Anatolius (

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

: Ανατόλιος, ''fl''. 421 – 451) was a diplomat and general of the

Eastern Roman Empire The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...

and

Consul Consul (abbrev. ''cos.''; Latin plural ''consules'') was the title of one of the two chief magistrates of the Roman Republic, and subsequently also an important title under the Roman Empire. The title was used in other European city-states thro ...

in 440. He was very influential during the reign of

Theodosius II Theodosius II ( ; 10 April 401 – 28 July 450), called "the Calligraphy, Calligrapher", was Roman emperor from 402 to 450. He was proclaimed ''Augustus (title), Augustus'' as an infant and ruled as the Eastern Empire's sole emperor after the ...

, and held command of the Empire's eastern armies for 13 years. He led negotiations with

Attila the Hun Attila ( or ; ), frequently called Attila the Hun, was the ruler of the Huns from 434 until his death in early 453. He was also the leader of an empire consisting of Huns, Ostrogoths, Alans, and Gepids, among others, in Central and East ...

on several occasions.

Biography

In 421, Anatolius led one Roman army in

Persian Armenia Sasanian Armenia, also known as Persian Armenia and Persarmenia ( – ''Parskahayastan''), may either refer to the periods in which Armenia ( – ''Armin'') was under the suzerainty of the Sasanian Empire or specifically to the parts of Armeni ...

during the war against the Sassanids. Anatolius was ''

magister militum per Orientem Magister is Latin for "master" or "teacher". It may refer to: Positions and titles * Magister degree, an academic degree * Magister novitium, Roman Catholic novice teacher * Magister equitum, or Master of the Horse * Magister militum, a master o ...

'' from 433 to 446, reaching the consulate in 440, which he held with the Western Emperor

Valentinian III Valentinian III (; 2 July 41916 March 455) was Roman emperor in the Western Roman Empire, West from 425 to 455. Starting in childhood, his reign over the Roman Empire was one of the longest, but was dominated by civil wars among powerful general ...

as a colleague.

Accomplishments

In his capacity as ''magister militum'', he built the fortress of Theodosiopolis along the border with

Persarmenia Sasanian Armenia, also known as Persian Armenia and Persarmenia ( – ''Parskahayastan''), may either refer to the periods in which Armenia ( – ''Armin'') was under the suzerainty of the Sasanian Empire or specifically to the parts of Armeni ...

in the mid-430s. In 440, he directed some works at Heliopolis of Phoenicia and rebuilt the walls of

Gerasa Jerash (; , , ) is a city in northern Jordan. The city is the administrative center of the Jerash Governorate, and has a population of 50,745 as of 2015. It is located 30.0 miles north of the capital city Amman. The earliest evidence of settl ...

in Arabia. In 440,This episode, told by

Procopius Procopius of Caesarea (; ''Prokópios ho Kaisareús''; ; – 565) was a prominent Late antiquity, late antique Byzantine Greeks, Greek scholar and historian from Caesarea Maritima. Accompanying the Roman general Belisarius in Justinian I, Empe ...

in the ''Persian Wars'', I.2.11-15, could be placed in 421, during the previous war against the Sassanids (Michael H. Dodgeon, Samuel N. C. Lieu, Geoffrey Greatrex, ''The Roman Eastern Frontier and the Persian Wars, Part 2'', CRC Press, 2002, , p. 259). the

Sassanid The Sasanian Empire (), officially Eranshahr ( , "Empire of the Iranian peoples, Iranians"), was an List of monarchs of Iran, Iranian empire that was founded and ruled by the House of Sasan from 224 to 651. Enduring for over four centuries, th ...

king

Yazdegerd II Yazdegerd II (also spelled Yazdgerd and Yazdgird; ), was the Sasanian King of Kings () of Iran from 438 to 457. He was the successor and son of Bahram V (). His reign was marked by wars against the Eastern Roman Empire in the west and the Kidari ...

attacked the Romans.

sent Anatolius to parley with the Great King. Anatolius reached the

Sassanid army The Sasanian army was the primary military body of the Sasanian armed forces, serving alongside the Sasanian navy. The birth of the army dates back to the rise of Ardashir I (r. 224–241), the founder of the Sasanian Empire, to the throne. Ard ...

