The Eastern Roman Emperor Leo I had not recognised Olybrius, and also did not recognise Glycerius, as his election had not been ratified by the Eastern court, and it was suspected that he was a puppet of Gundobad.

Other descendants of Ennodius, and thus possibly of Maximus, included Anicius Olybrius, emperor in 472, but also several consuls and bishops such as St. Magnus Felix Ennodius ( Bishop of Pavia c. 514-21 ).

After the sack of Rome ( 455 ), the Vandals took Licinia Eudoxia and her two daughters, among which also Olybrius ' wife Placidia, to Africa ; at that time Olybrius was in Constantinople.

Olybrius came close to the Western throne also in 465, when Libius Severus died.

Moreover, I also have sent the patrician Olybrius to you ; I wish you to kill him, so that you might reign, ruling rather than serving others.

It is also noteworthy that Olybrius is depicted on his coins without helm and spear, common symbols on his predecessors ' coinage, suggesting he had little interest in military matters.

He even led away as captives surviving senators, accompanied by their wives ; along with them he also carried off to Carthage in Africa the empress Eudoxia, who had summoned him ; her daughter Placidia, the wife of the patrician Olybrius, who then was staying at Constantinople ; and even the maiden Eudocia.

Olybrius had also been instructed to offer a peace treaty to Geiseric on behalf of Leo.

They also argue for placing the marriage of Placidia the Younger to Olybrius at this point, considering it to be the third marriage between a member of the Theodosian dynasty and a member of the extended Anicii family within the same year.

He even led away as captives surviving senators, accompanied by their wives ; along with them he also carried off to Carthage in Africa the empress Eudoxia, who had summoned him ; her daughter Placidia, the wife of the patrician Olybrius, who then was staying at Constantinople ; and even the maiden Eudocia.

* July 11 – Ricimer proclaims Olybrius emperor and dies less than two months later at his palace in malignant fever, vomiting blood.

There is another possibility: Olybrius and Placidia were engaged in 455, and only after Gaiseric freed her from his possession in the early 460s were they at last married.

Before returning to Africa, the Vandals took Licinia Eudoxia and her two daughter as hostages: according to the 6th century historian John Malalas, at the time Olybrius was in Constantinople.

But Ricimer had placed a guard at Ostia who found the secret letter ; Ricimer showed the document to Olybrius, which convinced Olybrius to accept the purple.

Olybrius had a palace in Constantinople, in the Tenth region, at one end of the Mese, the main street, along the Constantinianae.

Olybrius, the praeses orientis ( Governor of the Roman Diocese of the East ), offered her marriage at the price of her renunciation of Christianity.

Olybrius was in Constantinople at the time of the siege of Rome as noted by John Malalas.

Priscus and John of Antioch report that Geiseric entertained the idea of placing Olybrius on the throne of the Western Roman Empire, at least as early as the death of Majorian in 461.

According to an hypothesis, which gathers the consensus of the historians, he was related to the Consul Anicius Hermogenianus Olybrius, whose wife and cousin, Anicia Juliana, had the same name Olybrius gave to his own daughter.

He had Olybrius followed by another envoy, bearing a letter for Anthemius which is said to have read ;

This version implies that Olybrius was secretly supported by the Emperor Leo, which explains why Leo sent him there, something three of our sources -- Theophanes, the Paschal Chronicle, and Paullus Diaconus — state.

He was born in Rome to an ancient and prominent family which included emperors Petronius Maximus and Olybrius and many consuls.

Regardless, the powerful Magister militum Aetius had forced Valentinian to betroth Placidia to his own son Gaudentius, so Olybrius could not have married her before Aetius ' death.

On the other hand, the chronicler Evagrius Scholasticus writes that Olybrius had fled Rome on the approach of Gaiseric's army.

With the Western throne vacant, Gaiseric supported Olybrius for the purple ; the reason for this decision was that Gaiseric's son Huneric and Olybrius had married the two daughters of Valentinian III ( Petronius ' son, Palladius, had been killed during the sack of Rome ), and therefore, with Olybrius on the throne, Gaiseric could exert great influence on the Western Empire.

