Aigan (Hun commander)
AiganorAïgan(late 5th century or early 6th century –c. 534–548) was aHungeneral serving as a cavalry commander for theByzantine Empire,active in the early 6th century.
Biography
[edit]Aigan commanded a body of Hun cavalry at theBattle of Daraagainst theSasanians,terrifying the Persians.[1][2]He was fundamental in the Byzantine victory.[3]
He then participated in the Byzantineexpeditionagainst theVandalic Kingdomin 533, being one of the four cavalry commanders underBelisarius.[4]He remained in Africa to serve underSolomonafter Belisarius returned toConstantinoplein the summer of 534.[4]
In 534 he andRufinus the Thracianfought against the Moors inByzacena.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).[4]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 chieftainMedisinissas.[4]
References
[edit]- ^Kim, Hyun Jin (2013).The Huns, Rome and the Birth of Europe.Cambridge University Press. p. 140.ISBN9781107009066.Retrieved25 October2022.
- ^Whately, Conor (2021).Procopius on Soldiers and Military Institutions in the Sixth-Century Roman Empire.Brill. p. 56.ISBN9789004461611.Retrieved25 October2022.
- ^Kim, Hyun Jin (2015).The Huns.Taylor & Francis.ISBN9781317340904.Retrieved25 October2022.
- ^abcdMartindale, John R.,ed. (1992).The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire: Volume III, AD 527–641.Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 1098.ISBN0-521-20160-8.