Bonus ( el, ), also Bonos or Bonosus, was a Byzantine general, active in the reign of
Justin II
Justin II ( la, Iustinus; grc-gre, Ἰουστῖνος, Ioustînos; died 5 October 578) or Justin the Younger ( la, Iustinus minor) was Eastern Roman Emperor from 565 until 578. He was the nephew of Justinian I and the husband of Sophia, the ...
(r. 565–578). He is known to have been situated at
Sirmium
Sirmium was a city in the Roman province of Pannonia, located on the Sava river, on the site of modern Sremska Mitrovica in the Vojvodina autonomous provice of Serbia. First mentioned in the 4th century BC and originally inhabited by Illyrians an ...
, spending his career defending the
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantin ...
against the
Avars. He might have been a ''
magister militum
(Latin for "master of soldiers", plural ) was a top-level military command used in the later Roman Empire, dating from the reign of Constantine the Great. The term referred to the senior military officer (equivalent to a war theatre commander, ...
per
Illyricum''. The main source about him is
Menander Protector.
[Martindale, Jones & Morris (1992), pp. 241-242]
Biography
Bonus is first mentioned c. 561, while in the service of
Justin, son of
Germanus
Germanus or Germanos ( Greek) may refer to:
People
*Lucius Trebius Germanus, governor of Roman Britain around 126
*Germanus (died c. 290), possibly apocryphal martyr-saint tortured at the Pula Arena
*Germanus (4th century), Spanish martyr-saint ...
. Bonus was tasked with defending the
Danube
The Danube ( ; ) is a river that was once a long-standing frontier of the Roman Empire and today connects 10 European countries, running through their territories or being a border. Originating in Germany, the Danube flows southeast for , ...
''
limes
Limes may refer to:
* the plural form of lime (disambiguation)
* the Latin word for ''limit'' which refers to:
** Limes (Roman Empire)
(Latin, singular; plural: ) is a modern term used primarily for