The Avars ravage the lands of the Antes
Soon after reaching the Pontic steppe, the Avars plundered the Antes; when the Antes sent the noble Mezamir to ransom captives, the khagan had him killed — an episode recorded by Menander Protector.
- Date
- between 560 and 562exact date unknown: an interval is given
- Place
- Lands of the Antes between the Dniester and the Dnieperapproximate locationtoday: Central Ukraine · Eastern Europe
- Participants
- Avars, Antes
- Threads
- Eastern Europe and Rus’ before the Baptism (1st–10th c.)
- Also known as
- Mezamir; Mezamer; Мезамир
The Avars, fleeing the Turks, appeared north of the Caucasus and sent their first embassy to Constantinople in 557–558; in return for gold they undertook to fight the empire’s enemies and subdued the Kutrigurs, the Sabirs and the Antes. According to Menander, the leaders of the Antes were in dire straits: the Avars plundered their land, and the Antes sent Mezamir, son of Idarizios and brother of Kelagastos, to ransom prisoners. He spoke so haughtily that a Kutrigur adviser persuaded the khagan that Mezamir was the most powerful man among the Antes and should be killed; the Avars ignored the envoy’s immunity, murdered him and went on ravaging the country.
Menander gives no year; historians place the episode in about 560–562, before the Avars moved to the Middle Danube (567–568). Mezamir is one of the first Slavic personal names recorded in Byzantine sources, and the Primary Chronicle preserves a distant memory of Avar (“Obry”) oppression of the Slavic Dulebes.
Connections
Consequences
- Avar campaign against the Antes602 · Eastern Europe
Related events
- Jordanes and Procopius describe the Sclaveni and the Antesbetween 550 and 554 · Balkans and Anatolia
- The Avars settle in the Carpathian Basinbetween 567 and 568 · Western and Central EuropeBefore settling in Pannonia the Avars had subdued the Antes and other peoples of the Pontic steppe
Same participants
- Early Slavic cultures: Prague-Korchak, Penkovka and Kolochinc. 450 – c. 700 · Eastern Europevia Antes
Meanwhile in the world
Other regions, within 25 years of this event
Western and Central Europe
- The Avars settle in the Carpathian Basinbetween 567 and 568
- Lombard invasion of Italy2 April 568 – 572
- Gothic War (535–554)535–554
Balkans and Anatolia
- Jordanes and Procopius describe the Sclaveni and the Antesbetween 550 and 554
- Plague of Justinian541–549
- Construction of Hagia Sophia23 February 532 – 27 December 537
The same period
Sources
- Wikipedia (English): Mezamir
- Wikipedia (English): Antes people
- Wikipedia (Russian): Мезамир
- Wikipedia (Russian): Анты
- Blockley R. C. The History of Menander the Guardsman. — Liverpool: Francis Cairns, 1985.
- Pohl W. The Avars: A Steppe Empire in Central Europe, 567–822. — Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2018.