Maximinus (Greek: Μαξιμίνος) was a 5th-centuryEast Roman official, serving as ambassador toAttila the Hun and as a senior minister atConstantinople.
Maximinus was lieutenant ofArdaburius in theRoman–Persian war in 422. In 448,Theodosius II (r. 402–450) sent him to Attila;Orestes andEdeko, theHunnic ambassadors atConstantinople, returned with him toPannonia. Edeko had been bribed by the emperor's chief minister,Chrysaphius, to murder Attila, but on his arrival in Pannonia informed his master of the plot, of which Maximinus was totally ignorant. Attila was well aware of this and consequently turned his resentment only against the emperor and his minister, disdaining even to punish Vigilius, who was the entire promoter of the scheme, and who was entrapped in his turn by Attila. This embassy of Maximinus is described by his secretary,Priscus, to whom is owed nearly all modern knowledge of Attila's person and private life.
Afterwards, Maximinus became one of the four principal ministers of the emperorMarcian (r. 450–457) and in later years held the supreme command inEgypt whence he made a successful campaign against theEthiopians. He is invariably represented as a virtuous, firm, and highly talented man. (Priscus, p. 39, 40, 48–70; Socrat. Hist. Eccles., vii. 20; Priscus.)
Maximinus is a minor character inSlave of the Huns by Geza Gardonyi, where he is depicted as treating his slaves badly.
This article incorporates text from theDictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, a publication now in thepublic domain.[1]