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Belisarius: the last of the Romans

Byzantine Empire · General · c. 505 to 565 · ~7 min read · Updated October 2026

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Jacques-Louis David's 1781 painting of Belisarius, old and blind, begging for alms with a boy while a former soldier recognizes him.

Jacques-Louis David, 1781, via Wikimedia Commons, public domain.

At a glance

Born
c. 505, Germania (Balkans)
Died
March 565
Served
Emperor Justinian I
Offices
Master of Soldiers in the East; consul 535
Main witness
Procopius, his adviser
Famous for
Dara (530); conquest of Vandal Africa (533 to 534); defense of Rome (537 to 538)
Quick answer

Who was Belisarius?

Belisarius (c. 505 to 565) was the leading general of the Byzantine emperor Justinian I. He beat the Persians at Dara in 530, destroyed the Vandal kingdom of North Africa in 533 and 534, and took much of Italy from the Ostrogoths, entering Ravenna in 540. Most of what we know about him comes from his adviser, the historian Procopius.1

He made his name at the Battle of Dara on the Persian frontier in 530, routed the Vandal king Gelimer at Ad Decimum outside Carthage in 533 and held Rome through the siege of 537 and 538 against the Ostrogothic king Vitiges.2

How did Belisarius rise to command?

Belisarius came from Germania, a place between Thrace and Illyricum, and began his career as a young bodyguard of Justinian, before Justinian became emperor. After raids into Persian Armenia he was given command of the frontier fortress of Dara, and before the Persian attack of 530 Justinian made him Master of Soldiers in the East.3

At Dara in 530 Belisarius and Hermogenes drew up about 25,000 men behind a broken line of trenches dug a stone's throw from the city gate. By Procopius' count the Persians had 40,000 men, joined the next day by 10,000 more from Nisibis. Their attacks failed and they were driven off. Bury notes that Belisarius was then only about twenty-five.4

In 531 a Persian army raiding Syria beat Belisarius on the Euphrates opposite Callinicum, and contemporaries argued over whether he or his officers were to blame. Procopius says he was then removed from his post so that he could lead the war against the Vandals; Bury links the recall to an inquiry that Justinian ordered into the defeat.5

In 532 he was in Constantinople for the Nika riots. With the general Mundus he led the few loyal troops into the Hippodrome, where the crowd had proclaimed Hypatius emperor, and the rising was crushed. Procopius puts the dead at more than 30,000; Bury notes that the chronicler John Malalas gives about 35,000.6

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

How did Belisarius conquer the Vandal kingdom?

In 533 Justinian sent Belisarius to North Africa with about 15,000 soldiers. He landed, beat King Gelimer at Ad Decimum, ten miles from Carthage, and entered the city soon after. Before the year was out he broke the Vandals again at Tricamarum, and Gelimer surrendered in 534, which ended the Vandal kingdom.7

By Procopius' account the expedition had 10,000 infantry and 5,000 cavalry, with Hunnic and Herul mounted archers besides, carried in 500 transports and escorted by 92 warships. Procopius sailed with it as Belisarius' adviser. Bury judges that Ad Decimum was a victory Gelimer handed to his enemy: the Vandal king stopped to mourn his brother, killed early in the fighting, while Belisarius rallied his men.8

Back in Constantinople in 534 Belisarius celebrated a triumph, walking from his house to the Hippodrome with Gelimer among the captives, an honor Bury calls exceptional for a subject. As consul in 535 he was carried through the city in a second triumph in the ancient manner.9

With some fifteen thousand soldiers he destroyed a kingdom in less than a year.

Did Belisarius conquer all of Italy?

No. Between 535 and 540 Belisarius took Sicily, Naples and Rome and entered the Gothic capital, Ravenna, capturing King Vitiges. But the Goths recovered under Totila, his second Italian command in the 540s achieved little, and the war was ended by Narses, who defeated Totila at Taginae in 552.10

He landed in Sicily in 535 and entered Syracuse on the last day of his consulship. In 536 he besieged Naples; an Isaurian soldier found a way through a broken aqueduct, and a party of men crept through it at night and opened the city (about 400 men, later reinforced by 200, according to Procopius). On 9 December 536 the Goths left Rome and Belisarius entered it.11

Vitiges besieged Rome from early 537. Procopius says the emperor's army in the city numbered at most 5,000 men when the siege began. The Goths cut the aqueducts, and Belisarius set the grain mills on boats in the Tiber. The siege lasted a year and nine days, until the Goths burned their camps and withdrew about the spring equinox of 538.12

