¹ Matthews, Western Aristocracies; Chastagnol, A., Le sénat romain à l'époque imperiale (1992)Google Scholar; Heather, P., CAH xiii (1998), 184–210Google Scholar; useful summary by Burton, G. P. in OCD³ (1996), 1386–7Google Scholar.

² ‘Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius’, in Gibson, M. (ed.), Boethius, his Life, Thought and Influence (1981), 15–43Google Scholar, reprinted in Matthews, J., Political Life and Culture in Late Roman Society (1985), ch. 5Google Scholar.

³ Novak, D. M., ‘The early history of the Anician family’, Studies in Latin Literature and Roman History 1 (1979), 119–65Google Scholar; ‘Anicianae domus culmen, nobilitatis culmen’, Klio 62 (1980), 473–93Google Scholar; Christol, M., ‘À propos des Anicii: le III^e siècle’, Mélanges de l'École française à Rome 98 (1986), 141–64CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Wilkins, P. I., ‘The African Anicii — a neglected text and a new genealogy’, Chiron 18 (1988), 377–82Google Scholar.

⁴ Zecchini, G., ‘I Gesta de Xysti Purgatione e le fazioni aristocratiche a Roma alla metà del V secolo’, Rivista di storia della chiesa in Italia 34 (1980), 60–74Google Scholar; ‘La politica degli Anicii nel V secolo’, Atti del Congresso Internazionale di Studi Boeziani (1981), 123–38Google Scholar; ‘La politica religiosa di Aezio’, in Sordi, M. (ed.), Religione e politica nel mondo antico (1981), 250–77Google Scholar; Aezio. L'ultima difesa dell'Occidente romano (1983); Ricerche di storiografia latina tardoantica (1993) and Ricerche di storiografia latina tardoantica II (2011); Ruggini, L. Cracco, ‘Nobiltà romana e potere nell'età di Boezio’, Atti … Studi Boeziani (1981), 73–96Google Scholar; ‘Gli Anicii a Roma e in provincia’, Mélanges de l'École française de Rome 100 (1988), 69–85CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

⁵ ‘solita fratribus odia’, Tacitus, Ann. 4.60.3.

⁶ ‘The Decii under Theodoric’, Historia 33 (1984), 107–15Google Scholar.

⁷ Brunt, P. A., The Fall of the Roman Republic and Related Essays (1988), 443–502Google Scholar, at 443, citing the most important earlier discussions.

⁸ Amm. Marc. 16.8.13; Zos. 6.7.4.

⁹ For full discussion, Cameron, Last Pagans, passim.

¹⁰ ‘La presa di potere da parte di Aezio … riporta gli Anicii sulla cresta dell'onda …’, Zecchini, op. cit. (n. 4, 1981), 126.

¹¹ As noted in passing by O'Donnell, J. J., ‘Liberius the Patrician’, Traditio 37 (1981), 33CrossRefGoogle Scholar: ‘The gens Anicia … is a great favorite of modern scholars (whose enthusiasm has tempted them to attach many unrelated figures, without evidence).’

¹² Which one remains uncertain: Cameron, Last Pagans, 179–81.

¹³ P(raefectus) V(rbis) R(omae); I also use the abbreviation P(raefectus) P(raetori)O for praetorian prefect.

¹⁴ Chastagnol, Fastes, 124.

¹⁵ The natural assumption is that he married a Claudia, especially if Petronius Claudius is another of his sons (see below).

¹⁶ Claud., Ol. et Prob. 9; Prud., contra Symm. 1.551.

¹⁷ Part of the name is missing, but the AM is clearly visible, and given her ancestry no other supplement is possible.

¹⁸ PIR vi² (1998), p. 410; PLRE i and ii and PCBE sub nomine.

¹⁹ ‘Tyrraniae Aniciae Iulianae c.f. coniugi Q. Clodi Hermogeniani Olybri v.c., consularis Campaniae, proconsulis Africae, praefecti urbis, praef. praet. Illyrici, praef. praet. Orientis, consulis ordinarii, Fl. Clodius Rufus v.p. patronae perpetuae’, ILS 1271.

²⁰ ‘Q. Clodio Hermogeniano Olybrio v.c., fratri admirandae pietatis, Faltonius Probus Alypius v.c.’, ILS 1270; Cameron, Last Pagans, 331.

²¹ Cod. Theod. 12.1.72; the addresses of laws only give one name, but it is likely that he too was called Anicius.

