Anthemius Isidorus

Flavius Anthemius Isidorus (fl. 410-436) was a politician of the Eastern Roman Empire, the maternal uncle of the Western emperor Anthemius.

Biography

A native of Egypt, Isidorus, the name by which he is known in almost all sources, was the son of Anthemius, consul of 405 and grandfather of Emperor Anthemius, of whom Isidorus was therefore maternal uncle. Anthemius Isidorus Theophilus was probably his son.

In an indefinite period between 405 and 410, he was Proconsul of Asia, as attested by inscriptions found in Hypaepa in Lydia. Between 4 September 410 and 29 October 412 he was praefectus urbi of Constantinople; in that capacity he received some laws surviving in the Theodosian Code and the Code of Justinian, among which one that ordered him to complete the Baths of Honorius and build a portico in front of them.^[1] Both offices were undoubtedly due to the influence of his father, who, as Praetorian prefect of the East, had the real power.

After serving as praetorian prefect of Illyricum (22 April to 10 October 424),^[2] he was appointed to the powerful post of praetorian prefect of the East (29 January 435-4 August 436). During a famine, he provided the supplies to the city of Ephesus, which thanked him in an inscription; in this capacity, he received two letters from Isidore of Pelusium. In 436 he was also consul prior, along with Senator.

He died before 446/447.

Notes

1. ↑ Theodosian Code, viii.17.2a and 17.3a, Justinian Code, i.19.6a, all given in Constantinople on 4 September 410; Theodosian Code, xv.1.50a, given in Constantinople on 29 October 412.
2. ↑ Theodosian Code, xv.5.4 and xi.1.33.

Bibliography

• Arnold Hugh Martin Jones, John Robert Martindale, John Morris, "Fl. Anthemius Isidorus 9", The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire, Cambridge University Press, 1971, ISBN 0-521-20159-4, pp. 631-633.