Marcia Euphemia

Marcia Euphemia (also known as Aelia Marcia Euphemia) was the wife of Anthemius, Western Roman Emperor. Family Marcia Euphemia was the only known daughter of Marcian, Eastern Roman emperor, with an unknown woman. Her stepmother was Pulcheria, second wife of her father, a relationship that was a mere political alliance to establish Marcian as a member of the Theodosian dynasty by marriage. As Pulcheria had taken a religious vow of chastity, the marriage was never consummated and Euphemia never had younger half-siblings. Evagrius Scholasticus quotes Priscus, stating that Marcian was "by birth a Thracian". Theodorus Lector, however, reports Marcian to be an Illyrian. Marriage In or around the year 453, Euphemia married Anthemius, the son of Procopius, magister utriusque militiae ("Master of Soldiers of both armies", commander of both cavalry and infantry) of the Eastern Roman Empire from 422 to 424. The marriage had political implications; as the daughter of Marcian, Euphemia "added imperial grandeur to the illustrious lineage of Anthemius himself". Marcian granted his new son-in-law a series of honors and responsibilities, seemingly intended to prepare Anthemius for eventual elevation to the imperial office. Following the marriage Anthemius was appointed a Comes rei militaris and sent to fortify the Danube frontier, still in disarray following the death of Attila the Hun. He returned to Constantinople in 454 and was rewarded by Marcian with the offices of magister militum and Patrician. In 455 he served as co-consul with Valentinian III. John Malalas states that Marcian took the final step and named Anthemius emperor of the Western Roman Empire, but this is considered an anachronism of the chronicler.