ATANARICO. — Visigothic military leader, son of Rotesteo, “judge,” that is, chief of the Tervingi settled on the Danube, antagonist of Fritigero.
At war with the emperor Valente (365, 367–69), he was defeated by him in 369 and again by the Huns in 375; in 380 his subjects compelled him to conclude a treaty of alliance with Teodosio. He died at Costantinopoli on 25 Jan. 381.
In his hostility toward the Romans, he also involved the Christian religion, which he harshly persecuted, especially from 369 to 372. Among the documents recalling his struggle against the orthodox and the Arians, mention should be made of the sixth-century Arian Gothic calendar, which has come down to us incomplete.
BIBL.: O. Seeck, s. V. in Pauly-Wissowa, Realencycl., II, 2, Stoccarda 1896, cols. 1934–35; H. Delchaye, Les Saints de Thrace et de Mésie, in Anal. Bolland., 31 (1912), pp. 161–202, text of the Gothic calendar, pp. 275–81; A. Lambert, s. V. in DFIG, IV, cols. 1305–18 (with numerous references to sources). A. Pietro Frutaz
ATANASIANO (PSEUDO), SIMBOLO: V. ATANASIO, SANTO.