Belisarius - Campaigns against the Ostrogoths

Flavius Belisarius (505-565) was one of the greatest generals of the Byzantine Empire and one of the greatest generals in history. Belisarius is not particularly well known today (certainly nowhere as near as well-known as Julius Caesar, or Alexander the Great), but this is due more to a lack of attention to Byzantine history than to his skill and accomplishments, which were matched by few, if any, military commanders. Belisarius - Early life and career. Belisarius was probably born in Germane or ...

Including:

• Belisarius - Early life and career
• Belisarius - Campaigns against the Vandals
• Belisarius - Campaigns against the Ostrogoths
• Belisarius - His later life and campaigns
• Belisarius - The legend of Belisarius as a blind beggar
• Belisarius - Belisarius in fiction
• Belisarius - Named after him

Read more here: » Belisarius: Encyclopedia - Belisarius

Justinian now resolved to restore as much of the Western Roman Empire as he could. In 535, he commissioned Belisarius to attack the Ostrogoths. Again, he chose well, as Belisarius quickly captured Sicily and then crossed into Italy proper, where he captured Naples and Rome in 536. The following year, he successfully defended Rome against the Goths and moved north to take Mediolanum (Milan) and the Ostrogoth capital of Ravenna in 540, where the Goth king Witiges was captured. Shortly prior to the taking of Ravenna, the Ostrogoths offered to m ...

See also:

Belisarius, Belisarius - Early life and career, Belisarius - Campaigns against the Vandals, Belisarius - Campaigns against the Ostrogoths, Belisarius - His later life and campaigns, Belisarius - The legend of Belisarius as a blind beggar, Belisarius - Belisarius in fiction, Belisarius - Named after him

Read more here: » Belisarius: Encyclopedia II - Belisarius - Campaigns against the Ostrogoths

Belisarius was featured in several works of art before the 20th century. The oldest of them is the historical treatise by his very own secretary, Procopius, the Anecdota, commonly referred to as the Arcana Historia or Secret History, it is an extended attack on Belisarius and Antonia, indicting him as a love-blind fool and his wife as unfaithful and duplicitous. Later works include the 17th century poem by Friedrich de la Motte Fouque, Beliar, the John Oldmixon drama The life and history of Belisarius, who conq ...

See also:

Belisarius, Belisarius - Early life and career, Belisarius - Campaigns against the Vandals, Belisarius - Campaigns against the Ostrogoths, Belisarius - His later life and campaigns, Belisarius - The legend of Belisarius as a blind beggar, Belisarius - Belisarius in fiction, Belisarius - Named after him

Read more here: » Belisarius: Encyclopedia II - Belisarius - Belisarius in fiction

According to a story that gained popularity during the Middle Ages, Justinian is said to have ordered Belisarius' eyes to be put out, and reduced him to the status of homeless beggar condemned to asking passers-by to "give an obolus to Belisarius" (date obolum Belisario), before pardoning him. Most modern scholars believe the story to be apocryphal, though Philip Henry Stanhope, 5th Earl of Stanhope, a 19th century British philologist who wrote Life of Belisarius--the only exhaustive biography of the great general--believed the ...

See also:

Belisarius, Belisarius - Early life and career, Belisarius - Campaigns against the Vandals, Belisarius - Campaigns against the Ostrogoths, Belisarius - His later life and campaigns, Belisarius - The legend of Belisarius as a blind beggar, Belisarius - Belisarius in fiction, Belisarius - Named after him

Read more here: » Belisarius: Encyclopedia II - Belisarius - The legend of Belisarius as a blind beggar

The retirement of Belisarius came to an end in 559, when an army of Slavs and Bulgars crossed the Danube River to invade Byzantine territory for the first time and threatened Constantinople itself. Justinian recalled Belisarius to command the Byzantine army against the Bulgar invasion. In his last, successful, campaign, Belisarius defeated the Bulgars and drove them back across the river. In 562, Belisarius stood trial in Constantinople on a charge of corruption. The charge was likely trumped-up, and modern research suggests that his ...

See also:

Belisarius, Belisarius - Early life and career, Belisarius - Campaigns against the Vandals, Belisarius - Campaigns against the Ostrogoths, Belisarius - His later life and campaigns, Belisarius - The legend of Belisarius as a blind beggar, Belisarius - Belisarius in fiction, Belisarius - Named after him

Read more here: » Belisarius: Encyclopedia II - Belisarius - His later life and campaigns

For his efforts, Belisarius was rewarded by Justinian with the command of a great land and sea expedition against the kingdom of the Vandals, mounted in 533-534. The Byzantines had both political, religious, and strategic reasons for mounting such a campaign. The pro-Byzantine Vandal king Hilderic had been deposed and murdered by the usurper Gelimer, giving Justinian a legal pretext for mounting an expedition. Furthermore, the Arian Vandals had periodically persecuted the Chalcedonian Christians within their kingdom, many of whom made their ...

See also:

Belisarius, Belisarius - Early life and career, Belisarius - Campaigns against the Vandals, Belisarius - Campaigns against the Ostrogoths, Belisarius - His later life and campaigns, Belisarius - The legend of Belisarius as a blind beggar, Belisarius - Belisarius in fiction, Belisarius - Named after him

Read more here: » Belisarius: Encyclopedia II - Belisarius - Campaigns against the Vandals

Belisarius was probably born in Germane or Germania, a city that once stood on the site of present day Sapareva Banya in south-west Bulgaria. Some suggest that he was of Romanized Slavic ancestry, on the grounds that his name is somewhat similar to the Slavic "Beli Tsar" ("White Prince"), but most contemporary historians disregard this theory as the word tsar was first used in the 10th century, well after Belisarius' death. He became a Byzantine soldier as a young man, serving in the bodyguard of the Emperor Justin I. Fo ...

See also:

Belisarius, Belisarius - Early life and career, Belisarius - Campaigns against the Vandals, Belisarius - Campaigns against the Ostrogoths, Belisarius - His later life and campaigns, Belisarius - The legend of Belisarius as a blind beggar, Belisarius - Belisarius in fiction, Belisarius - Named after him

Read more here: » Belisarius: Encyclopedia II - Belisarius - Early life and career