Anagastes was a general of the eastern Roman empire in the reign of the emperor Leo.[1] Priscus calls him the son of Ornigisclus. He was the officer in charge of guarding the bank of the Danube in the part of Thrace that borders the river.[2] His father was Arnegisclus, a general who had often fought Attila.[3] Arnegisclus fell in a battle on the river Utus in 447, during Attila’s Balkan wars.[4] The names of father and son are Gothic.[5]

The blockade of the Goths

About 467 Anagastes, Basiliscus, Ostryes and other Roman commanders shut up a body of Goths in a steep and hollow place and besieged them.[6][5] Basiliscus, the brother of the empress Verina, was the only Greek among these commanders.[5] Huns were mixed among the besieged. The starving barbarians offered to surrender for land to live on. The Romans agreed to feed them if they divided into as many units as the Roman army had.[6] In one of these units the Hun officer Chelchal persuaded the Goths that the Huns lived off their labour. The Goths killed the Huns among them. In the battle that followed, the survivors broke through the Roman lines and escaped.[7]

Some scholars make Chelchal the subordinate of Anagastes. They count the trick as the work of both men.[8] In Priscus, Chelchal held his rank under Aspar.[6] The war on the lower Danube dragged on for two more years. In 468 the greater part of the army was sent to Africa.[5]

Dengizich

Attila’s son Dengizich made war on the Romans. He took up position on the bank of the Danube. Anagastes learned of it and sent men to ask him why he wanted to fight. Dengizich despised Anagastes and sent his messengers away with nothing.[2] Dengizich sent envoys to the emperor instead. The envoys declared that he would make war unless land and money were given to him and his people. Leo answered that he was ready to do everything for them if they would obey his rule.[2] The text of Priscus breaks off at this point.[9]

Dengizich crossed the frozen Danube.[10] In 469 Anagastes defeated and killed him.[3] Marcellinus Comes records that the head of Dinzic, son of Attila, king of the Huns, was brought to Constantinople. The Easter Chronicle names Anagastes, general in Thrace, as the man who killed him. It adds that the head was carried in procession through the Middle Street and fixed on a pole at the Wooden Circus. The whole city came out to see it.[5][3]

Office

Priscus gives Anagastes the guard of the river bank in Thrace.[2] Some scholars make him master of the soldiers in Thrace.[3] Others hold that Basiliscus held this post then. He kept it until he took command of the expedition to Africa in the spring of 468.[11]

References

  1. ^ Maenchen-Helfen 1973, p. 166–168
  2. ^ a b c d Priscus; Müller 1851, fr. 38, p. 108
  3. ^ a b c d Thompson 1948, p. 157
  4. ^ Bury 1923, p. 275
  5. ^ a b c d e Maenchen-Helfen 1973, p. 168
  6. ^ a b c Priscus; Müller 1851, fr. 39, p. 108
  7. ^ Priscus; Müller 1851, fr. 39, p. 108–109
  8. ^ Thompson 1948, p. 157–158, 189
  9. ^ Maenchen-Helfen 1973, p. 166
  10. ^ Maenchen-Helfen 1973, p. 167
  11. ^ Maenchen-Helfen 1973, p. 166, 168

Sources

Literature

  • Karl Müller (ed.), Fragmenta Historicorum Graecorum, Bd. IV (darin: Menandri Protectoris fragmenta, griechisch mit lateinischer Übersetzung) (1851)
  • Otto J. Maenchen-Helfen, The World of the Huns: Studies in Their History and Culture (1973)
  • E. A. Thompson, A History of Attila and the Huns (1948)
  • J. B. Bury, History of the Later Roman Empire from the Death of Theodosius I to the Death of Justinian, vol. I (1923)

Related

What links here2

Persons
Chelchal · Dengizich

Cite this article

Yavuz, Emre-E. “Anagastes.” Turkic Atlas, revised 8 November 2026. https://turkicatlas.org/persons/anagastes/

Last revised: 8 November 2026