Rufinus (Byzantine official)

Rufinus (Greek: Ῥουφῖνος) was a Byzantine military officer and emissary of the 6th century, active during the reigns of emperors Anastasius I Dicorus (r. 491–518), Justin I (r. 518–527), and Justinian I (r. 527–565). Of Greek origin, he was the son and brother, respectively, of the officers Silvanus and Timostratus. He first appeared in 502, when he was sent by Anastasius to the court of the Sasanian shah Kavad I (r. 488–496; 499–531) with large amounts of money to prevent attacks on the Byzantine Empire. When Rufinus learned of the Persian attacks, he left the money in Caesarea and met in Amida Kavad I, who imprisoned him until January 503, when he was released and sent to the emperor.

Rufinus reappears in 515, when he was appointed magister militum of Thrace by Anastasius to replace the rebel Vitalian, and then in 525/6 when the magister militum of the East and future emperor Justinian sent him to the court of Kavad I to discuss the terms of Justinian's adoption of Khosrow I (r. 531–578). In 530, Rufinus was sent by Justinian to negotiate peace with the Persians, but remained in Dara until after the battle in its vicinity in July 531, when he left to negotiate the terms. Upon Kavad's death in September, Rufinus was sent with other emissaries to discuss terms with the newly installed Khosrow, while in October he was charged with the investigation of an invasion of Huns-Sabirs. Upon completion of the investigations, he sent General Dorotheus to deal with the situation.

After the Sabir incident, Justinian refused to accept some of the terms of the negotiated agreements, and Khosrow became annoyed with such refusal. This forced Rufinus to intervene and try to establish new terms, convincing Khosrow to return the money previously offered and withdraw his troops from Byzantine territory. In 532, Rufinus is mentioned one last time, for having concluded the famous Perpetual Peace that ended the war.