²² Cameron, A., ‘Anicius Claudius (I. Cret. iv. 322)’, Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigrafik 57 (1984), 147–8Google Scholar.

²³ Seeck and Chastagnol identified Olybrius' wife as a daughter of Anicius Auchenius Bassus, whose wife was called Turrenia Honorata. But even allowing for a teenage bride, how could the consul of 379 marry the daughter of a PVR 382?

²⁴ PLRE i.925–6; Chastagnol, Fastes, 15–17; Chausson, F., Stemmata aurea: Constantin, Justine, Théodose, revendications généalogiques et idéologie impériale au IV s. ap. J.C. (2007), 176–8Google Scholar.

²⁵ CIL vi.1756; ICUR n.s. ii (1935), no. 4219; CIL vi.8.3 (2000), pp. 4752–3; Schmidt, M. G., ‘Ambrosii carmen de obitu Probi’, Hermes 127 (1999), 99–116Google Scholar; Trout, D., ‘The verse epitaph(s) of Petronius Probus’, New England Classical Journal 28 (2001), 157–76Google Scholar.

²⁶ Croke, B. and Harries, J. D., Religious Conflict in Fourth-Century Rome (1982), 117Google Scholar, improbably supplement ‘greater than a [normal] consul’.

²⁷ Löfstedt, E., ‘Zu lateinischen Inschriften’, Eranos 13 (1913), 72–82 n. 1Google Scholar, a correction I jotted down in my edition of Seeck many years ago, before coming across this article.

²⁸ In fact father and grandfather; the poet used proavi because it fitted the metre.

²⁹ Schmidt, op. cit. (n. 25) has argued that the far more Christian B is the work of Ambrose, but there can be little doubt that Proba commissioned A (cf. A. 15–18), in which case her claim that Probus excelled her own father Olybrius might be thought unflattering to her two brothers, Anicius Claudius and Olybrius. Both were in fact probably dead by 390.

³⁰ OLD s.v. reddo 1.

³¹ On Furia, see PLRE i.375.

³² For the eldest who died young, purely as a guess I would suggest Anicius (Petronius) Probianus.

³³ Taegert, W., Panegyricus dictus Olybrio et Probino consulibus (1988), 25–9Google Scholar; Barnes, T. D., AJP 111 (1990)Google Scholar, 418 (reviewing Taegert). Barnes suggests (p. 419) that the firstborn was a son from an earlier marriage, but that would require that his first and second wives should both have been Anicians.

³⁴ Cod. Theod. 12.5.3. On the basis of a dubious inference from Symm., Ep. 9.126 (see too Roda and Callu ad loc.), PLRE i.735 takes his proconsulate back to 396, but the office was normally held for just one year, in this case presumably cut short by Gildo's rebellion: Barnes, T. D., ‘Between Theodosius and Justinian: Late Roman prosopography’, Phoenix 37 (1983), 256–7CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

³⁵ But there are plenty of other Bassi (PLRE i.151–8), notably Iunius Bassus cos. 331.

³⁶ As I argued in Journal of Roman Studies 75 (1985), at 166–8Google Scholar.

³⁷ ILS 1263; CIL x.5651; perhaps to be restored in 9.1568.

³⁸ The duties of a late fourth-century praetor were hardly onerous, chief among them being presiding at games provided (and paid for) by his father: Chastagnol, A., ‘Observations sur le consulat suffect et la préture du Bas-Empire’, Revue Historique 219 (1958), 221–53, at 243–53Google Scholar.

³⁹ Full bibliography at Journal of Roman Studies 75 (1985), 164–6CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

⁴⁰ ‘Anicius Auchenius Bassus v. c. et Turrenia Honorata c. f. eius cum filiis deo sanctisque devoti’, ILS 1292.

⁴¹ Anicius Paulinus PVR in 380 (Chastagnol, Fastes, 207; PLRE i.678) may be an older brother of Anicius Bassus.

⁴² ‘Scilicet nunc mihi Proborum et Olybriorum clara repetenda sunt nomina, et inlustre Anicii sanguinis genus, in quo aut nullus, aut rarus est, qui non meruerit consulatum’, Jer., Ep. 130.3.

⁴³ For caput urbis = the senate, Cic., Pro Mil. 90 (even if the true reading is orbis, Prudentius' text might have given urbis).

⁴⁴ Delmaire, R., Les responsables des finances impériales au Bas-Empire romain (1989), 182–4Google Scholar. Probus was quaestor candidatus in 395 and consul in 406. Symmachus' son Memmius Symmachus was quaestor in 393, when only ten.