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

In 538 the eunuch Narses, keeper of the emperor's privy purse, brought about 7,000 men: 5,000 soldiers and 2,000 Herul auxiliaries. He would not act under Belisarius' orders, and after the Goths retook Milan in 539, a loss Bury blames on the divided command, Justinian recalled Narses and confirmed Belisarius as commander in chief.13

In 540 the Goths shut up in Ravenna offered to declare Belisarius emperor of the West. Procopius says he had sworn never to seek the throne in Justinian's lifetime but let it appear that he welcomed the offer; he entered Ravenna in 540, took Vitiges prisoner and held the city for Justinian.14

Belisarius was soon sent back to the Persian front. Returned to Italy in the mid-540s with too few men and too little money, he could not stop Totila and was recalled at the end of the decade. Bury sums up the five years: he had simply sailed about the coasts of Italy.15

What battles did Belisarius win?

Belisarius won pitched battles at Dara in 530 and at Ad Decimum and Tricamarum in 533, took Naples in 536, held Rome through a siege of a year and nine days in 537 and 538 and received the surrender of Ravenna in 540. His last victory came near Constantinople in 559. His best-known defeat was at Callinicum in 531.16

Belisarius' main battles and sieges
Battle or siegeYearEnemyResult
Dara530PersiansVictory
Callinicum531PersiansDefeat
Ad Decimum533VandalsVictory
Tricamarum533VandalsVictory
Naples536OstrogothsCity taken
Rome537-538OstrogothsSiege held
Ravenna540OstrogothsCity surrendered
Melantias (Chettus)559Kutrigur HunsVictory

After Procopius, Bury and Gibbon. The fight of 559 took place near the village of Chettus; the Huns were camped at Melantias. Belisarius also took Sicily in 535 and led a second, poorly supplied Italian campaign in the 540s.17

His record also shows what he did with small forces. In 559 Kutrigur Huns under Zabergan (Gibbon calls them Bulgarians) passed the damaged Long Wall and camped at Melantias, near Constantinople. The aged Belisarius took the field with about 300 veterans of his Italian wars and a crowd of untrained men, set an ambush near the village of Chettus and drove the Hun horsemen off. See how Dara ranks among the greatest battles of the Byzantine Empire.18

Why did Justinian distrust Belisarius?

Justinian relied on Belisarius but never fully trusted him. Bury writes that Belisarius was not always credited with loyalty, even by Justinian himself. Officers in Africa accused him of aiming at the throne in 534; the Goths offered him a crown in 540; and in 562 or 563 men of his household were implicated in a plot against the emperor.19

In 534 Justinian let Belisarius choose between staying in Africa and returning, and Bury notes that he prudently chose to come back. After Ravenna he was recalled again, though he had refused the Gothic offer. Procopius later turned on him: his Secret History, a private attack on Justinian and Theodora, devotes its opening chapters to Belisarius and shows him as weak, ruled by his wife Antonina and unlucky in war.20

Who wrote about Belisarius?

The main witness is Procopius of Caesarea, a trained lawyer who became Belisarius' adviser in 527 and went with him to Persia, Africa and Italy. His History of the Wars is the fullest account of the general's campaigns, but Procopius served on his staff, so he is not an independent witness.21

Bury warns that Procopius' narrative tends to glorify Belisarius. He doubts, for example, that Chosroes left Syria in 542 for fear of Belisarius, as Procopius claims, since the plague is a likelier cause, and Holtgrefe makes the same point.22

Other evidence comes from chronicles. Gibbon names the chronicles of John Malalas and Theophanes as the original record of Belisarius' disgrace and restoration, and Bury cites the same two writers for those events, though he dates them a year earlier than Gibbon does.23

How did Belisarius die?

Belisarius died in March 565, in the last year of Justinian's reign, after a brief disgrace. Followers of his were named in a plot against the emperor, and he was kept in disgrace until he was restored to favor in July 563 by Bury's dating, July 564 by Gibbon's. Bury and Gibbon both treat the charge as unproved.24

The plot was discovered before it could be carried out, and the confessions of the arrested men named two followers of Belisarius. The emperor laid the evidence before a council, and Belisarius had to appear before it. Bury and Gibbon both date his death to March 565, and Bury judges it highly improbable that he was guilty of disloyalty in his old age.25

Was Belisarius really blinded and made to beg?

