Anicia Demetrias

Demetrias (fl. 413–440) was a Roman noblewoman, member of the powerful family of the Anicii and acquaintance of several churchmen.

Biography

Anicia Demetrias, born around 398, was the daughter of Anicius Hermogenianus Olybrius, consul in 395, and of Anicia Iuliana, and thus member of the noble gentes Anicia and Amnia; her grandmother Proba is described as the noblest and richest person in the Roman world in the 410s. Jerome sent a long letter with several pieces of advice, while Pelagius, a theologian opposed by Augustine, addressed her a treatise in the form of a letter, the Epistola ad Demetriam.

Later in her life, Demetrias returned to her native city of Rome. During this time she received the Epistula ad Demetriadem de vera humilitate, written in 440 by Pope Leo I or, according to recent studies, in 435 by Prosper of Aquitaine, and attacking Pelagius' doctrine on the basis of Augustine.

Demetrias built a church devoted to Saint Stephen along the Via Latina , three miles from Rome, on one of her properties. She died during the pontificate of Pope Leo I.