⁴⁵ The name is found among the Ceionii: a Ceionius Italicus is attested as consularis of Numidia in 343 (PLRE i.466).

⁴⁶ These are the only two examples in PLRE i–ii; PCBE ii. i cites two more from c. 600.

⁴⁷ PLRE ii.8–9.

⁴⁸ Cameron, A., ‘Probus' Praetorian Games’, Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies 25 (1984), 193–6Google Scholar.

⁴⁹ PLRE ii.800–4 cite fifteen.

⁵⁰ Since A and M are entirely independent of each other, Alypius is not to be seen as a correction of A's Olympius.

⁵¹ 423/5 would be late in the day for Alypius to have a son in his late teens/early twenties, but there is always the possibility of a second marriage. Note too that Probus is said to have given his own games, whereas in both the other cases the father is named as the provider of the games. Presumably his father was dead.

⁵² Cracco Ruggini, op. cit. (n. 4, 1988), 83 n. 36.

⁵³ So Sotinel, C., Identité civique et christianisme: Aquilée du III^e au VI^e siècle (2005), 278–9Google Scholar, with full bibliography.

⁵⁴ Panciera, S., Un falsario del primo ottocento, Girolamo Asquini, e l'epigrafia antica delle Venezie (1970), 52–67Google Scholar (accepting authenticity); Billanovich, M. P., ‘Il falso epitafio aquileiense di Anicia Ulfina’, Rendiconti dell'Istituto Lombardo 108 (1974), 530–50 (against)Google Scholar.

⁵⁵ Cameron, A., ‘Flavius: a nicety of protocol’, Latomus 47 (1988), 26–33, at 32–3Google Scholar.

⁵⁶ CIL v.1071 = CLE 66; Calderini, A., Aquileia Romana: ricerche di storia e di epigrafia (1930), 450–1Google Scholar. The claim that the Aquileian martyrs Cantia, Cantianus and Cantianilla were ‘de genere Aniciorum’, though undoubtedly false, at any rate implies the presence of Anicii in Aquileia: see now Lizzi, R., ‘Gli Anicii, i Canziani e la Historia Augusta’, Hist. Aug. Coll. Bambergense (2007), 279–94Google Scholar; Sotinel, op. cit. (n. 53), 278–80.

⁵⁷ Olympiodorus' Roman visit is usually dated to 424/25, in which case his Maximus must have been praetor some time between (say) 410 and 425, and so born between 390 and 405.

⁵⁸ Zecchini, op. cit. (n. 4, 1983), 251.

⁵⁹ As noted by Hodgkin, T., The Letters of Cassiodorus (1886), 424 n. 2Google Scholar.

⁶⁰ Settipani, Continuité gentilice, 381.

⁶¹ Since Olympiodorus' first two examples are listed in reverse chronological sequence (423–5 and 402), it is reasonable to assume that the third is earlier than 402, in which case a much earlier Maximus might be considered, such as Valerius Maximus PVR 361–62.

⁶² PLRE i.208; A. Chastagnol, L'Italie et l'Afrique au Bas-Empire (1987), 340.

⁶³ For a list of proconsuls between 337 and 392, Barnes, T. D., ‘Proconsuls of Africa, 337–392’, Phoenix 39 (1985), 144–53CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

⁶⁴ Zecchini, op. cit. (n. 4, 1980), 73.

⁶⁵ e. g. ‘praetermitto … usque ad consulatus provectam familiae suae nobilitatem’, Hilarius, Vita Honorati 4.2. For even more fanciful claims to mythological ancestors, see below.

⁶⁶ PLRE ii.749.

⁶⁷ If born c. 396, Maximus could not have been born to any of the daughters of Probus' sons, given that the two eldest were still teenagers in 395.

⁶⁸ Harrison, R. M., Temple for Byzantium: the Discovery and Excavation of Anicia Juliana's Palace-Church in Istanbul (1989)Google Scholar.

⁶⁹ PCBE ii.1.544–5.

⁷⁰ PLRE ii.635–6.

⁷¹ Aug., De bono vid. 8.11. Augustine makes it clear that Iuliana only married once.

⁷² PLRE ii.452–4; Chastagnol, Fastes, 286–9.

⁷³ Twyman, B. L., ‘Aetius and the aristocracy’, Historia 19 (1970), 480–503, at 484Google Scholar.

