impartiality: taking a dim view of the neoplatonist thaumaturge (magician) Libanius, who promised to repel a barbarian incursion using magic, without the aid of soldiers, but who was put to death by order of Placidia in 421. His journey to Athens in 416 is prefaced by a tale of three statues that had been interred near Thrace: "three statues of solid silver were found, lying in barbaric guise, with arms akimbo, clothed in part-coloured barbaric raiment, with long hair, turned towards the north, the country of the barbarians. When these statues were removed, the Goths a few days afterwards first overran and ravaged Thrace, and a little later Huns and Sarmatians made inroads into Illyricum and Thrace itself, for these consecrated districts lay between Thrace and Illyricum, and from the number of the statues consecrated, they appear to have been intended as a protection against these barbarous nations”. Treadgold is sceptical about these statues, finding the dates and personnel involved impossible to reconcile. Another fragment details a statue, endowed with a magic spell, which stood at Rhegium (Reggio Calabria), and which protected Sicily from the fires of Mount Etna (Aetna) and from barbarians attempting to cross the Strait of Messina. To this statue Olympiodorus credited the failure of Alaric to invade Sicily in 410. When the statue was pulled down on the orders of Placidia and Constantius III, Mt Etna erupted, and barbarians invaded Sicily (between 417 and 421). Notes References Further reading Baldini, Antonio, Ricerche di tarda storiografia (da Olimpiodoro di Tebe). Bologna: Pàtron, 2004. Blockley, R.C., The fragmentary classicising historians of the later Roman empire. Eunapius, Olympiodorus, Priscus and Malchus. Greek text with English translation. 2 vols. Liverpool: Francis Cairns, 1981. Gillett, Andrew, "The date and circumstances of Olympiodorus of Thebes," Traditio 48 (1993): 1–29. Paschoud, François, Eunape, Olympiodore, Zosime (collected articles). Bari: Edipuglia, 2006. Rohrbacher, David, The Historians of Late Antiquity. London: Routledge, 2002. 4th-century births 5th-century deaths 4th-century Greek writers 4th-century Romans 5th-century Byzantine historians 5th-century Egyptian people Greek-language historians from the Roman Empire Roman-era students in Athens Year of birth unknown Year of death unknown