Famous Deaths on this Day in History
Anicius Olybrius (ca. 430 – 23 October/2 November 472, Western Roman ruler from March 23 or July 11 to October 23 or November 2, 472, was a member of the Anicii family - related to Petronius Maximus - and a native of Rome. He was a son of Flavius Anicius Probus and wife Adelphia and granduncle of Flavius Anicius Probus Iunior.
After the sack of the city by the Vandal King Geiseric in 455, Olybrius fled to Constantinople, where in 464 he was made Consul, and about the same time ca 454 married Placidia, daughter of Valentinian III and Licinia Eudoxia. This afforded Geiseric, whose son Huneric had married Princess Eudocia, the elder sister of Placidia, the chance of claiming the empire of the West for Olybrius. In fact, Geiseric had attempted in 461 and again in 465 to get Olybrius made monarch. He was made Roman Consul in 464.
In 472 Olybrius was sent to Italy by the emperor Leo I to support the emperor Anthemius against his son-in-law Ricimer, but, having entered into discussions with the latter, was himself proclaimed emperor against his will, and on the murder of his rival ascended the throne unopposed. Because of his marriage to Placidia, Olybrius can be considered the last member of the House of Theodosius. His reign was otherwise as uneventful as it was brief. He died of hydropsy later in 472, being the only Emperor of his time to die of natural causes.
Olybrius was survived by his wife and their daughter, Anicia Juliana He appears, in a wholly unhistorical light, in the medieval Golden Legend as the persecutor of Saint Margaret the Virgin after she refused to marry him.
After the sack of the city by the Vandal King Geiseric in 455, Olybrius fled to Constantinople, where in 464 he was made Consul, and about the same time ca 454 married Placidia, daughter of Valentinian III and Licinia Eudoxia. This afforded Geiseric, whose son Huneric had married Princess Eudocia, the elder sister of Placidia, the chance of claiming the empire of the West for Olybrius. In fact, Geiseric had attempted in 461 and again in 465 to get Olybrius made monarch. He was made Roman Consul in 464.
In 472 Olybrius was sent to Italy by the emperor Leo I to support the emperor Anthemius against his son-in-law Ricimer, but, having entered into discussions with the latter, was himself proclaimed emperor against his will, and on the murder of his rival ascended the throne unopposed. Because of his marriage to Placidia, Olybrius can be considered the last member of the House of Theodosius. His reign was otherwise as uneventful as it was brief. He died of hydropsy later in 472, being the only Emperor of his time to die of natural causes.
Olybrius was survived by his wife and their daughter, Anicia Juliana He appears, in a wholly unhistorical light, in the medieval Golden Legend as the persecutor of Saint Margaret the Virgin after she refused to marry him.
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