⁷⁴ Dondin-Payre, M., Exercise du pouvoir et continuité gentilice: les Acilii Glabriones (1993)Google Scholar.

⁷⁵ Herodian 2.3.4; PIR ² A.59–73 with stemma on p. 12; Arnheim, M. T. W., The Senatorial Aristocracy in the Later Roman Empire (1972), 68–9, 107–9Google Scholar; generally, Syme, R., ‘An eccentric patrician’, Roman Papers iii (1984), 1316–36Google Scholar.

⁷⁶ For Sibidius' career, PLRE i.838–9. The gap is partly filled by an otherwise unidentifiable Acilius Glabrio, named with a dozen other senators at the beginning of the fourth century, who donated money for the construction of a building in Rome (CIL vi.37118, re-edited with full commentary in CIL vi.8.3 (2000), pp. 4819–20).

⁷⁷ Brennan, T. C., ‘Gentilician permanence and strategy over seven centuries?’, reviewing Dondin-Payre, op. cit. (n. 74), in Journal of Roman Archaeology 9 (1996), 335–8CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

⁷⁸ Chastagnol, Fastes, 286–9.

⁷⁹ As assumed by Chastagnol, Fastes and by Settipani, Continuité gentilice, 194.

⁸⁰ For what is known of this forum, see Palmer, R. E. A., Studies of the Northern Campus Martius in Ancient Rome, Transactions of the American Philosophical Society 80.2 (1990), 47–50Google Scholar; Matthews, Western Aristocracies, 356–7; Niquet, H., Monumenta virtutum titulique: Senatorische Selbstdarstellung im spätantiken Rom im Spiegel der epigraphischen Denkmäler (2000), 253–9Google Scholar; for the dedication, see now CIL vi.8.3 (2000), pp. 5094–5.

⁸¹ Badel, C., La noblesse de l'empire romain: les masques et la vertu (2005), 140–3Google Scholar.

⁸² ‘nobilis utrimque’, Tac., Hist. 1.14.11, with Chilver's commentary; Badel, op. cit. (n. 81), 141.

⁸³ Brunt, op. cit. (n. 7), 445.

⁸⁴ Gillett, A., Envoys and Political Communication in the Late Antique West, 411–533 (2003), 149CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

⁸⁵ As we shall see, Probus/Proba were not exclusively Anician names.

⁸⁶ So Zecchini, op. cit. (n. 4, 1981), 126.

⁸⁷ Barnish, S. J. B., ‘Transformation and survival in the western senatorial aristocracy, ca 400–700’, Papers of the British School at Rome 56 (1988), 120–55, at 134CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

⁸⁸ Ch. 15 and stemma 9 in R. Syme, The Augustan Aristocracy (1986).

⁸⁹ De Red. 1.267–72.

⁹⁰ Cameron, Last Pagans, 241–2.

⁹¹ For much more ambitious, but highly speculative, family trees, Settipani, Continuité gentilice, 161, 162, 164 and 165.

⁹² PLRE ii.761; S. Orlandi, Epigrafia anfiteatrale dell'Occidente Romano VI (2004), 495–6, no. 111. Purely as a conjecture, I have inserted him into the family tree as a second son of Gennadius Avienus; this would explain the Rufius in the next two generations.

⁹³ The interval between Albinus cos. 493 and Basilius cos. 541 is surely too large for a single generation.

⁹⁴ The entry of Faustus and Avienus into the Decian line among the sons of Basilius cos. 480 (Fig. 3) suggests a marriage link with the Corvini.

⁹⁵ Momigliano, A., ‘Cassiodorus and Italian culture of his time’, Proceedings of the British Academy 41 (1955)Google Scholar, 207–45 = Secondo Contributo alla storia degli studi classici (1960), 191–229, at 247.

⁹⁶ Llewellyn, P., Rome in the Dark Ages (1970), 28Google Scholar; Lançon, B., Rome dans l'Antiquité tardive (1995), 85Google Scholar.

⁹⁷ The one exception is Q. Fabius Memmius Symmachus, son of Symmachus cos. 391. Since nothing is known of his career after his praetorship in 402, he may have died young — though not so young that he did not marry and produce a son, the consul of 446. L. Aurelius Avianus Symmachus, the father of Symmachus 391, was consul designate for 367 when he died. For the antiquity of the Symmachi, see Cameron, A., ‘The antiquity of the Symmachi’, Historia 48 (1999), 477–505Google Scholar.

