Areobindus (consul 434)

Flavius Areobindus^[1] (died 449) was a general of the Eastern Roman Empire of Gothic origin, who became commander in chief of the East.

Biography

Areobindus was a Goth who became part of the political class of the Eastern Roman Empire; his son Dagalaiphus was consul in 461, his grandson Areobindus Dagalaiphus Areobindus held the consulate in 506.

He took part in the war of 422 against the Sasanids of king Bahram V, with the rank of comes foederatorum, that is commander of the contingent of barbarians fighting as allies in the Roman army.^[2] On that occasion Areobindus defeated in a duel one of the Sasanids, Ardazanes; and following his victory the peace was concluded.^[3]

In 434 Areobindus was chosen by the Eastern court, along with the consul of the West, Aspar. In the same year he was appointed magister militum per Orientem (perhaps praesentialis), a position he held until his death. In 441 he was chosen by Theodosius II as one of the commanders of the expedition against the Vandals in Africa; the expedition was not successful because its leaders wasted time in Sicily. In 443 he was sent along with other generals against Attila, but he was defeated by the king of the Huns. In 447 he received the title of patricius, but by the year of his death Areobindus had fallen into disfavor with Theodosius II.

Areobindus was the recipient of two letters of Theodoret of Cyrrhus, which show that he had lands in that city, among other attested in Euphratensis.

Notes

1. In the sources are reported also the forms Ariobindus, Ariovindus and Arivendus.
2. According to some scholars, however, the rank was not of comes foederatorum, but of comes rei militaris (Irfan Shahîd, Byzantium and the Arabs in the fifth century, Dumbarton Oaks, 1989, ISBN 0-88402-152-1, p. 53).
3. Malalas, Chronographia, 364; Cedrenus, Historiarum Compendius, 599. The duel is reported also by Socrates Scholasticus (Historia Ecclesiastica, 771), who, however, does not support the idea that the duel ended the war.

Bibliography

• Jones, Arnold Hugh Martin, John Robert Martindale, John Morris, Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire, "Fl. Ariobindus 2", volume 2, Cambridge University Press, 1992, ISBN ISBN 0-521-20159-4, pp. 145–146.