, dismounted and advanced on foot. Yazdegerd, informed that he was the Roman general, was baffled by such a demonstration of respect and retired to his camp with the whole army. He received the envoy of Theodosius, treating him with honor and accepted peace. In 442 Anatolius had donated a silver reliquary for the bones of

Thomas the Apostle Thomas the Apostle (; , meaning 'the Twin'), also known as Didymus ( 'twin'), was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus according to the New Testament. Thomas is commonly known as "doubting Thomas" because he initially doubted the resurrection of ...

to the church of

Edessa Edessa (; ) was an ancient city (''polis'') in Upper Mesopotamia, in what is now Urfa or Şanlıurfa, Turkey. It was founded during the Hellenistic period by Macedonian general and self proclaimed king Seleucus I Nicator (), founder of the Sel ...

. He built a church at Antioch which took the name of the "Basilica of Anatolius". He received several letters from

Theodoret Theodoret of Cyrus or Cyrrhus (; AD 393 – 458/466) was an influential theologian of the School of Antioch, biblical commentator, and Christian bishop of Cyrrhus (423–457). He played a pivotal role in several 5th-century Byzantine ...

, with requests for help. In 443, Anatolius managed to conclude a truce for one year with

. In 446, he ended his service as ''magister militum per Orientem''; the following year, he is already attested as '' patricius''. In 448 Anatolius concluded a peace agreement with Attila, agreeing to pay an annual tribute of 2,100 pounds of gold. In 450, however, Attila was again at war against the Roman Empire, on the pretext that the Emperor was harbouring fugitives from the Hunnic realm. To an offer of parley, Attila replied that he would deal only with ambassadors of consular rank, and mentioned the names of

Nomus NomusJones. (''fl''. 443–450 AD) was a politician and an ambassador of the Eastern Roman Empire. Biography Nomus was ''magister officiorum'' from 443 to 446, and served as consul in 445, with Western Emperor Valentinian III as colleague. On ...

Senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or Legislative chamber, chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the Ancient Rome, ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior ...

and Anatolius. Anatolius, who by then had become ''

magister militum praesentalis (Latin for "master of soldiers"; : ) was a top-level military command used in the late Roman Empire, dating from the reign of Constantine the Great. The term referred to the senior military officer (equivalent to a war theatre commander, the e ...

'' (a position he held until at least the next year), and his friend went to meet Attila, who treated them badly at the beginning, but later succumbed to their oratorical arts and the gifts they had brought: Attila would accept the terms of the peace of 448, he would stop attacking the Emperor Theodosius II and give up the strip of land south of the Danube obtained with the peace of 448; it seems that the granting of the release of many prisoners to the Romans was a concession made personally to the two prestigious guests. In 451 Anatolius participated in various sessions of the

Council of Chalcedon The Council of Chalcedon (; ) was the fourth ecumenical council of the Christian Church. It was convoked by the Roman emperor Marcian. The council convened in the city of Chalcedon, Bithynia (modern-day Kadıköy, Istanbul, Turkey) from 8 Oct ...

as dean of the imperial representatives. At the beginning of the reign of

Marcian Marcian (; ; ; 392 – 27 January 457) was Roman emperor of the Byzantine Empire, East from 450 to 457. Very little is known of his life before becoming emperor, other than that he was a (personal assistant) who served under the commanders ...

, Florentius and Anatolius dissuaded the Emperor from supporting the uprising of the Armenians against the Sassanid Empire.

References

Bibliography

* Croke, Brian, ''Count Marcellinus and His Chronicle'', Oxford University Press, 2001, , p. 58. * Jones, Arnold Hugh Martin, John Robert Martindale, John Morris, ''

The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire ''Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire'' (abbreviated as ''PLRE'') is a work of Roman prosopography published in a set of three volumes collectively describing many of the people attested to have lived in the Roman Empire from AD 260, the date ...

'', "Anatolius 10", volume 2, Cambridge University Press, 1992, , pp. 84–86. * Thompson, Edward Arthur, ''The Huns'', Blackwell Publishing, 1996, , pp. 96–99, 134–135. * Whitby, Michael, ''The Ecclesiastical History of Evagrius Scholasticus'', Liverpool University Press, 2001, , pp. 45–66. {{DEFAULTSORT:Anatolius 5th-century Byzantine people 5th-century eastern Roman consuls Byzantine diplomats Correspondents of Theodoret Magistri militum Patricii People of the Roman–Sasanian Wars Byzantine generals Year of birth uncertain 451 deaths 5th-century diplomats