Mundus or Mundo (, ; died 536) was a Barbarian commander of Gepid, Hun, and/or Gothic origins. He appears to have been the son of the Gepid king Giesmus. In the early 500s he commanded a group of bandits in Pannonia, eventually allying himself to the Ostrogothic king

Theodoric the Great Theodoric (or Theoderic) the Great (454 – 30 August 526), also called Theodoric the Amal, was king of the Ostrogoths (475–526), and ruler of the independent Ostrogothic Kingdom of Italy between 493 and 526, regent of the Visigoths (511–526 ...

. After Theodoric's death in 526, Mundus entered Byzantine service under emperor

Justinian I Justinian I (, ; 48214 November 565), also known as Justinian the Great, was Roman emperor from 527 to 565. His reign was marked by the ambitious but only partly realized ''renovatio imperii'', or "restoration of the Empire". This ambition was ...

, fighting in the Balkans, defending Justinian during the

Nika riots The Nika riots (), Nika revolt or Nika sedition took place against Byzantine emperor Justinian I in Constantinople over the course of a week in 532 AD. They are often regarded as the most violent riots in the city's history, with nearly half of ...

, and fighting in the first stage of the Gothic War, during which he died in 536.

Etymology

Mundus's name is attested as in

Jordanes Jordanes (; Greek language, Greek: Ιορδάνης), also written as Jordanis or Jornandes, was a 6th-century Eastern Roman bureaucrat, claimed to be of Goths, Gothic descent, who became a historian later in life. He wrote two works, one on R ...

and Marcellinus Comes and as (Mundus) in Greek sources. The differences between the Greek and Latin names are unusual and Gerhard Doerfer suspects that the Greek name has been partially Hellenized. Omeljan Pritsak argues that Mundus's name had the same Turkic etymology as proposed by Gyula Németh and László Rásonyi for

Attila 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 Europe, C ...

's father Mundzuk, from Turkic ''*munʒu'' (jewel, pearl; flag). Pritsak also argues that Mundus's father, Giesmus, had a name derived ultimately from the Turkic– Mongolian root ''kes/käs'' (protector, bestower of favor, blessing, good-fortune). Otto Maenchen-Helfen, however, takes ''Giesmus'' for a Germanic name and in this connection notes Moritz Schönfeld's Germanic etymology of ''Mundus'', comparing it to the Germanic names ''Mundila'' and '' Munderic'', both derived from PGmc *''munda'' ("protection). Stefan Krautschik likewise argues that the Germanic name of Mundus's grandson Theudimund speaks for a Germanic etymology. Gottfried Schramm rejects a Germanic origin, arguing that an original East Germanic name would have appeared as ''*Munda'' in Jordanes. However, Gudmund Schütte notes other East Germanic names recorded as ending in -o rather than -a, such as ''Veduco'' and ''Tremo'', and proposed interference in the Latin transcription from another Germanic dialect.

Ethnic identity

Different ancient authors give different indications of Mundus's ethnic identity. Jordanes identifies Mundus as "formerly of the Attilani," that is, the Huns (Jord. Get. 301), whereas John Malalas (chap. 450) and Theophanes the Confessor (A.M. 6032) identify Mundus as the son of a king of the Gepids. Marcellinus Comes refers to Mundus as a , which he also uses to mean

Ostrogoth The Ostrogoths () were a Roman-era Germanic peoples, Germanic people. In the 5th century, they followed the Visigoths in creating one of the two great Goths, Gothic kingdoms within the Western Roman Empire, drawing upon the large Gothic populatio ...

, while

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 ...

merely says he was a barbarian. 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 ...

has argued that because Mundo (Jordanes) has Hunnic origins and Mundus has Gepid origins, they cannot be the same person, an argument rejected by

Patrick Amory Patrick Amory (born 1965) is a historian and an executive in the recorded music industry. Early life Patrick Amory was born in New York City on July 10, 1965, to literary parents. His father, the late Hugh Amory, was noted as the most "rigorous ...

and Stefan Krautschik. Brian Croke argued that Jordanes's statement could also mean that Mundus originated in the confederacy of the Huns rather than that he was a Hun himself. Stefan Krautschik instead argues that the Gepid royal family and the Attilid dynasty were likely connected by marriage. According to Amory, Mundus could have had ancestors who thought of themselves as Goths, Gepids, or Huns, from among which he and others could have chosen as needed.

