Gennadius Avienus

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Gennadius Avienus was an important Western Roman official in the 450s. He served as consul in 450 with Emperor Valentinian III. In 452 he was sent as a diplomat to Attila the Hun, together with Trigetius and Pope Leo I, and they managed to reach a truce.

He came from an old and noble Roman family that traced its origins to Marcus Valerius Messalla Corvinus, who was consul in 59 BCE. Avienus had a son, Anicius Probus Faustus, who would become consul in 490, and a daughter, Stephania, whose son Rufius Magnus Faustus Avienus became consul in 502.

Avienus held several offices, at least one of them civilian, though the records do not say exactly what they were. In 467, the poet Sidonius Apollinaris called Avienus one of the two most influential civil officers in Rome in the 460s, along with Caecina Decius Basilius. However, Avienus tended to promote his own allies and was seen as less trustworthy than Basilius, even if he was more welcoming to newcomers.