⁹⁸ Cracco Ruggini, op. cit. (n. 4, 1981), 77.

⁹⁹ The Memmius came into the family from Symmachus cos. 391's father-in-law Memmius Vitrasius Orfitus.

¹⁰⁰ Settipani, Continuité gentilice, 412.

¹⁰¹ For a guess about the names of the eldest, see n. 32 above.

¹⁰² The Symmachi were unusual in continuing to use the traditional praenomina down into at least the early fifth century: Cameron, op. cit. (n. 97), 485–7.

¹⁰³ Cameron, Last Pagans, 238.

¹⁰⁴ Cameron, Last Pagans, 487.

¹⁰⁵ Chastagnol, Fastes, 160, 218; Salzman, M. R. and Roberts, M., The Letters of Symmachus: Book I (2011), xix–xxGoogle Scholar.

¹⁰⁶ ‘Tertius hic mihi de optimis fratribus luctus est’, Symm., Ep. 3.6.2, Titianus' death in 380. Presumably all three had one other name as well, unfortunately unknown.

¹⁰⁷ Note too that his father gave him a majority of Symmachan names, and that Anicius stands in second place, not, as in almost all other known bearers of the name, in first place.

¹⁰⁸ Symmachus cos. 522 is the son of Boethius and a daughter of Symmachus cos. 485. Avianius Symmachus the father of Symmachus cos. 391 died consul designate in 377.

¹⁰⁹ Ep. II ad Gallam viduam 31 (CC 91.208).

¹¹⁰ Greg., Dial. 4.14.1 (SC 265, p. 55).

¹¹¹ Note that he does not give Galla a consular proavus, correctly, since Memmius Symmachus was not consul (Fig. 5).

¹¹² Some strange guesses have been made about the abbreviation NAR (Narses, Cracco Ruggini, op. cit. (n. 4, 1981), 82), but the simplest solution is that the N is an error for M, and that the name abbreviated is Marius: Cameron, A., ‘Boethius's father's name’, ZPE 44 (1981), 181–3Google Scholar.

¹¹³ ‘un anicio’, Zecchini, op. cit. (n. 4, 1983), 52.

¹¹⁴ Hodgkin, T., Italy and her Invaders iii (1885), 523Google Scholar; Momigliano, op. cit. (n. 95), 252; Wes, M. A., Das Ende des Kaisertums im Western des römischen Reichs (1967), 147Google Scholar; Zecchini, op. cit. (n. 4, 1993), 89.

¹¹⁵ Orlandi, op. cit. (n. 92), 436 and 478–9.

¹¹⁶ De consol. phil. 2.3–4.

¹¹⁷ It would have been instructive to know their full names, but (despite the incorrect information supplied on p. xi n.a of the Loeb Boethius) we do not.

¹¹⁸ Conveniently available in the Loeb Boethius (rev. edn S. J. Tester, 1967), 2–4.

¹¹⁹ Oosthout, H. and Schilling, I., A.M.S Boethii De arithmetica (1999), 3–6Google Scholar.

¹²⁰ Contra Eutych. pr. (pp. 74–6 Loeb); Chadwick, H., Boethius: The Consolations of Music, Logic, Theology and Philosophy (1981), 181Google Scholar.

¹²¹ Cracco Ruggini, op. cit. (n. 4, 1988), 70; Momigliano, op. cit. (n. 95), 189.

¹²² ‘Similes habuistis olim, patres conscripti, Decios, similes vetustas praedicat fuisse Corvinos’, Var. 8.22.3; for Cyprianus, PLRE ii.332–3.

¹²³ Var. 3.6.4–5; cf. 9.22.3.

¹²⁴ Ennod. pp. 14.12 and 66.25. Moorhead, J., Theoderic in Italy (1992), 164Google Scholar. has remarked on ‘the lack of interest displayed by Cassiodorus … and Ennodius in the Anicii, and their apparently higher level of interest in the Decii’.

¹²⁵ Briefly, Kleine Pauly i (1975), 354; Wiseman, T. P., Roman Studies (1987), 341Google Scholar.

¹²⁶ Often referred to as Anicius Maximus. He may have borne the name Anicius, but it is not actually attested in any surviving text or inscription.

¹²⁷ Barnish, S. J. B., Cassiodorus: Variae, Translated Texts for Historians 12 (1992), 133 n. 2Google Scholar.

¹²⁸ An inference from the fact that Theodahad was elderly by 535: PLRE ii.1067–8.

