Alathar (

fl. ''Floruit'' (; abbreviated fl. or occasionally flor.; from Latin for "they flourished") denotes a date or period during which a person was known to have been alive or active. In English, the unabbreviated word may also be used as a noun indicatin ...

513) was an

Eastern Roman The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

magister militum (Latin for "master of soldiers", plural ) was a top-level military command used in the later Roman Empire, dating from the reign of Constantine the Great. The term referred to the senior military officer (equivalent to a war theatre commander, ...

'' of

Hunnish The Huns were a nomadic people who lived in Central Asia, the Caucasus, and Eastern Europe between the 4th and 6th century AD. According to European tradition, they were first reported living east of the Volga River, in an area that was part ...

descent.

Biography

Alathar was appointed ''

Magister militum (Latin for "master of soldiers", plural ) was a top-level military command used in the later Roman Empire, dating from the reign of Constantine the Great. The term referred to the senior military officer (equivalent to a war theatre commander, ...

per

Thracia Thracia or Thrace ( ''Thrakē'') is the ancient name given to the southeastern Balkan region, the land inhabited by the Thracians. Thrace was ruled by the Odrysian kingdom during the Classical and Hellenistic eras, and briefly by the Greek ...

s'' by

Anastasius I Dicorus Anastasius I Dicorus ( grc-gre, Ἀναστάσιος, Anastásios; – 9 July 518) was List of Byzantine emperors, Eastern Roman emperor from 491 to 518. A career civil servant, he came to the throne at the age of 61 after being chosen by t ...

. He succeeded the deceased Cyrillus in this capacity. It is possible that he was appointed ''magister militium'' to attract the Huns in the army of rebel Vitalian to Anastasius' side. Alathar was defeated by Vitalian during the latter's rebellion. He was described as a "Scythian", a term that at the time was used to indicate the

Huns The Huns were a nomadic people who lived in Central Asia, the Caucasus, and Eastern Europe between the 4th and 6th century AD. According to European tradition, they were first reported living east of the Volga River, in an area that was part ...

J. B. Bury John Bagnell Bury (; 16 October 1861 – 1 June 1927) was an Anglo-Irish historian, classical scholar, Medieval Roman historian and philologist. He objected to the label "Byzantinist" explicitly in the preface to the 1889 edition of his ''Lat ...

Ernst Stein Ernst Edward Aurel Stein (19 September 1891, in Jaworzno – 25 February 1945, in Fribourg) was an Austrian-Jewish Byzantinist and a historian of Late Antiquity. Ernst was the son of Ernst Eduard Stein and Henrietta Rosalie (née Hein) and the ...

and Georges Tate read "Scythian" as meaning "Hun" in this case. In Hun/Hungarian legends, ''Aladár'' is the son of Etele (

Attila Attila (, ; ), frequently called Attila the Hun, was the ruler of the Huns The Huns were a nomadic people who lived in Central Asia, the Caucasus, and Eastern Europe between the 4th and 6th century AD. According to European traditio ...

) and the

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

princess Kriemhild.

References

{{Huns Hun military leaders Byzantine people of Hunnic descent Magistri militum of Hunnic descent