of Pontiffs (''Liber Pontificalis'')'' (Liverpool: University Press, 1989), p. 35

Notes

Bibliography

John Robert Martindale John Robert Martindale (born 1935) is a British academic historian, specializing in the later Roman and Byzantine empires. Martindale's major publications are his magnum opus, the three volumes of '' Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire'', b ...

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 Morris, "Fl. Anicius Auchenius Bassus 8", ''

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 ...

'', Volume 2, Cambridge University Press, 1992, , pp. 220–221. {{DEFAULTSORT:Anicius Auchenius Bassus (431) 5th-century Romans 5th-century Roman consuls Auchenius Bassus (431) Imperial Roman consuls Praetorian prefects of Italy