The Paschal Chronicle records in its entry for 464 that a church dedicated to *Euphemia (martyr of Chalcedon, S00017) was established at Constantinople by the future western emperor Olybrius and his wife Placidia. Written in Greek at Constantinople, c. 630.
Evidence ID
E07983
Type of Evidence
Literary - Other narrative texts (including Histories)
Paschal Chronicle, s.a. 464
Ὀλύβριος πεμφθεὶς ἐv Ῥώμῃ ὑπὸ Λέοντος βασιλέως, καὶ βιασθεὶς ὑπὸ τῶv ἐκεῖσε Ῥωμαίων, ἐκεῖσε χειροτονεῖται βασιλεύς, καὶ ἔσχεν γυναῖκα Πλακιδίαv τῆv καὶ ἀγορασθεῖσαν, ἤγουν ἀναῤῥυσθεῖσαν, ἐκ τῆς αἰχμαλωσίας. οὗτοι κτίζουσι τὴν ἁγίαv Εὐφημίαν τὰ Ὀλυβρίου.
'Olybrius was sent to Rome by the emperor Leo and, under compulsion from the Romans there, he was there elected emperor and had as his wife Placidia, the one who had been ransomed, that is to say rescued, from captivity. They founded St. Euphemia’s, in the quarter of Olybrius.'
Text: Dindorf 1832, 594.
Translation: Whitby and Whitby 1989, 86.
Cult Places
Cult building - independent (church)
Non Liturgical ActivityConstruction of cult buildings
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesAristocrats
Source
The Chronicon Paschale (paschal or Easter chronicle) is a chronicle compiled at Constantinople in the first half of the 7th century. It covers events from the creation of the world up to the anonymous author's own time. The Chronicle probably concluded with the year 630 (see Whitby and Whitby 1989, xi), though the surviving text breaks off slightly earlier, in the entry for 628. The traditional name for the Chronicle originates from its introductory section, which discusses methods for calculating the date of Easter. The Chronicle survives thanks to a single manuscript, Vatican, Gr. 1941 (10th c.), on which all other surviving manuscripts depend. The only critical edition remains that of Ludwig Dindorf (1832).The chronicler uses multiple chronological systems to date events: Olympiads, consular years, indictions, and years from the Ascension, as well as using Roman, Greek, and sometimes Egyptian dates (see Whitby and Whitby 1989, x). Numerous literary sources are utilised for the period before the author's own time, including well-known historical sources such as Eusebius and John Malalas. We have not included entries for material in the Paschal Chronicle which simply reproduces material in earlier sources already entered in our database.
Discussion
Olybrius (PLRE II, 'Olybrius 6') was a leading member of the senatorial aristocracy at Rome, who moved to Constantinople when Rome was sacked by the Vandals in 455 and lived there until 472. In that year he returned to Italy and briefly became western emperor but died within a few months. Before the sack of Rome he had been betrothed to Placidia, the younger daughter of the western emperor Valentinian III. When the sack took place, however, Valentinian's widow Eudoxia and both her daughters, Placidia and Eudocia, were captured by the Vandals and taken to Carthage. There Eudocia was obliged to marry Huneric, the son of the Vandal king, Geiseric, but at an uncertain date, at the latest by the early 460s, Eudoxia and Placidia were released and took up residence in Constantinople. (Apart from being married to Valentinian III, Eudoxia was the daughter of the eastern emperor Theodosius II, so she was born in Constantinople and had lived there until her marriage.)These family details are significant because another source shows that the Chronicle is mistaken in saying that Olybrius founded the church of Euphemia: the actual founder was his mother-in-law, Eudoxia. This is recorded in a set of epigrams (E00555) celebrating the renovation of the church in the early 6th century by Anicia Juliana, the daughter of Olybrius and Placidia. According to these, the church was founded by Eudoxia in gratitude for her release from captivity, and was then 'adorned' by Placidia and her husband Olybrius. Some decades later it was refurbished by Anicia Juliana. The foundation and subsequent adornment must have taken place between Eudoxia's arrival in Constantinople and Olybrius' departure for Italy in 472.
The Chronicle lists Olybrius' activities under the year 464, several years before he went to Rome, probably because he was consul that year (Whitby and Whitby 1989, 86, n. 283). For further discussion of the church of Euphemia, see Janin 1969, 124-6.
Bibliography
Edition:Dindorf, L., Chronicon Paschale (Bonn, 1832).
Translation:
Whitby, M., and Whitby, M., Chronicon Paschale 284-628 AD (Translated Texts for Historians 7; Liverpool, 1989).
Further reading:
Janin, R., La géographie ecclésiastique de l'empire byzantin. I: Les églises et les monastères de la ville de Constantinople. (2nd ed.; Paris, 1969).
Record Created By
David Lambert
Date of Entry
04/09/2020
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00017 | Euphemia, martyr of Chalcedon | Εὐφημία | Certain |
|---|
Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL:
David Lambert, Cult of Saints, E07983 - http://csla.history.ox.ac.uk/record.php?recid=E07983