No. No writer of his own time says he was blinded or made to beg, and the chronicles record that he was restored to favor before he died. The story appears centuries later: Bury traces its earliest mention to the 10th-century Patria of Constantinople, while Gibbon and Holtgrefe point to the 12th-century poet John Tzetzes.26

Gibbon notes that Tzetzes himself had read in other chronicles that Belisarius kept his sight and recovered his fame and fortune. Bury suggests the tale may echo a real 9th-century case of disgraced generals who were blinded and set to beg. Carried to Italy with Greek manuscripts, it was repeated by Renaissance writers, and later artists such as Jacques-Louis David, whose painting opens this page, made it the best-known image of Belisarius.27

Belisarius vs Narses: who was the better general?

They were different commanders. Belisarius conquered Vandal Africa and most of Italy with small armies. Narses, a palace eunuch, came to Italy in 552 with a far larger army, which Bury puts at about 25,000 as a probable figure, and destroyed Totila's Goths at Taginae, finishing the war that Belisarius had left open.28

Compare them with the other great Byzantine commanders, among them the later soldier-emperor Basil II the Bulgar-Slayer, or measure them against the world's best in the greatest military commanders. Then test yourself in the Byzantine battles quiz.

Frequently asked questions

Who was Belisarius?

Belisarius (c. 505 to 565) was the leading general of the Byzantine emperor Justinian I. He beat the Persians at Dara in 530, destroyed the Vandal kingdom in North Africa in 533 and 534 and took much of Italy from the Ostrogoths. His adviser Procopius wrote the history of his wars.

What is Belisarius famous for?

For winning back lost Roman provinces for Justinian with small armies: Vandal North Africa in a single campaign in 533 and 534, then Sicily, Naples, Rome and Ravenna from the Ostrogoths between 535 and 540. He is also remembered for turning down the Goths' offer to make him emperor of the West.

Where was Belisarius born?

Procopius, who served on his staff, says Belisarius was a native of Germania, a place between Thrace and Illyricum in the Balkans. Bury compares it with a town called Germae in Dardania. He was born around 505, since Bury notes that he was about twenty-five when he won at Dara in 530.

Did Belisarius ever lose a battle?

Yes. In 531 a Persian army defeated him on the Euphrates opposite Callinicum, and contemporaries argued over whether he or his officers were to blame. His second Italian campaign in the 540s also failed: with too few men and too little money, he could not stop the Gothic king Totila.

Did Belisarius conquer all of Italy?

No. He took Sicily, Naples, Rome and Ravenna between 535 and 540 and captured King Vitiges, but the Goths recovered under Totila. Belisarius' second command in the 540s achieved little, and the war was finished by the eunuch general Narses, who defeated Totila at Taginae in 552.

Was Belisarius really blinded and made to beg?

No. No writer of his own time says so, and the chronicles record that he was restored to favor after a brief disgrace. The blind beggar is a later legend, first found in the 10th-century Patria of Constantinople according to Bury, or in the 12th-century poet John Tzetzes according to Gibbon.

How did Belisarius die?

He died in March 565, in the last year of Justinian's reign. In 559 he had driven off a Hun raid near Constantinople, but in 562 (Bury) or 563 (Gibbon) men of his household were named in a plot against the emperor and he was disgraced. He was restored to favor the following July and died within two years.

Notes

A number in the text points to a note; each note names the works that paragraph draws on, listed in full under Sources.

