Belisarius

   Belisarius was a general of the Byzantine Empire. In Procopius' historical work Wars, he was depicted as a handsome, strong, and ingenious general, who led most of the conquest in Justinian I's time.

   In his early years, he was a an officer in Justin's bodyguard regiment( bucellarii). Bucellariis were private regiments owned by wealthy nobles and the emperor, which were the best trained and equipped regiments in Eastern Roman Empire, and whose size depended their owner's wealth.
   After Justin died, the new emperor Justinian I appointed the 24-year-old Belisarius as the commander of the Roman armies in the east to deal with the Sassanid Empire. In 530, the Sassanid Empire sent a troop of 50,000 soldiers to attack Dara of Byzantine because Belisarius built a fortress at Dara, which was on the border between Byzantine and the Sassanid Empire. Although he had only 25,000 soldiers in his command, Belisarius managed to defeat the Sassanid army. This was the first big victory in Belisarius' life. He was only 26 years old then. In 531, he had another victory over the Sassnaids and forced the Sassanid Empire into a treaty with Byzantine, in which Byzantine paid Persia a heavy tribute in exchange for peace so that Byzantine could be freed from the constant war with Persia.

   After the war, Belisarius returned to Constantinople to marry Antonia, a widow 22 years older than him. Although in Procopius' account, Antonia was an immoral wife who had an affair with her adopted son, Belisarius remained loyal to her and often took her with him in conquests. Moreover, Antonia was intimate with Queen Theodora, which helped Belisarius in politics.
   In 532, Nica Riot broke out. With his mind hardened by Theodora, Justinian ordered Belisarius, Narses, and Mundus to oppress the riot. Belisarius led his army that had just returned from war and slaughtered the mobs, ending the Nica Riot in blood.
   In 533, Belisarius sailed to north Africa with 10,000 infantries and 6,000 cavalry to conquer the Vandals. He won a decisive in Ad Decimum against Gelimer and captured Carthage, capital of the Vandals. In the later Battle of Tricamarum, he defeated Gelimer a second time. Gelimer surrendered the next year, which marked the end of Byzantine's conquest of north Africa. To reward his achievement, Justinian granted him a Roman triumph when he returned to Constantinople.

   In 535, Belisarius led another expedition to conquer Italy. He first landed in Sicily and took it as a base for further advance. However, as he was preparing for the expedition, a rebellion broke out in north Africa, which forced him to set off for Carthage. But the rebels surreddered as soon as he arrived. Later in 536, he successfully took over Naples and Rome.
   In 537 and 638, the Goths fought back, but Belisarius defeated them. In Rome, he defended the city with no more than 5,000 formal soldiers against about 30,000 Ostrogoth.He marched north to in 540 and took over Ravenna, capital of the Ostrogoth, and captured the Ostrogoth king Witiges. Before he surrendered, Witiges offered Belisarius the crown of Western Roman Empire. Belisarius pretended to accept the offer and captured Witiges. Although he didn't actually take the offer, Justinian became suspicious and recalled him.

   When he returned to Byzantine, he led the defense against Persia. The war didn't last for long because of a plague.
   In 544, Totila rose and restored most of Italy, except for a few cities, such as Rome and Ravenna. Scared, Justinian sent Belisarius to Italy again, but with only 4,000 soldiers.
   The campaign was not successful. Despite that he restored Rome from Totila and had some minor victories, his supplies and reinforcements were very limited, which probably was because Byzantine could no longer afford wars. He sent his wife to Justinian to ask the emperor to either send more soldiers so that he could fight Totila, or recall him. Justinian recalled him in 548. Fortunate for Byzantine, though, Narses later defeated Totila and restored Italy in 550.
   After he was recalled, Belisarius was out of work. Later, he led another two major battles, one against Persia, in which Persians retreated as soon as they heard he was the general, the other against Bulgarians and Huns, in which he defeated 20,000 enemies with merely 1,300 soldiers. The battle against Bulgarians and Huns was the last battle in his life.
   In 562, he was charged of corruption, a large part of his property was confiscated, and he was put in jail. But within days, he was pardoned and released. Justinian received him at his palace and restored him to favor in his court. In 565, Belisarius died at the age of 60. Weeks later, Justinian died, too.
   Although there have been many artwork and literature about Belisarius' tragic end: Justinian put out his eyes, and had him a beggar in Constantinople, modern scholars tend to believe Belisarius lived in peace during his last years. Although a large part of his property was confiscated, Belisarius was still rich enough to live comfortably. After all, Byzantium generals were allowed to take war spoils as their possessions. With so many conquests, which increased Byzantine's size by 45%, Belisarius was undoubtedly extremely wealthy: when he returned after conquering Italy, he had a bucellarii 7000 soldiers. Instead of dying as a beggar, he probably died in an estate of Rufinianae in Constantinople's suburb, and was buried near the two churches there.