Editing Anthemius (section)

==Rise to the throne==
The newly elected Eastern Roman emperor, [[Leo I (emperor)|Leo I the Thracian]], had a major foreign affairs problem: the [[Vandals]] of King [[Geiseric]] and their raids on the Italian coasts. After the death of [[Libius Severus]] in 465, the Western Empire had no Emperor. 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]].

With Olybrius on the throne, Gaiseric would become the real power behind the throne of the Western Empire. Leo, on the other hand, wanted to keep Gaiseric as far as possible from the imperial court at Ravenna, and took time to choose a successor to Severus. To put Leo under pressure, Gaiseric extended his attacks on Sicily and Italy to the territories of the Eastern Empire, sacking and enslaving people living in [[Illyricum (Roman province)|Illyricum]], the [[Peloponnese]] and other parts of [[Greece]], so Leo was obliged to take action.

In 467, Leo I designated Anthemius as Western emperor and sent him to Italy with an army led by the ''Magister militum per Illyricum'' [[Marcellinus (magister militum)|Marcellinus]]. On 12 April, Anthemius was proclaimed Emperor (''[[Augustus (title)|augustus]]'') at the third or twelfth mile from [[Rome]].<ref>''[[Fasti vindobonenses priores]]'', no. 597, s.a. 467: "his cons. levatus est imp. do.n. Anthemius Romae prid. idus Aprilis.", cited in Mathisen.</ref> Anthemius' election was celebrated in [[Constantinople]] with a panegyric by Dioscorus.<ref>Dioscorus was the teacher of Leo's daughters, [[Ariadne (empress)|Ariadne]] and [[Leontia (daughter of Leo I)|Leontia]], and later became [[Praetorian prefect of the East]].</ref>

By choosing Anthemius, Leo obtained three results: he sent a possible candidate to the Eastern throne far away; he repulsed Gaiseric's attempt to put a puppet of his own on the Western throne; and he put a capable and proven general with a trained army in Italy, ready to fight the Vandals.