Biography

According to Theophanes, Mundus was the son of Giesmus, a ruler of the East Germanic tribe

Gepids The Gepids (; ) were an East Germanic tribes, East Germanic tribe who lived in the area of modern Romania, Hungary, and Serbia, roughly between the Tisza, Sava, and Carpathian Mountains. They were said to share the religion and language of the G ...

with his capital in

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 province of Serbia. First mentioned in the 4th century BC and originally inhabited by Illyrians ...

, and nephew to another Gepid ruler, Thraustila.Theophanes, 6032 After his father's death, Mundus was raised by his maternal uncle Thraustila, who likely succeeded Giesmus. Thraustila was killed in battle in 488, failing to resist the Ostrogoths and their king,

. Sirmium was taken by the Ostrogoths. after Thraustila was succeeded by his son Traseric, Mundus came to lead a group of bandits in

Pannonia Pannonia (, ) was a Roman province, province of the Roman Empire bounded on the north and east by the Danube, on the west by Noricum and upper Roman Italy, Italy, and on the southward by Dalmatia (Roman province), Dalmatia and upper Moesia. It ...

. He declared himself a king and established himself in a tower called Herta. When the Byzantines sent an army to fight him under the general Sabinianus in 505, Theodoric sent his general Pitzias and he and Mundus joined forces and defeated Sabinianus. Although he disappears from the sources, Mundus appears to have remained Theodoric's ally until the latter's death in 526. Mundus is next mentioned as a commander of the Gepids and

Heruli The Heruli (also Eluri, Eruli, Herules, Herulians) were one of the smaller Germanic peoples of Late Antiquity, known from records in the third to sixth centuries AD. The best recorded group of Heruli established a kingdom north of the Middle Danu ...

in Pannonia in the 520s. In 529, in the context of new battles between the Gepids and Byzantines, Mundus and his son Mauricius entered Byzantine service and was made

magister militum (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 ...

in Illyricum by the Byzantine emperor

, where he fought against the Slavs and Bulgars. In 531, he replaced

Belisarius BelisariusSometimes called Flavia gens#Later use, Flavius Belisarius. The name became a courtesy title by the late 4th century, see (; ; The exact date of his birth is unknown. March 565) was a military commander of the Byzantine Empire under ...

as ''magister militum per Orientem'' before re-assuming his rank of ''Magister militum per Illyricum'' again in 532. In that same year, Mundus and a troop of Heruli happened to be in Constantinople when the

broke out; he successfully suppressed the riots with Belisarius, with his troops massacring many near the

hippodrome Hippodrome is a term sometimes used for public entertainment venues of various types. A modern example is the Hippodrome which opened in London in 1900 "combining circus, hippodrome, and stage performances". The term hippodroming refers to fr ...

. In 535, with the outbreak of the Gothic War, Mundus was sent to

Dalmatia Dalmatia (; ; ) is a historical region located in modern-day Croatia and Montenegro, on the eastern shore of the Adriatic Sea. Through time it formed part of several historical states, most notably the Roman Empire, the Kingdom of Croatia (925 ...

and conquered the city of

Salona Salona (, ) was an ancient city and the capital of the Roman province of Dalmatia and near to Split, in Croatia. It was one of the largest cities of the late Roman empire with 60,000 inhabitants. It was the last residence of the final western ...

(

Split Split(s) or The Split may refer to: Places * Split, Croatia, the largest coastal city in Croatia * Split Island, Canada, an island in the Hudson Bay * Split Island, Falkland Islands * Split Island, Fiji, better known as Hạfliua Arts, enter ...

) from the Goths. In 536, his son Mauricius was killed during a Gothic counterattack; Mundus subsequently thoroughly defeated the Goths, but was killed while pursuing them.

Notes

References

Bibliography

Primary sources

''De Bello Persico'', Volume I.
(Project Gutenberg) * John Malalas, ''Chronographia'' * Theophanes the Confessor, ''Chronicle'' * Marcellinus Comes,
Chronicon
'

Secondary sources

* * * * * * * * * * * * * {{DISPLAYTITLE:Mundus (''magister militum'') 536 deaths 6th-century Byzantine military personnel Byzantines killed in battle Byzantine people of Hunnic descent Generals of Justinian I Gepid warriors History of Dalmatia Magistri militum of Hunnic descent People of the Gothic War (535–554) Year of birth unknown