Talk:Ricimer

Birth Date

Ricimer's mother (Wallia's daughter) would have been unlikely to marry a Suevic prince before Wallia himself became king in 415, and most likely not till the end of the war between the Suevi and the Visigoths in 418. A date of birth of 410 for Ricimer is therefore about 10-15 years too early.

Abou

I have not seen it stated explicitly but it would seem that Ricimer was the full brother of Rechiar, since they both were sons of Rechila and the Wallia's daughter. If that is so and if Ricimer was born in 405 then that would make him at least ten years older than Rechiar (who apparently was born after 415). Which would raise the question why Rechiar, the younger brother, succeeded Rechila and Ricimer, the older brother, was sent off to Rome to be a soldier, a career usually taken by younger brothers. These questions go away if Ricimer was actually the younger brother, born ~420. RMcPhillip (talk) 01:58, 1 February 2017 (UTC)

Use of 'Barbarian'

Describing Ricimer as a "barbarian" is inappropriate in an encyclopedia such as this. The word is culturally loaded (then and now). I suggest some other, neutral word be substituted. Salim555 03:34, 16 October 2006 (UTC)

No. The word does have cultural loadings in certain contexts, but now as then it is also used in historiography to describe anyone not Greek or Roman. Every culture has such a word, the modern English equivalent is 'alien'. --Jmullaly (talk) 01:14, 24 December 2010 (UTC)

Pronunciation

isn't it Pronounced RI KI MER? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Arthurian Legend (talk • contribs) 04:43, 16 October 2007 (UTC)

Yes, very amusingly: there was a program about him (on the History Channel, or something "serious") and half of the good doctors said his name with a "k", and the others with an "s". So, it would be nice to have an expert on the subject close this debate. Greswik (talk) 22:03, 19 October 2010 (UTC)

At the time of Ricimer, it would not have been pronounced RI KI MER, but RI TSI MER. --Joachim Pense (talk) 20:05, 27 August 2013 (UTC)

The bronze coin

This used to have the caption "Ricimer's monogram is struck on the reverse of this coin by Libius Severus." It disappeared here:

If there is nothing more to this coin, than the fact it has one of Ricimers puppets on it, I don't see any value of having it in the article?

Or is it his monogram or something? Greswik (talk) 23:22, 6 October 2010 (UTC)

He had a son?!

Where is from this statement: Ricimer was married to Alypia, born c. 455, a daughter of Anthemius and Marcia Euphemia. They had a son, Comes Aunemundus, born c. 470? What source give the information? --Kvestor (talk) 18:11, 20 November 2010 (UTC)

Any such statement seems to have been removed. The wikipedia article on Alypia states that they had no children.RMcPhillip (talk) 01:33, 19 February 2017 (UTC)

Birth

If his mother was the daughter of Wallia, king of the Wisigoths from 415/16 until 418/19, Ricimer was not born ca 405 but later, after 415.92.90.19.34 (talk) 12:32, 11 August 2012 (UTC)

That is, assuming that Sidonius was being totally specific and meant that Wallia was king at the time of Ricimer's birth. PLRE doesn't give a date for Ricimer's birth. He was a comes by 456 and a birth date after 415 doesn't seem unreasonable. I don't have Sidonius's text conveniently to hand, but I'd require a little persuasion to suppose that anything so exact was intended. Richard Keatinge (talk) 14:21, 11 August 2012 (UTC)

worst villain in Roman History?

Wasn't He since He killed all the leaders and not of his where ever accepted as true leaders. He basically was the biggest cause of the Political Fall of the Roman Empire. Obviously there where many other reasons — Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.63.91.76 (talk) 07:54, 31 July 2014 (UTC)

Rikimer's wife? Gundioc?

In the Rikimer article, it states that he marries the sister of Burgundian King Gundioc, who succeeded Gunther after the destructions of Worms.

In the Gundioc article, it says Gundioc marries the sister of Rikimer. Can anyone clarify or source as to who married whom? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 208.102.126.236 (talk) 01:37, 22 February 2015 (UTC)

If the Ricimer article was unclear before, it appears to have been fixed. It was Ricimer's sister who married Gundioc.RMcPhillip (talk) 01:22, 19 February 2017 (UTC)

Family of Ricimer
Wallia Mother Rechila Rechiar Recimer sister Gundioc Gundobad

A Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion

The following Wikimedia Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion:

• Seal of Flavius Ricimer, c. 459 AD.jpg

Participate in the deletion discussion at the nomination page. —Community Tech bot (talk) 03:53, 16 April 2021 (UTC)

Seal of Ricimer

The article says that the seal is "lost", but I find that dubious. The object was last kept at the BnF Museum in Paris, to whom it was donated in 1976. For recent (2007) high-resolution photographs of the seal, see here. Why the 2008 book by Kornbluth would say that it is lost (as claimed in this thread on Reddit, which appears to be the source) is beyond me. Renerpho (talk) 21:38, 18 December 2022 (UTC)

Verification check please

We have this text being cited to MacGeorge: Sometime in 463, Ricimer defeated a contingent of Visigoths at Orleans, formerly an Alan stronghold. I can not see the page on Google books, but everything else I am reading in that book or others seems to indicate that Ricimer was not present at Orleans, and was in fact allied with the Visigoths at that time, having given them Narbonne and encouraged them to attack northwards where Aegidius was effectively a rebel against Ricimer. Andrew Lancaster (talk) 08:01, 15 June 2026 (UTC)

Hi @Andrew Lancaster:. Here is the exact wording from which that was drawn from what I can see: Ricimer apparently met the Alan threat promptly;973 perhaps he was already in northern Italy. It has been proposed that these Alans were a disbanded unit of Majorian's army;974 such groups could have been a nuisance since AD 457, but this seems a remote possibility.975 Another possibility is that they were Alans from outside the empire, released by the recent breakup of the Hun empire. The location of the battle at Bergamo suggests that these Alans may have come over either the Brenner or the Septimier Pass from the north, through Raetia or Noricum, which supports the latter origin. The attack could also have been made from the Alan settlements in Gaul (although there is nothing in the Gallic sources). Alan kings are known in Gaul, such as Goar, Sambida, and Sangiban; Beorgor could have been another. As to the reason why Alans settled in Gaul would attack Italy—Aegidius is a possible instigator. He made contact with the Vandals, presumably to organize an alliance against Ricimer, so may have done the same with the Alans in Gaul. Around AD 463 he had defeated Visigoths at Orleans, which in the 450s had been an Alan stronghold (see Pt. II, p. 73) and probably still was; and Aegidius may have had an alliance with them. To that end, (p. 230) appears to be accurate in my version. However, it is not clear who the subject was exactly, so you look to be correct. If Aegidius is who the final sentence is referencing, that is. Still, it looks like the reference was to Ricimer, since the author mentions Aegidius being allied to them. Could just be a poorly worded sentence here creating confusion. With that in mind, Andrew, I have deleted the statement accordingly.--Obenritter (talk) 20:10, 15 June 2026 (UTC)

Looking at this more, here is where it appears to have went awry structurally from the original prose, "…to organize an alliance against Ricimer…" The moment Ricimer’s name appears, the reader’s attention snaps to him. Then the next sentence begins with "he," and the reader’s mind naturally tries to attach the pronoun to the most salient figure—Ricimer—even though after a careful reread, the grammar doesn’t support it. Good catch, Andrew.--Obenritter (talk) 22:51, 15 June 2026 (UTC)