Anthemius (Praetorian Prefect)

Flavius ​​Anthemius († around 415) was a Roman politician of late antiquity . From 405 to 414, as Praetorian prefect, he was de facto regent for the Eastern Roman emperors Arcadius and Theodosius II.

Life

Anthemius came from an influential family that traced back to the Constantinian dynasty through the counter-emperor Procopius ; his grandfather Philip had been Praetorian prefect under Constantius II from 346 . Under Arcadius , shortly before 400, Anthemius rose to the position of comes sacrarum largitionum , later to the magister officiorum , and thus held important court posts. Presumably he took part in an imperial embassy to the Sassanid king Yazdegerd I in 400 , which set the course for a relaxation of the Roman-Persian relationship. After the death of Empress Eudoxia in 405 he held the consulate together with Stilicho and took over the office of Praetorian prefect for the east of the Roman Empire. Anthemius, who was also elevated to the rank of patricius on April 28, 406 , became the second most powerful man in the empire after the emperor. In the remaining two years of Arcadius' reign, Anthemius effectively directed state affairs, although he held on to the policy of his predecessor Eutychianus , which was directed against the growing influence of the military , and emphasized the factual independence of the Eastern Empire from the claims of the Western court. This brought him into conflict with the western Roman regent Stilicho, who wanted to win back the Illyrian prefecture and secure the leadership role in the entire empire for the western imperial court. At the same time, Anthemius had to deal with the mutinous warriors of Alaric in the Balkans and Isaurian insurgents in southern Asia Minor . Furthermore, Anthemius passed several laws against pagans , Jews and " heretics " in the name of the emperor .

The Theodosian Wall, which Anthemius commissioned to build.

When Arcadius died in 408, Anthemius took over the reign of his successor, Theodosius II, who was only seven years old . The historians attest to the prefect's exceptional domestic and foreign policy abilities. Anthemius concluded a treaty with the Sassanid Empire that settled various points of contention and - thanks to Stilicho's death - was able to restore the harmony of the two imperial courts in Constantinople and Ravenna . He strengthened the fleet to protect the border on the lower Danube after an invasion of the Huns under King Uldin had been repelled in 409 . For the capital, after several famines, he improved the supply of grain from the granary of Egypt . Anthemius achieved his most remarkable achievement with the re-fortification of Constantinople ( Theodosian Land Wall ), which was completed in 413 .

In 414, Anthemius suddenly disappeared from the scene, while Theodosius' older sister Aelia Pulcheria officially took over the guardianship and regency of the emperor - apparently he was disempowered, but perhaps also died. The family nevertheless remained influential: Anthemius' son Isidorus also held the highest offices; his grandson of the same name almost became ruler of the Eastern Empire in 457 and was then Western Roman Emperor from 467 to 472.

literature

• Alexander Demandt : The late antiquity. Roman history from Diocletian to Justinian. 284 - 565 AD (= Handbook of Classical Studies . Section 3: Ancient Orient, Greek History, Roman History. Part 6). 2nd completely revised and expanded edition. Beck, Munich 2007, ISBN 978-3-406-55993-8 , p. 196.
• Alexios G. Savvides, Benjamin Hendrickx (Eds.): Encyclopaedic Prosopographical Lexicon of Byzantine History and Civilization . Vol. 1: Aaron - Azarethes . Brepols Publishers, Turnhout 2007, ISBN 978-2-503-52303-3 , p. 291.
• Otto Seeck : Anthemius 1 . In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume I, 2, Stuttgart 1894, Col. 2365.