Asbadus ( el, Ἄσβαδος; 520 – died 556) was a
Gepid leader fighting for the
Eastern Roman Empire against the
Ostrogoths in the final stages of the
Gothic War Gothic War may refer to:
*Gothic War (248–253), battles and plundering carried out by the Goths and their allies in the Roman Empire.
*Gothic War (367–369), a war of Thervingi against the Eastern Roman Empire in which the Goths retreated to Mont ...
.
According to
Procopius, Asbadus, a "young
..and especially active man" accompanied
Narses to Italy in 552, at the head of 400 of his fellow Gepids. Asbadus fought in the decisive
Battle of Taginae, during which he pursued and inflicted a mortal wound upon the Ostrogothic king
Totila, without knowing who he was. During the mêlée he was wounded in the foot by Totila's general
Scipuar
Scipuar ( el, Σκιποῦαρ, ) was a commander of the Ostrogoths in the final stages of the Gothic War against the Eastern Roman Empire.
Procopius mentions Scipuar along with Gibal and Indulf (Gundulf) as "the most notable among the Goths." T ...
and was left behind when his comrades retreated. Procopius recounts that when Asbadus rushed at Totila, one of the king's men shouted: "What is this, you dog? Are you rushing to smite your own master?", which
Patrick Amory
Patrick Amory (born 1965) is a historian and an executive in the recorded music industry.
Early life
Patrick Amory was born in New York City on July 10, 1965, to literary parents. His father, the late Hugh Amory, was noted as the most "rigorous ...
interprets either as an indication that Asbadus was a defector from Gothic service, or that as a Gepid, he was considered to be a "natural" subject of the Goths.
Asbadus died in 556 AD and was buried in
Pavia. In his
epitaph, preserved by a later
Lombard chronicle, he is celebrated as one of the "restorers of the Roman Empire in Italy".
References
Sources
*
*
*{{Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire, volume=3
556 deaths
Gepid warriors
6th-century Byzantine people
Year of birth unknown
People of the Gothic War (535–554)
fr:Asbad