Belisarius: the last of the Romans

At a glance

Also known as

The last of the Romans

Lived

c. 500 to 565

Role

Byzantine general under Justinian I

Famous for

Dara; the reconquest of Africa and Italy

Signature

Victory against the odds with small armies

Legacy

Justinian's dream of restoring the Roman West

Belisarius was among the finest generals of the age, the man who nearly won back the western Roman world for the emperor Justinian. With small, hard-fighting armies he beat the Persians in the east, destroyed the Vandal kingdom of North Africa and wrested much of Italy from the Goths. For all his victories he was mistrusted at court, and later ages remembered him as the last of the Romans¹.

Dara and the Persian front

Belisarius rose to command young, on the eastern frontier against the Sasanid Empire of Persia. In 530, at Dara, he faced a much larger Persian army² and won a careful defensive victory, digging a system of trenches that broke the² enemy's attacks, a battle still studied for its use of ground. Two years later he was back in the capital, where he helped Justinian survive the¹ Nika riots, a bloody uprising that nearly cost the emperor his throne.

19th-century engraving of an emperor, an empress and a general in a palace amid tumult — Belisarius and Theodora save Justinian during the Nika riots, as imagined by L. Kretzschmar in an illustrated world history of 1872. Public domain

The reconquest of Africa

In 533 Justinian sent Belisarius west with a small fleet³ to attack the Vandal kingdom of North Africa. In a lightning campaign he beat the Vandals at Ad Decimum, entered Carthage, then broke them again at Tricamarum and captured their king Gelimer¹, restoring the rich province to the empire in barely a year. It was one of the swiftest conquests of the age.

Jacques-Louis David's painting of the blind Belisarius begging for alms — The blind Belisarius begging, imagined by Jacques-Louis David in 1781. The story of his blinding is a later legend, not history. Public domain.

With a handful of ships and a small army he destroyed a kingdom in a single year.

The long war in Italy

Next came the greater prize: Italy, held by the Ostrogoths. Belisarius took Sicily, Naples and Rome, and held the old capital through a desperate year-long siege¹ in 537 and 538. In 540 he entered Ravenna and captured the Gothic king.¹ But the Gothic War dragged on for two decades and ravaged Italy, and Belisarius, recalled and given too few men, could never quite finish it.

Map of ancient Rome's walls and gates with the Tiber and the positions of the Gothic camps — The walls and gates of Rome in the 6th century with the Gothic camps of the siege of 537 to 538, a map from a 1919 edition of Procopius' History of the Wars. Public domain

The measure of the man

Belisarius served Justinian to the end, even leading the defence of Constantinople against a raid of Hunnic horsemen in 559⁴, yet he was repeatedly suspected of disloyalty and stripped of honours. He died in 565. The medieval tale that he was blinded and left to beg in the streets is a later legend with no basis in fact¹; what is true is that one of the empire's greatest generals was never fully trusted by the master he served so well.

Meet the other great commanders of the Byzantine Empire, or measure them against the world's best in the greatest military commanders.

Frequently asked questions

Who was Belisarius?

He was the greatest general of the Byzantine emperor Justinian I (c. 500 to 565), famous for winning at Dara and reconquering North Africa and much of Italy for the empire.

What is Belisarius famous for?

For his victory over the Persians at Dara in 530, his lightning conquest of Vandal North Africa in 533 to 534, and his long campaign to win back Italy from the Ostrogoths.

Why is Belisarius called the last of the Romans?

Because he came closest to restoring the western Roman world to a Roman emperor, winning back Africa and much of Italy with small armies in the classical Roman style.

Was Belisarius really blinded and made to beg?

No. The famous story that Justinian had him blinded and reduced to begging is a medieval legend with no historical basis, though it inspired later art such as David's painting.

Did Belisarius conquer all of Italy?

No. He took Sicily, Rome, Ravenna and much of the peninsula and captured the Gothic king in 540, but the Gothic War dragged on for years and was only finished later under the general Narses.

Who did Belisarius serve?

He served the emperor Justinian I, whose dream of restoring the old Roman Empire in the West Belisarius came closer than anyone to achieving.

Sources and notes

Numbered notes in the text point to the works below.

World History Encyclopedia (Joshua J. Mark), “Belisarius” ↩ a b c d e f

Procopius of Caesarea, History of the Wars, Books 1-2 (Persian War: Dara, 530), 3-4 (Vandalic War), 5-8 (Gothic War). ↩ a b

Ian Hughes, Belisarius: The Last Roman General (Pen & Sword Military, 2009). ↩

J. A. S. Evans, The Age of Justinian: The Circumstances of Imperial Power (Routledge, 1996). ↩

Wikipedia, “Belisarius, Wikipedia”