¹²⁹ Anecdoton Holderi: Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte Roms in ostgotischer Zeit (1877), translated into French with useful introduction and bibliography by A. Galonnier, Anecdoton Holderi ou Ordo Generis Cassiodororum: Éléments pour une étude de l'authenticité Boécienne des opuscula sacra (1997).

¹³⁰ So most recently Giardina, A., Cassiodoro politico (2006), 16Google Scholar.

¹³¹ ‘dichiara la sua parentela con gli Anicii’, Zecchini, op. cit. (n. 4, 1983), 91 n. 304; so again in ‘La politica religiosa di Aezio’, CISA 7 (1981), 274 n. 142; so too F. Troncarelli in Revue des Études Augustiniennes 35 (1989), 130 (‘C. metteva in risalto i suoi legami di parentela con gli Anicii’).

¹³² Momigliano, op. cit. (n. 95), 204 (my italics); and in Diz. biogr. degli Italiani 21 (1978), 495. Many others have said something similar.

¹³³ See the entries for Aurelius in PLRE i (seven pages) and ii.

¹³⁴ ‘coniuncta Aniciorum genus cum Amala stirpe spem adhuc utriusque generi domino praestante promittit’, Get. 314.

¹³⁵ O'Donnell, J., Cassiodorus (1979), 44Google Scholar.

¹³⁶ Against, see especially Croke, B., ‘Cassiodorus and the Getica of Jordanes’, CP 82 (1987), 117–34Google Scholar; Heather, P., Goths and Romans 332–489 (1991), 38–52Google Scholar; Goffart, W., Barbarian Tides: The Migration Age and the Later Roman Empire (2006), 59CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

¹³⁷ See O'Donnell, op. cit. (n. 135), 271.

¹³⁸ Where she claimed to be the daughter of (Olybrius and) Placidia, granddaughter of (Valentinian III and) Licinia Eudoxia, and great-granddaughter of (Theodosius II and) Eudocia (AP 1.10.8).

¹³⁹ Malchus F 18.3 (p. 432. 27 Blockley).

¹⁴⁰ For Petronius, PLRE ii.862–4 and PCBE 2. ii.1722–5; Chausson, op. cit. (n. 24), 182–5, rather implausibly, tries to tie together all known Nicomachi.

¹⁴¹ Ennodius, p. 314.36–8 Vogel; and see their entries in PLRE ii. For an imaginative reconstruction of further stages in the family tree, Settipani, Continuité gentilice, 131.

¹⁴² Giardina, op. cit. (n. 130), 149–50.

¹⁴³ Most recently Zecchini, G., ‘Ende und Erbe der lateinisch-heidnischen Geschichtsschreibung’, in Goltz, A. et al. (eds), Jenseits der Grenzen (2009), 92Google Scholar; Ratti, S., Antiquus Error (2010), 219Google Scholar. Against, Cameron, A., JRA 24 (2011), 836Google Scholar.

¹⁴⁴ Chrom., Tract. in Matt. 1.

¹⁴⁵ Bettini, M., Anthropology and Roman Culture (1991), 169–81 and 298–301Google Scholar; Flower, H., Ancestor Masks and Aristocratic Power in Roman Culture (1996), 211–17Google Scholar and passim on imagines.

¹⁴⁶ Wiseman, T. P., ‘Legendary genealogies in late-republican Rome’, in Roman Studies (1987), 207–20Google Scholar; Cameron, A., Greek Mythography in the Roman World (2004), 228–9Google Scholar.

¹⁴⁷ Paula's family tree is reconstructed by Settipani, Continuité gentilice, 133. For more examples of mythological genealogies, including the late antique Greek world, Chausson, F., ‘Les lignages mythiques dans quelques revendications généalogiques sous l'empire romain’, in Auger, D. and Saïd, S. (eds), Généalogies mythiques (1998), 395–417Google Scholar.

¹⁴⁸ Rut. Nam., De red. 1.169–70; Sidon., Ep. 7.12.1–2.

¹⁴⁹ Auson., Epigr. 26 (p. 73 Green, with commentary on pp. 390–1).

¹⁵⁰ de Boor, C., Nicephori archiepiscopi Constantinopolitani opuscula historica (1880), xxv, 103–4Google Scholar.

¹⁵¹ Fourteen recorded on Fig. 4, but since Cassiodorus comments so emphatically on the number of consular sons born to Basilius Venantius cos. 508 (‘fecunda prole gaudentem et tot consularibus patrem … tot protulit consulares … tot meretur in filiis consulatus’, Var. 9.23.3–4, of 533), there must have been more than the two so far identified. Surely at least three.

