Rufus (Thessalonica)

Rufus was a career soldier in the army the Roman Empire. In his youth, he served in the great campaigns of General Narses, whom he considered one of the greatest men of history despite having no stones. In 597, the nearly 70-year-old Rufus led the city militia of Thessalonica. As all regular Roman troops had been pulled away to the Roman heartland, Rufus and his amateurish men were the only thing that lay between the city and the Avar invaders.