Anthimus or Anthemus was the Duke of Naples for from 801

801

Year 801 was a common year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar.- Births :* September 8 or September 9 – Ansgar, German monk and archbishop, known as The Apostle of the North Year 801 (DCCCI) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian...

 until around 818

818

Year 818 was a common year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar.-Europe:* Al-Andalus: Grave rebellion in the suburbs of Cordoba against the Umayyads.- Religion :...

, when the patrician of Sicily

Sicily

Sicily is a region of Italy, and is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Along with the surrounding minor islands, it constitutes an autonomous region of Italy, the Regione Autonoma Siciliana Sicily has a rich and unique culture, especially with regard to the arts, music, literature,...

 reestablished Byzantine

Byzantine Empire

The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...

 control over the ducatus

Duchy of Naples

The Duchy of Naples began as a Byzantine province that was constituted in the seventh century, in the reduced coastal lands that the Lombards had not conquered during their invasion of Italy in the sixth century...

. Anthimus was, for most of his reign, independent of any higher authority, but he was losing control over his own subject cities, Gaeta

Duchy of Gaeta

The Duchy of Gaeta was an early medieval state centred on the coastal South Italian city of Gaeta. It began in the early ninth century as the local community began to grow autonomous as Byzantine power lagged in the Mediterranean and the peninsula thanks to Lombard and Saracen incursions.Our...

 and Amalfi.

Early in his reign, the patrician of Sicily requested his aid in fending off the Saracen

Saracen

Saracen was a term used by the ancient Romans to refer to a people who lived in desert areas in and around the Roman province of Arabia, and who were distinguished from Arabs. In Europe during the Middle Ages the term was expanded to include Arabs, and then all who professed the religion of Islam...

 pirates then ravaging the Sicilian coasts. Anthimus maintained his neutrality and refused. In 812

812

Year 812 was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar.- Europe :* The second Battle of Roncevaux Pass is fought between the Basques and the Franks....

, the Greek admiral sent to combat these corsairs requested aid from all the inhabitants of the Tyrrhenian coast, including those of Gaeta and Amalfi, who accepted, while Naples refused still. Thus, Naples subjects had declared their independence from her even as Naples was extracting itself from Byzantine suzerainty.

Sources

• Gay, Jules. L'Italie méridionale et l'empire Byzantin: Livre I. Burt Franklin: New York, 1904.