Belisarius

Flavius Belisarius (in Latin, Flavius Belisarius, 505-565) was the most famous general in the history of the Eastern Roman Empire (or Byzantine Empire) and protagonist military expansion of the Empire in the western Mediterranean during the reign of Justinian I the Great, who managed to reconquer much of the Western Roman Empire which had disappeared for almost a century by following his military program Recuperatio Imperii.

One of the constants in Belisarius's military career was that he received little or no support from his emperor Justinian, but he still managed to win in most cases, thanks to his military genius. It is believed that Justinian was envious of Belisarius' continued victories against all expectations, casting a shadow over Justinian's ambition to be considered 'Great'. It is worth noting a military corps formed by Belisario himself, his Personal Regiment, paid out of his own pocket, since Justinian refused to contribute money. He was also one of the last individuals to serve as a Roman consul, a position that at this point was no more than an honorary title.

Early career

There are accounts that Belisarius was probably born in "Germane" or "Germania," a city that was located in what is now Sapareva Banya, in southwestern Bulgaria, although it is most likely that he was born in Constantinople itself and that he was of Greek descent. He became a soldier at a young age, serving in the bodyguard of Emperor Justin I. After Justin's death in 527, the new emperor, Justinian I, appointed Belisarius commander of the imperial forces in the East, to deal with the incursions of the Sasanian Empire. He soon proved a skilled and effective captain, defeating a larger army through superior tactics. In June 530 he commanded the army that defeated the Persians in the battle of Dara, which was followed by a tight defeat in the battle of Callinicus on the Euphrates in 531. After these military encounters the two powers (Byzantine and Sassanid Empires) decided negotiate what would be called "Eternal Peace", in which Byzantium undertook to pay high tributes for years.

In 532 he was the highest-ranking military officer in the imperial capital, Constantinople, when the Niká revolts (among the chariot-racing Hippodrome factions) took place that nearly dethroned Justinian I. Belisarius, with the help of the Illyrian magister militum, Mundus, ended the rebellion in a bloodbath that could have resulted in the deaths of 30,000 people.

Military campaigns

Against vandals

As a reward for his efforts, Justinian appointed Belisarius commander of a large land and sea expedition against the Vandal kingdom, which was prepared between 533 and 534. The Romans had political, religious, and strategic reasons for undertaking such a campaign. The pro-Roman king Hilderic had been deposed and assassinated by Gelimer, giving Justinian a legal pretext to start the expedition. In addition, the Vandals professed Arianism and had systematically persecuted the Christians of the Nicene symbol, many of whom had had to flee to the territories of the Empire. Justinian I also wanted control of Vandal territory in North Africa to ensure access to the western Mediterranean trade routes, dominated by the Vandal fleet.

Increase in the territory of the Byzantine Empire between the rise to power of Justinian I (in red, year 527) and his death (in orange, year 565). Belisario contributed enormously to the expansion of the Empire.

In the late summer of 533 Belisarius set out for Africa in command of 15,000 men and landed near the city of Leptis Magna, from which he proceeded along the coastal causeway toward the kingdom's capital, Carthage. Ten miles from Carthage, the forces of Gelimer (who had just executed Hilderic) and Belisarius finally met, at the battle of Ad Decimum (September 13, 533). The battle nearly turned into a Roman rout: Gelimer had chosen his position well and had some successes against the enemy forces on the main causeway. The Romans, for their part, seemed to hold sway on both the left and right sides of the road. However, at the height of the battle, Gelimer was distracted by the news of the death of his nephew.

This gave Belisarius the opportunity to regroup, and he continued to win and seize Carthage. A second victory at Tricameron ended with the surrender of Gelimer in early 534, on Mount Papua, allowing the former Roman provinces of North Africa to be reincorporated into the Eastern Roman Empire. In recognition of this achievement, Belisarius received a triumph (in many publications it is considered the last one that was awarded in the history of the Roman Empire, but this is not the case, they continued to be held in Constantinople and Athens. The last one collected by the sources is the one awarded by the Senate or Synkletos to Emperor Manuel I Komnenos in Constantinople in the year 1151) upon his return to Constantinople. In the procession that took place during the celebration, the remains of the Temple of Jerusalem were shown, which were in the hands of the vandals and which had been recovered from their capital. Medals in honor of Belisarius were printed with the inscription Gloria Romanorum (Glory of the Romans ), although none appear to have survived to this day. Belisarius was also appointed sole consul in 534, being one of the last individuals to hold this post, which by then was already a mere symbolic position, a relic of the ancient Roman Republic.

Against the Ostrogoths

Emperor Justinian I was now determined to recover as much territory as possible from what had previously been the Western Roman Empire (especially considering that thanks to "Eternal Peace" he could concentrate his efforts without having to protect themselves from oriental invasions). In 535 he ordered Belisarius to attack the Ostrogoths.

Belisarius quickly conquered the island of Sicily and then crossed into Italy, where he captured Naples and Rome in 536. The following year he defended the city of Rome against a counterattack by the Ostrogoths, moving north to take Mediolanum (present-day Milan) and in 540 the Ostrogothic capital of Ravenna, where he captured the Ostrogothic king Vitiges. Shortly before the capture of Ravenna, the Ostrogoths offered Belisarius to make him the Western Emperor. Belisarius pretended to accept with the purpose of being allowed to enter Ravenna accompanied by his veteran troops. Once inside, however, Belisarius captured Vitiges and took advantage of the lack of leadership in the Ostrogothic troops to secure the city. With this, he proclaimed the conquest of Ravenna in the name of his emperor, Justinian.

