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- Died:
- Jan. 21, 381
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Athanaric
Visigoth chieftain
Athanaric (died Jan. 21, 381) was a Visigothic chieftain from 364 to 376 who fiercely persecuted the Christians in Dacia (approximately modern Romania). The persecutions occurred between 369 and 372; his most important victim was St. Sabas the Goth. In 376 Athanaric was defeated by the Huns. He fled with a few followers to Transylvania (region in present-day Romania), but the bulk of his people, led by Fritigern, fled to the Roman Empire. Athanaric, too, took refuge there but died at Constantinople a fortnight after his arrival.
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