OLYBRIUS  ,

Roman emperor of the West from the 11th of July to the 23rd of October 472, was a member of a noble family and a native of Rome . After the sack of the city by Genseric (Geiseric) in 455, he fled to Constantinople, where in 464 he was made consul, and about the same time married Placidia, daughter of Valentinian III. and Eudoxia . This afforded Genseric, whose son Hunneric had married Eudocia, the elder sister of Placidia, the opportunity of claiming the empire of the West for Olybrius, In 472 Olybrius was sent to Italy by the emperor Leo to assist the emperor Anthemius against his son-in-law Ricimer, but, having entered into negotiations with the latter, was himself proclaimed emperor against his will, and on the murder of his rival ascended the throne unopposed . His reign was as uneventful as it was brief . See Gibbon, Decline and Fall, ch. xxxvi.; J . B . Bury, Later Roman Empire .