Olympiodorus of Thebes

was an Egyptian historian, poet, philosopher and diplomat of the early fifth century. He produced a History in twenty-two volumes, written in Greek, dedicated to the Emperor Theodosius II, detailing events in the Western Roman Empire between 407 and 425. The history is lost, but much of it is known from its use by other writers.
His friends included philosophers, provincial governors and rhetoricians. He made several journeys in an official capacity, accompanied for twenty years by a parrot. He was a "convinced but discreet" pagan,
who flourished in a Christian court, and whose work influenced several subsequent historians, including writers of ecclesiastical history.

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