It is possible that the offer of the Ostrogoths raised suspicions in Justinian's mind. The fact is that Belisarius was removed from the command of Italy, and called back to the East to take charge of the Persian conquest of Syria, a province that, on the other hand, was crucial for the Empire (the Persians had returned to hostilities with Constantinople). Belisarius arrived on the battlefield and carried out a brief and inconclusive military campaign during the years 541 and 542. He finally managed to negotiate a truce (helped by the payment of a large sum of money, about 5000 pounds of gold), in the which the Persians promised not to attack Byzantine territories within a period of five years.

Belisarius returned to Italy in 544, and found that the situation had changed enormously. In 541 the Ostrogoths had elected Totila as their new king, and had embarked on a new campaign against the Byzantines, recapturing all of northern Italy and even driving the Byzantines out of Rome. Belisarius managed to briefly retake Rome, but his campaign in Italy proved a failure, thanks largely to the lack of support in terms of supplies and reinforcements from Constantinople (probably caused by the lack of imperial support, since Justinian I at the time he saw in Belisarius a dangerous potential candidate for the throne). Justinian relieved him of office, leaving the eunuch Narses in command, who was able to bring the campaign to a successful conclusion (in this case, with greater imperial support). For his part, Belisario retired from military life.

Last campaigns and end of his life

On his final return to Constantinople he received the title of magister militum per Oriente. Belisarius was forced to return to military life in 559, because an army of Kutriguros led by a warlord named Zabergan crossed the Danube invading Byzantine territory (this invasion is referred to by Byzantine sources as Huns) and reaching the outskirts of Constantinople. Justinian again called Belisarius, and commissioned him to defend the capital of the Empire against attack. In his last battle, Belisarius hastily assembled an army of veterans who had served under him, defeated the Kutriguros, and drove them back across the Danube.

In the year 563 Belisarius was tried in Constantinople accused of corruption. The charge seems somewhat falsified, and modern investigations suggest that an enemy of his, his former secretary Procopius of Caesarea, author of the Secret History, was commissioned to try him. Belisario was found guilty and imprisoned. Shortly after the conviction, however, Justinian pardoned him, ordered his release, and returned him the royal favor at court. The well-known legend that his eyes were gouged out and he begged on the streets of Constantinople is probably false. Belisarius and Justinian died within weeks of each other, both in 565. Between them they had increased the size of the Empire by 45%.

The legend of Belisarius as a blind beggar

Belisarioby Jacques-Louis David (1781).

According to a story that gained popularity during the Middle Ages, Justinian is said to have ordered Belisarius to have his eyes gouged out, and to be reduced to the status of a beggar, condemned to ask passers-by to "give an obolum to Belisarius" (date obolum Belisario), before he was pardoned. Most modern scholars believe the story to be apocryphal, although Philip Stanhope, the 19th century British philologist who wrote the book Life of Belisarius (the only exhaustive biography of the general), he believed the story to be true. After a study of the primary sources, Stanhope developed an argument that defended its authenticity, although this argument is not entirely convincing. Although the legend remains highly doubtful, after the publication of Jean-François Marmontel's novel Belisarius, in 1767, this story became quite a popular subject for successive painters of the late 20th century XVIII, who saw a certain parallelism between Justinian I's way of acting and the repression imposed by his rulers. For this reason, Marmontel's novel was publicly censored by Louis Legrand. Marmontel and the painters and sculptors (there is a bust of Belisarius by the French sculptor Jean-Baptiste Stouf in the J. Paul Getty Museum) represented Belisarius as a kind of saint, in the non-religious sense of the term, who shared in suffering. of the poor and needy. The most famous of these paintings, by Jacques-Louis David, combines themes of charity (the soul of the giver), injustice (Belisarius), and the radical reversal of power (the soldier recognizing his former commander). Others portray him helped by the poor after being rejected by the powerful.

Belisarius in fiction

Belisarius was depicted in many works of art before the 20th century. The oldest surviving is a historical treatise written by his own secretary, Procopius entitled Anecdote , although commonly called the Arcane History or the History secret . It is a lengthy attack on Belisarius and Antonina, describing him as an idiot blinded by love and his wife as unfaithful. Other later works are:

• Belisario, centuryXIXHenry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem.
• Beliar, centuryXVIII, poem by Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué.
• The history and life of Belisario, which conquered Africa and Italy, with a tale of their misfortune, the ingratitude of the Romans and a parallelism between him and a modern heroJohn Oldmixon's drama.
• Belasario1724, William Philips drama.
• Belisario1742, John Downman's novel.
• Belisario1767, novel by Jean-François Marmontel.
• Belisario, opera of the centuryXIX Gaetano Donizetti.
• Belisario: The first will be the last, 2006 novel by Paolo Belzoni.
• Foundation and EmpireIsaac Asimov. Within the Cycle of Trantor the author creates a parallel between the general of the Galactic Empire Bel Riose and the Byzantine Belisario, the first being an anagram of the second. Asimov reflects with this character on the reasons for Justinian's unfavorable treatment of Belisario.
• Count Belisario (1938), famous historical novel by the writer Robert Graves. The book, written from the point of view of the eunuch Eugenio, servant of the woman of Belisario (but really based on the Secret history of the former secretary of Belisario, Procopio), portrays Belisario as an honorable and solitary man in a corrupt world, and shows the image not only of his great military achievements but also of the events of the time, such as the policies related to the racing of cars of the hippodrome, which often led to open clashes between the factions, or the intrigues between Emperor Justinian I and the Empress Teo.

• "Who is no longer young," Jorge Luis Borges sonnet included in his book The other, the same (1964), alludes to the legend of the Mendicant Belisario: "You can see the tragic stage / and everything in place due; / the sword and the ash for Dido / and the coin for Belisario".