¹⁵² Cassiodorus, Var. 5.42.

¹⁵³ O'Donnell, op. cit. (n. 135), 271.

¹⁵⁴ If he was really a descendant of the usurper Petronius Maximus, who we have seen was not an Anician, the Anician connection may have come in a later generation.

¹⁵⁵ These betrothals are all uncertain and (even more frustrating) undatable: see the various entries in PLRE ii; Clover, F. M., ‘The family and early career of Anicius Olybrius’, Historia 27 (1978), 169–96Google Scholar; R. W. Mathisen, ‘Anicius Olybrius’, www.roman-emperors.org/olybrius.htm (1998).

¹⁵⁶ Malalas's story (375 Bonn = 298 Thurn) that Leo sent him with a letter to Anthemius ordering his execution is a folk motif with Homeric roots. If Leo had really suspected Olybrius of treachery he would never have sent him at all.

¹⁵⁷ ACO 2.1.90; cited at PLRE i.733.

¹⁵⁸ PLRE ii, s. vv. Olybrius 3 and Irene, known from the genealogy preserved by Nicephorus, p. 104 de Boor.

¹⁵⁹ Anth. Pal. 1.10.39; CLRE 587 s.a. 526; Procopius 7.20.19.

¹⁶⁰ Momigliano, op. cit. (n. 95), 233; Llewellyn, op. cit. (n. 96), 29; Cracco Ruggini, op. cit. (n. 4, 1988); Cesa, M., Ennodio: Vita del beatissimo Epifanio vescovo della chiesa pavese (1988), 9 n. 6Google Scholar. For some extravagant further conjectures, see Mommaerts, T. S. and Kelley, D. H., ‘The Anicii of Gaul and Rome’, in Drinkwater, J. and Elton, H. (eds), Fifth-Century Gaul: a Crisis of Identity? (1992), 111–21Google Scholar.

¹⁶¹ On the problem of identifying Ennodius' various kinfolk, see the careful analysis in Kennell, S. A. H., Magnus Felix Ennodius: A Gentleman of the Church (2000), 128–67CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

¹⁶² ‘Gli Anicii e la storiografia latina del VI secolo d. C.’, now in Secondo Contributo ii (1960), 231–53; Zecchini, op. cit. (n. 4, 1983), 89–94.

¹⁶³ Except for a single quotation in Jordanes about the emperor Maximin, who reigned from 235 to 238.

¹⁶⁴ Ensslin, W., Des Symmachus Historia Romana als Quelle für Jordanes (Sitz. Bay. Akad. 1948. 3); Wes, op. cit. (n. 114)Google Scholar.

¹⁶⁵ Croke, B., ‘A.D. 476: the manufacture of a turning point’, Chiron 13 (1983), 81–119Google Scholar; see too Croke, B., Count Marcellinus and his Chronicle (2001), 190–5Google Scholar.

¹⁶⁶ Texts cited by Croke, op. cit. (n. 165),108.

¹⁶⁷ Marcell. a. 476. 2 and 489; cf. n. 153 above; Treadgold, W., The Early Byzantine Historians (2007), 232Google Scholar.

¹⁶⁸ Wes, op. cit. (n. 114), 151; against, Cameron, A. and Schauer, D., ‘The last consul: Basilius and his diptych’, Journal of Roman Studies 72 (1982), 126–45, at 128CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

¹⁶⁹ In addition to Croke, op. cit. (n. 165), see Heather, P., ‘The historical culture of Ostrogothic Italy’, in Giovanditto, A. (ed.), Teodorico il grande e i suoi Goti in Italia (1993), 317–53, at 332–4Google Scholar; Amory, P., People and Identity in Ostrogothic Italy (1997), 109CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Goffart, op. cit. (n. 136), 53–4; O'Donnell, J. J., The Ruin of the Roman Empire (2008), 214–15Google Scholar.

¹⁷⁰ Though with different figures: Marcellinus after 1,231 (actually 1,228) years; Evagrius (HE 2.16) and Theophanes (AM 5965) after 1,303 years. Surprisingly enough, Byzantines do not seem to have been very concerned about fixing an exact date for the foundation of Rome. Syncellus actually offers two different dates, AM 4752 and 4755 (p. 230. 5, 10 and 13 Mosshammer). I am grateful to Richard Burgess for help on this point.

