Anagai

Anagai was the ruler of the Utigurs in the 570s. At that time they stood under the rule of the western Göktürks.^[1] Menander names him twice, in his account of the embassy of Valentinos in 576.^[2] On the way to the Göktürk camp the envoys passed through the land of Akkagas. She was a woman who ruled the Scythians there, “appointed to this at that time by Anagaios, who ruled the tribe of the Utigurs”.^[2]

Turxanthos sent Bochan with a very large Göktürk force to destroy Bosporos. Anagai was already encamped in that country with another force of Göktürks.^[2] Turxanthos may have incited Anagai, prince of the Utigurs, and Bochan to invade Roman land. Their united forces then besieged Bosporos in the same year.^[3] In a different account Bochan reinforced the Göktürk forces under Anagai that were conducting the siege. That account dates the fall of the city to about 579.^[4] In Menander the city fell while the Roman envoys were still among the Göktürks. The siege of Bosporos turned the Roman alliance into open war.^[2]

His name matches that of the Rouran khan Anagui, who died in 552.^[5] The comparison concerns the name only. The two men belong to different peoples and different generations. Anagai is the one ruler of a Pontic steppe people whom the Greek sources show in command of a Göktürk army.

References

^ Golden 1992, p. 100
^ a b c d Menander Protector
^ Yavuz 2025, p. 321
^ Golden 1992, p. 130-131
^ Chavannes 1903, p. 240

Sources

Menander Protector

Literature

Peter B. Golden, An Introduction to the History of the Turkic Peoples (1992)
Emre-E. Yavuz, The Gokturk Empire: 2nd Edition (2025)
Édouard Chavannes, Documents sur les Tou-Kiue (Turcs) occidentaux (1903)
Josef Marquart, Osteuropäische und ostasiatische Streifzüge (1903)
Ludwig Dindorf (ed.), Historici Graeci minores, Bd. II: Menander Protector et Agathias (1871)