Aigan or ''Aïgan'' (late 5th century or early 6th century – ) was a
Hun
The Huns were a nomadic people who lived in Central Asia, the Caucasus, and Eastern Europe between the 4th and 6th century AD. According to European tradition, they were first reported living east of the Volga River, in an area that was part ...
general serving as a cavalry commander for 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 ...
, active in the early 6th century.
Biography
Aigan commanded a body of Hun cavalry at the
Battle of Dara
The Battle of Dara was fought between the Eastern Roman Empire and the Sasanians in 530 AD. It was one of the battles of the Iberian War.
Procopius's account of this engagement is among the most detailed descriptions of a late Roman battle.
Bac ...
against the
Sasanians
The Sasanian () or Sassanid Empire, officially known as the Empire of Iranians (, ) and also referred to by historians as the Neo-Persian Empire, was the last Iranian empire before the early Muslim conquests of the 7th-8th centuries AD. Named ...
, terrifying the Persians.
He was fundamental in the Byzantine victory.
He then participated in the Byzantine
expedition against the
Vandalic Kingdom in 533, being one of the four cavalry commanders under
Belisarius
Belisarius (; el, Βελισάριος; The exact date of his birth is unknown. – 565) was a military commander of the Byzantine Empire under the emperor Justinian I. He was instrumental in the reconquest of much of the Mediterranean ter ...
.
He remained in Africa to serve under
Solomon after Belisarius returned to
Constantinople
la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه
, alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth ( Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya (Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis ( ...
in the summer of 534.
In 534 he and
Rufinus the Thracian fought against the Moors in
Byzacena
Byzacena (or Byzacium) ( grc, Βυζάκιον, ''Byzakion'') was a Late Roman province in the central part of Roman North Africa, which is now roughly Tunisia, split off from Africa Proconsularis.
History
At the end of the 3rd century AD, t ...
. They ambushed a Moorish raiding party, whom they killed, and released their prisoners. Thereafter they were in turn ambushed by a Moorish army overwhelmingly greater in number (they were possibly 500 against 50,000).
They put up a brave fight but were eventually defeated. His fellow cavalry commander Rufinus was beheaded, and his head was carried off by Moorish chieftain
Medisinissas.
References
{{Huns
Hun military leaders
Generals of Justinian I
Byzantine people of Hunnic descent
People of the Roman–Sasanian Wars