Alypia (daughter of Anthemius)

Alypia (fl. 467–472 AD) was a noblewoman of the Western Roman Empire, daughter of the Western Roman Emperor Anthemius.^[1]

Life

Alypia was the only daughter of Anthemius and Aelia Marcia Euphemia, and granddaughter of the Eastern Roman Emperor Marcian.^[2]

The Eastern Roman Emperor Leo I appointed Anthemius Western Emperor in 467, and so Alypia's marriage became an important moment in Anthemius' rule.^[3] Anthemius married his daughter to Ricimer, the magister militum of the West and power behind the throne; the aim of this bond was to strengthen the relationship between Anthemius and his magister militum, who had already deposed three Western Emperors.^[4][5][6]

However, Alypia's marriage did not bring peace between the Emperor and his general, possibly because the two of them had no children.^[2] In April 472, Ricimer appointed Olybrius as Emperor, in opposition to Anthemius, who, together with his family, was besieged in Rome. Around the middle of July, Anthemius and his family were captured by Ricimer; Anthemius was beheaded, while Alypia's subsequent history is unknown.^[2]

In the numismatic collection of Dumbarton Oaks, there is a coin (a solidus) on which Euphemia and Alypia are depicted. Here Alypia's figure is smaller than her mother's, as a sign of respect, but the two women dress using the same vestments, those typical of the Augusta; it is therefore possible that both Euphemia and Alypia were appointed Augustae.^[2]

References

1. O'Flynn, John M. (1991). "A Greek on the Roman Throne: The Fate of Anthemius". Historia: Zeitschrift für Alte Geschichte. 40 (1): 122–128. ISSN 0018-2311. JSTOR 4436183.
2. Vagi, David (2016-09-16). Coinage and History of the Roman Empire. Routledge. pp. 572–573. ISBN 978-1-135-97125-0.
3. Hanaghan, Michael (December 2017). "LATENT CRITICISM OF ANTHEMIUS AND RICIMER IN SIDONIUS APOLLINARIS' EPISTVLAE 1.5". The Classical Quarterly. 67 (2): 631–649. doi:10.1017/S0009838817000696. ISSN 0009-8388.
4. O'Flynn, John M. (1983). Generalissimos of the Western Roman Empire. University of Alberta. pp. 115–116. ISBN 978-0-88864-031-4.
5. "Ricimer's Church in Rome: How an Arian Barbarian Prospered in a Nicene World", The Power of Religion in Late Antiquity, Routledge, 1991, doi:10.4324/9781315554075-38/ricimer-church-rome-arian-barbarian-prospered-nicene-world (inactive 1 November 2024), ISBN 978-1-315-55407-5, retrieved 2024-02-02{{citation}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of November 2024 (link)
6. Gillett, Andrew (November 2001). "Rome, Ravenna and the last western emperors". Papers of the British School at Rome. 69: 131–167. doi:10.1017/S0068246200001781. ISSN 2045-239X.

• David L. Vagi, Coinage and History of the Roman Empire, Taylor & Francis, 1999, ISBN 1-57958-316-4, p. 573.