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Title of Article

SYNESIUS OF CYRENE AND THE MILITARY UNIT OF UNNIGARDAI: THE GOTHS AND THE HUNS IN THE EASTERN ROMAN EMPIRE AT THE TURN OF THE 5th CENTURY A.D


Issue
4
Date
2015

Article type
scientific article
UDC
94(37).09
Pages
63-74
Keywords
 


Authors
Mekhamadiev E.A.
Sankt-Peterburgskiy gosudarstvennyy universitet, Sankt-Peterburg


Abstract
This paper is a sequel to the author’s previous paper, which concerned the history of the military unit of Unnigardai. This unit is mentioned in some letters and treatises of Synesius of Cyrene who was the bishop of the city of Ptolemaida in the Roman province of Cyrenaica in what is now Libya. Unnigardai were quartered in Cyrenaica and constituted a part of the local frontier army. Having considered in previous paper the grammatical structure of the word ?????????????? (as it is given by Synesius), the author concludes that the unit of Unnigardai consisted of two ethnic groups - the Goths and the Huns, but the origin of Unnigardai could not be traced to West Roman Goths and Huns who lived in Pannonia as federates, because such an origin is inconsistent with the administrative and political situation of the Western Roman Empire at the turn of the 5th century A.D. Therefore, in the present paper the author examines the problem of East Roman origin of Unnigardai, and on the grounds of different sources, not only Greek and Latin, but also translated Syrian ones, makes the following conclusions: 1) The Huns who served in the unit of Unnigardai were recruited in 395 by East Roman praetorian prefect Rufinus as his personal bodyguards, but these Huns had lived in Thracia earlier, and they devastated its territory from time to time. When Huns were under the command of Rufinus, they were quartered in Constantinople, but then, after Rufinus’ murder in November 395, their unit was transferred to distant Cyrenaica so they could not disturb the capital by their presence. 2) The Goths, who served in the unit of Unnigardai, were relocated from Macedonia to Egypt as early as under the reign of Theodosius I, in 380, because these Goths were defectors, who surrendered themselves voluntarily to Theodosius. 3) In 394, a special military contingent was sent to Cyrenaica from Egypt that included some Goths, who then were quartered in Cyrenaica together with other regular units from Egypt. After November 395, when the exiled Huns from the personal guard of Rufinus came to Cyrenaica, the unit of Unnigardai was established, and this unit consisted of Huns and Goths mentioned above. This was the way the Unnigardai unit mentioned in the works of Synesius of Cyrene was formed.

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