3. An historical writer, a native of Thebes in Egypt, who lived in the fifth century after Christ.
Olympiodorus seems to have had better qualifications as a statesman than as a writer; and in various missions and embassies amongst barbarian states he rendered important services to the empire, for which the highest honours were conferred upon him by the Roman senate (Photius, Phot. Bibl. 214. p. 171, ed. Bekker.) He was sent by Honorius on an embassy to the Huns, probably to Hungary. After the death of Honorius Olympiodorus removed to Byzantium, to the court of the emperor Theodosius. Hierocles dedicated to this Olympiodorus his work on providence and fate [HIEROCLES], the groundwork or idea of which he professes to have derived from him. Photius states that Olympiodorus was a ποιητής, that is, an alchymist. It has been supposed that this statement has arisen from a confusion between this and some other man of the same name. But Photius distinctly makes the statement on the authority of Olympiodorus himself (ὡς αὐτός φησι). It appears, from what Photius has preserved of his writings, that he was a heathen.