Nonnosus ( el, Νόννοσος, translit=Nónnosos) was an ambassador sent by the

Byzantine 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 ...

emperor

Justinian I Justinian I (; la, Iustinianus, ; grc-gre, Ἰουστινιανός ; 48214 November 565), also known as Justinian the Great, was the Byzantine emperor from 527 to 565. His reign is marked by the ambitious but only partly realized ''renova ...

to the king of the Axumites (in

Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...

and parts of the Arabian Peninsula) around 530 CE. He wrote an account of that visit, now lost, that was read and summarized by Byzantine patriarch Photius in Codex 3 of his Bibliotheca. Per that summary, Nonnosus entered Ethiopia through the

Red Sea The Red Sea ( ar, البحر الأحمر - بحر القلزم, translit=Modern: al-Baḥr al-ʾAḥmar, Medieval: Baḥr al-Qulzum; or ; Coptic: ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϩⲁϩ ''Phiom Enhah'' or ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϣⲁⲣⲓ ''Phiom ǹšari''; ...

port city of

Adulis Adulis (Sabaean: ሰበኣ 𐩱 𐩵 𐩡 𐩪, gez, ኣዱሊስ, grc, Ἄδουλις) was an ancient city along the Red Sea in the Gulf of Zula, about south of Massawa. Its ruins lie within the modern Eritrean city of Zula. It was the e ...

and journeyed overland to Axum. He described seeing a herd of 5000 elephants in the vicinity of Aua, between Adulis and Axum. Nonnosus' father Abraham had been an ambassador to the Arabs, and his uncle, also named Nonnosus, had been sent on an embassy by the emperor Anastasius I. The mid-6th century Chronicle of Ioannis Malalas (Book 18.457) and the later chronicle of Theophanes include, without citing their source, a detailed description probably derived from Nonnosus' account of his meeting with the Axumite ruler. Malalas names him as Elesboas and calls him king of the Indians, while Theophanes names him as Arethas and identifies him as king of the Ethiopians. According to Malalas, the Byzantine ambassador performed

proskynesis Proskynesis or proscynesis , or proskinesis ( Greek , ''proskýnēsis''; Latin adoratio) is a solemn gesture of respect for the gods and people; among the Persians, it referred to a man prostrating himself and kissing the earth, or the lim ...

and was warmly received by the king, who was mounted on a spectacular gilded platform atop four elephants yoked together. The Axumite ruler, eager for good relations with Justinian, kissed the imperial seal on the letter Nonnosus presented, and agreed to wage war on the Persians on Justinian's behalf. In practice, however, Nonnosus' embassy failed to generate any significant military contribution by the Axumites.Bowersock, G.W, ''The Throne of Adulis: Red Sea Wars on the Eve of Islam'' (Oxford University Press 2013), p. 109

Notes

References

*Karl Otfried Müller, Theodor Müller, Letronne (Antoine-Jean, M.) (eds.): Fragmenta historicorum graecorum, Volume 4. (Paris, 1860), preserves the original Greek text and gives a Latin translation. It may be accessed onlin
here
Freese's 1920 English translation of Photius's summary of Nonnosus is online a
ToposText
6th-century Byzantine historians Byzantine diplomats Justinian I 6th-century diplomats {{Byzantine-bio-stub