Therefore Gaiseric freed Licinia Eudoxia ( thus fulfilling Daniel's prophesy ) and her daughter Placidia ( Olybrius ' wife ), but did not stop his raids on Italian's coasts, in order to press for the election of his candidate on the Western throne, but his project failed, because Ricimer, who had become the Magister militum of the West, chose Libius Severus as new Emperor ( 461 – 465 ).

In 472 Olybrius was sent to Italy by the Eastern Emperor, Leo I the Thracian, ostensibly to mediate between Ricimer and the Western Emperor, Anthemius, whom Ricimer had trapped in a siege of Rome.

Once he had accomplished this, Olybrius would then continue to Carthage and offer a peace treaty to Gaiseric.

Ricimer had Anthemius killed and Olybrius acclaimed Emperor ( July 11, 472 ).

But the general chosen by the army was the only viable candidate to the throne: the Eastern court was not displeased with the deposition of Avitus, an Emperor chosen by the Visigoths ; on the other side, the only other candidate, Olybrius, had a politically difficult relationship with the Vandal king Genseric, and no influence on the army.

Gaiseric had his own candidate, Olybrius, who was related to Gaiseric because both Olybrius and a son of Gaiseric's had married the two daughters of Emperor Valentinian III.

What other reason could there be, Bury asks, then answers his own rhetorical question, " the facts that Anthemius was Leo's chosen candidate, his filius, and that Olybrius was the friend of his foe Genseric, are a strong counter-argument.

* Olybrius is elected Roman consul by the Eastern court in Constantinople.

* 472, Execution of Western Emperor Anthemius, Death of puppet Western Emperor Olybrius, Revolt in Thrace by Ostrogoths led by chieftain Theodoric Strabo.

The most pointed example of this is the Suebian general Ricimer, who became a " Shadow Emperor " by deposing Avitus, installing and subsequently deposing ( and murdering ) Majorian, installing ( and possibly subsequently murdering ) Libius Severus, ruling the Empire himself during an eighteen-month interregnum, deposing and killing Anthemius, and installing Olybrius.

Avitus was in turn overthrown ( but not killed ) by his own master of the soldiers, Ricimer, who was responsible for both the installation and removal of Majorian and of Libius Severus, the removal of Anthemius ( installed as the Eastern Emperor's candidate ), and the installation of Olybrius – husband of Valentinian III's daughter ( and Petronius Maximus's stepdaughter ) Placidia, and loosely a member of the Theodosian dynasty.

Both Ricimer and Olybrius ( who was never acknowledged and was considered a usurper by the Eastern Emperor ) died in 472, and were replaced by the Burgundian prince Gundobad and his puppet Emperor Glycerius, a former court functionary.

# Sack of Rome by Genseric, King of the Vandals – His Naval Depredations – Succession of the Last Emperors of the West, Maximus, Avitus, Majorian, Severus, Anthemius, Olybrius, Glycerius, Nepos, Augustulus – Total Extinction of the Western Empire – Reign and Character of Odoacer, the first Barbarian King of Italy

On 11 July 472, Anthemius died and Olybrius became the sole Western Roman Emperor by default.

The story told in the opera is quite different from the real one, despite the fact that Zeno claimed to use several historical sources ( Evagrius Scholasticus l. 2. c. 7, Procopius of Caesarea, Historia Vandalorum, l. 1, Paul the Deacon, vi ): Ricimer captures Rome, frees his sister Teodolinda and enslaves Placidia, daughter of Valentinian III ; a little later, Olybrius frees Rome and Placidia, and marries her.

Olybrius married Placidia, younger daughter of Western Emperor Valentinian III and of his wife Licinia Eudoxia, thus creating a bond between a member of the senatorial aristocracy and the House of Theodosius.

From Ricimer's point of view, Olybrius was a good candidate, being a member of the Roman senatorial aristocracy and because of his marriage to Placidia ; his marriage to her makes him the last Emperor of the House of Theodosius.