Clearchus; then Elebocius

This entry conflates two recipients of letters from the rhetorician Libanius of Antioch (c. 314-393 AD): "Clearchus" and then "Elebocius." The Clearchus addressed by Libanius is most plausibly the prominent pagan administrator of that name attested in the mid-to-late fourth century, who held senior posts in Asia Minor (vicarius Asiae and later proconsul) under the emperors Julian and Valens and belonged to the wide network of provincial officials and notables with whom Libanius corresponded from Antioch. "Elebocius" is otherwise little attested and is known essentially only as a name in this correspondence; given the merged record, the attribution of individual letters between the two should be treated as uncertain. Both belong to the world of fourth-century Greek-speaking civic and imperial elites in the eastern Roman provinces among whom Libanius's letters circulated. Caution: because the database record combines two distinct names, no specific dates, offices, or events should be assigned to a single individual here without consulting the underlying letters.