¹⁷¹ Zecchini, op. cit. (n. 4, 1983), 49; (n. 4, 1993), 76–7.

¹⁷² See the detailed account by Croke, B., ‘Dynasty and ethnicity: Emperor Leo I and the eclipse of Aspar’, Chiron 35 (2005), 147–203Google Scholar.

¹⁷³ ‘After killing Aetius, Valentinian also killed Boethius the prefect, who had been high in Aetius's favour’, after which he ‘exposed their bodies unburied in the forum’ (F 30, p. 329. 39 Blockley).

¹⁷⁴ Laurence, P., ‘Proba, Juliana et Démétrias: le christianisme des femmes de la gens Anicia dans la première moitié du Ve siècle’, Revue des Études Augustiniennes 48 (2002), 131–63CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Kurdock, A., ‘Demetrias ancilla dei: Anicia Demetrias and the problem of the missing patron’, in Cooper, K. and Hillner, J. (eds), Religion, Dynasty, and Patronage in Early Christian Rome, 300–900 (2007), 190–224CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Machado, C., ‘Roman aristocrats and the Christianization of Rome’, in Lizzi-Testa, R. and Brown, P. (eds), Pagans and Christians in the Roman Empire: The Breaking of a Dialogue (2011), 493–516Google Scholar.

¹⁷⁵ For the limited rôle of pagan pontifices in the religious life of fourth-century Rome, often overrated in modern studies, Cameron, Last Pagans, ch. 4.

¹⁷⁶ Liber Pontificalis § 53.

¹⁷⁷ Festus cos. 472 must have received his consulship early, since he was still alive in 513.

¹⁷⁸ According to Wes, op. cit. (n. 114), 99 a letter of Avitus of Vienne to Symmachus cos. 485 and Faustus ‘Niger’ proves that Symmachus too backed Pope Symmachus. But Chadwick pointed out that the letter seeks to persuade the two men rather than shows them already persuaded (Chadwick, H., Boethius: The Consolations of Music, Logic, Theology, and Philosophy (1981), 41, 287 n. 27Google Scholar; Schanzer, D. and Wood, I., Avitus of Vienne: Letters and Selected Prose (2002), 159–62CrossRefGoogle Scholar).

¹⁷⁹ Barnish, op. cit. (n. 87), at 129–30.

¹⁸⁰ In the fourth century sometimes only a few months: Chastagnol, A., La préfecture urbaine à Rome sous le Bas-Empire (1960), 187–8Google Scholar.

¹⁸¹ Cass., Var. 1.42.3; 3.11.1; Chastagnol, op. cit. (n. 180), 188.

¹⁸² Stein, E., Histoire du Bas-Empire ii (1949), 128–9Google Scholar; Momigliano, Sesto Contributo vi. 2 (1980), 490; Giardina, op. cit. (n. 130), 15–21.

¹⁸³ Most explicitly by Seeck, O., Gesch. des Untergangs der antiken Welt vi (1921), 90, 407–8Google Scholar (‘nicht das Heer von Ravenna, sondern der Senat von Rom …’), but the text he cites, οἱ δὲ τῆς ἐν Ῥώμῃ βασιλέως αὐλῆς τῶν τινα ἐκείνῃ στρατιωτῶν … βασιλέα αἱροῦνται (Procop., BV 1.3.7), by identifying John as ‘one of the officials there’, clearly points to the court in Ravenna. ἐν Ῥώμῃ here perhaps just means ‘in the West’.

¹⁸⁴ For all sources, Seeck, op. cit. (n. 183) and PLRE ii.595.

¹⁸⁵ On the length of the various prefectures, PLRE ii.1248; for Firminus 2, ib. 471.

¹⁸⁶ Briefly, Cameron, Last Pagans, 790–1; more detail in Fauvinet-Ranson, V., Decor Civitatis, Decor Italiae. Monuments, travaux publics et spectacles au VI^e siècle d'après les Variae de Cassiodore (2006), 303–440Google Scholar.

¹⁸⁷ Heather, op. cit. (n. 169), 334.

¹⁸⁸ His date of birth is unknown, but since he held the consulship (485) forty years before his death (525), he must have held it fairly young. His two grandsons held theirs as small children.

¹⁸⁹ Brown, T. S., Gentlemen and Officers: Imperial Administration and Aristocratic Power in Byzantine Italy A.D. 554–800 (1984), ch. 2Google Scholar.