  1. J. B. Bury, History of the Later Roman Empire from the Death of Theodosius I to the Death of Justinian; Jon Holtgrefe, Constructing Belisarius; Procopius of Caesarea, History of the Wars. ↩
  2. Procopius of Caesarea, History of the Wars; J. B. Bury, History of the Later Roman Empire from the Death of Theodosius I to the Death of Justinian. ↩
  3. Procopius of Caesarea, History of the Wars; J. B. Bury, History of the Later Roman Empire from the Death of Theodosius I to the Death of Justinian; Jon Holtgrefe, Constructing Belisarius. ↩
  4. Procopius of Caesarea, History of the Wars; J. B. Bury, History of the Later Roman Empire from the Death of Theodosius I to the Death of Justinian. ↩
  5. Procopius of Caesarea, History of the Wars; J. B. Bury, History of the Later Roman Empire from the Death of Theodosius I to the Death of Justinian. ↩
  6. Procopius of Caesarea, History of the Wars; J. B. Bury, History of the Later Roman Empire from the Death of Theodosius I to the Death of Justinian. ↩
  7. Procopius of Caesarea, History of the Wars; J. B. Bury, History of the Later Roman Empire from the Death of Theodosius I to the Death of Justinian. ↩
  8. Procopius of Caesarea, History of the Wars; J. B. Bury, History of the Later Roman Empire from the Death of Theodosius I to the Death of Justinian. ↩
  9. Procopius of Caesarea, History of the Wars; J. B. Bury, History of the Later Roman Empire from the Death of Theodosius I to the Death of Justinian; Jon Holtgrefe, Constructing Belisarius. ↩
  10. Procopius of Caesarea, History of the Wars; J. B. Bury, History of the Later Roman Empire from the Death of Theodosius I to the Death of Justinian. ↩
  11. Procopius of Caesarea, History of the Wars; J. B. Bury, History of the Later Roman Empire from the Death of Theodosius I to the Death of Justinian. ↩
  12. Procopius of Caesarea, History of the Wars; J. B. Bury, History of the Later Roman Empire from the Death of Theodosius I to the Death of Justinian. ↩
  13. Procopius of Caesarea, History of the Wars; J. B. Bury, History of the Later Roman Empire from the Death of Theodosius I to the Death of Justinian. ↩
  14. Procopius of Caesarea, History of the Wars; J. B. Bury, History of the Later Roman Empire from the Death of Theodosius I to the Death of Justinian. ↩
  15. J. B. Bury, History of the Later Roman Empire from the Death of Theodosius I to the Death of Justinian; Jon Holtgrefe, Constructing Belisarius. ↩
  16. Procopius of Caesarea, History of the Wars; J. B. Bury, History of the Later Roman Empire from the Death of Theodosius I to the Death of Justinian; Edward Gibbon, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. ↩
  17. Procopius of Caesarea, History of the Wars; J. B. Bury, History of the Later Roman Empire from the Death of Theodosius I to the Death of Justinian; Edward Gibbon, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. ↩
  18. J. B. Bury, History of the Later Roman Empire from the Death of Theodosius I to the Death of Justinian; Edward Gibbon, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. ↩
  19. J. B. Bury, History of the Later Roman Empire from the Death of Theodosius I to the Death of Justinian; Procopius of Caesarea, History of the Wars. ↩
  20. J. B. Bury, History of the Later Roman Empire from the Death of Theodosius I to the Death of Justinian; Procopius of Caesarea, History of the Wars; Procopius of Caesarea, The Secret History. ↩
  21. Procopius of Caesarea, History of the Wars; J. B. Bury, History of the Later Roman Empire from the Death of Theodosius I to the Death of Justinian; Jon Holtgrefe, Constructing Belisarius. ↩
  22. J. B. Bury, History of the Later Roman Empire from the Death of Theodosius I to the Death of Justinian; Jon Holtgrefe, Constructing Belisarius. ↩
  23. Edward Gibbon, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire; J. B. Bury, History of the Later Roman Empire from the Death of Theodosius I to the Death of Justinian. ↩
  24. J. B. Bury, History of the Later Roman Empire from the Death of Theodosius I to the Death of Justinian; Edward Gibbon, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire; Jon Holtgrefe, Constructing Belisarius. ↩
  25. J. B. Bury, History of the Later Roman Empire from the Death of Theodosius I to the Death of Justinian; Edward Gibbon, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. ↩
  26. J. B. Bury, History of the Later Roman Empire from the Death of Theodosius I to the Death of Justinian; Edward Gibbon, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire; Jon Holtgrefe, Constructing Belisarius. ↩
  27. Edward Gibbon, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire; J. B. Bury, History of the Later Roman Empire from the Death of Theodosius I to the Death of Justinian; Jon Holtgrefe, Constructing Belisarius. ↩
  28. Procopius of Caesarea, History of the Wars; J. B. Bury, History of the Later Roman Empire from the Death of Theodosius I to the Death of Justinian. ↩

Sources

  • J. B. Bury, History of the Later Roman Empire from the Death of Theodosius I to the Death of Justinian, vol. 2 (Macmillan, 1923), chapters 15 to 20 and 24, online at LacusCurtius.
  • Jon Holtgrefe, Constructing Belisarius: His Life in Context, honors thesis (Miami University, Oxford, Ohio, 2009), online at OhioLINK ETD Center.
  • Procopius of Caesarea, History of the Wars, Books 1-2 (Persian War), 3-4 (Vandalic War), 5-8 (Gothic War), trans. H. B. Dewing (Loeb Classical Library, Harvard University Press, 1914-1928), online at LacusCurtius.
  • Edward Gibbon, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, chapter 43 and its note 69, online at CCEL.
  • Procopius of Caesarea, The Secret History (anonymous translation, Athenian Society, 1896), online at Project Gutenberg.

Written from established histories; where the sources disagree we say so. See our editorial policy.

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