On this day in history: Belisarius smashes the retreating Goths: End of the siege of Rome, AD 538

Gloria Romanorum ^ | 3/12/18 | Florentius

[Antoninus]

Of all Belisarius’s victories, the defeat of the great Gothic host under King Vittiges which had besieged Rome from February of AD 537 through March of AD 538 must rank as his greatest feat. In this, he was able to defend successfully a gigantic city that had been considered indefensible against a siege while outnumbered at least 20 to 1 – and maybe more.

March 12 is the date commonly given for the break-up of the siege, when the remnants of the great Gothic army pulled up stakes and retreated for Ravenna. For the previous few months, they had sat quietly before Rome parlaying with Belisarius and looking to negotiate a face-saving treaty. However, time was not on their side. Pestilence was rampant in the Gothic camps and provisions were becoming harder and harder to extract from the devastated countryside around Rome.

Plus, Belisarius had sent a sizable portion of his cavalry under the command of John, the nephew of Vitalian (otherwise known as Bloody John), around the Gothic flank to occupy key cities along the route to Ravenna, the capital of the Gothic kingdom. Worse, rumors were rampant that the disgruntled queen of the Goths, Matasuntha, had made favorable overtures to John to betray Ravenna into his hands. When word of this maneuver reached Vittiges, he acted quickly, fearing that his escape route might be cut off, and his capital and treasure might fall into the hands of his enemies.

Here is how Procopius, an eyewitness to events, described what happened next:

Now it was about the spring equinox, and one year had been spent in the siege and nine days in addition, when the Goths, having burned all their camps, set out at daybreak.

[The entry on Pope Silverius in the Liber Pontificalis gives a date for the beginning of the Siege as February 21, AD 537. Thus, it seems from Procopius’s reckoning that the siege broke up some time in early-to-mid March in AD 538. Procopius continues:]

And the Romans, seeing their opponents in flight, were at a loss how to deal with the situation. For it so happened that the majority of the horsemen were not present at the time, since they had been sent to various places as has been stated by me above, and they did not think that by themselves, the were a match for so great a multitude of the enemy. However, Belisarius armed all the infantry and cavalry. And when he saw that more than half of the enemy had crossed the bridge, he led the army out through the small Pincian Gate, and the hand-to-hand battle which ensued proved to be equal to any that preceded it.

At the beginning, the barbarians [that is, the Goths] withstood their enemy vigorously, and many on both sides fell in the first encounter. But afterwards the Goths turned to flight and brought upon themselves a great and overwhelming calamity; for each man for himself was rushing to cross the [Milvian] bridge first. As a result of this they became very much crowded and suffered most cruelly, for they were being killed both by each other and by the enemy. Many, too, fell off the bridge on either side into the Tiber, sank with all their arms, and perished.

Finally, after losing in this way the most of their number, the remainder joined those who had crossed before. And Longinus the Isaurian and Mudilas, the guards of Belisarius, made themselves conspicuous for their valor in the battle. But while Mundilas, after engaging with four barbarians in turn and killing them all, was himself saved, Longinus having proved himself the chief cause of the rout of the enemy, fell where he fought, leaving the Roman army great regret for his loss. [Taken from: Procopius: History of the Wars, Book VI, Chapter X].

It is notable that Belisarius used tactics similar to those of Constantine the Great some 200 years before when he defeated the armies of Maxentius at the Milvian Bridge. In both cases, the victorious army was able to stampede their retreating enemies toward the bridge and use it as a choke-point. Once the rout was on, the defeated troops trampled their own comrades and pushed them off the bridge in their haste to cross the Tiber and reach safety on the other side. Given that Belisarius seemed a student of military history, it would be no surprise if he were cognizant of Constantine's victory when planning his attack on the fleeing Goths.

[Antoninus]

On this day in history, 1.481 years ago.

[Da Coyote]

“Rommel, you magnificent SOB, I read your d*mned book.”

[treetopsandroofs]

Belisarius’s loss to Mark Harmon disappointed me more, after which Harmon’s gelding Dinozzo and McGee, killing off the Jews, and the ultra-incompetent Bishop drove me away from NCIS.

[z3n]

And Longinus the Isaurian and Mudilas, the guards of Belisarius, made themselves conspicuous for their valor in the battle.

~~~

Did he have the spear of destiny?

So you have a hasty retreat that wasn’t even necessarily to safety, and you weren’t controlling your flanks and choke points. Ouch

[Da Coyote]

Heh, good one!

[Pining_4_TX]

Thanks, that was quite interesting.

[dangus]

Not only that, he created Airwolf. (And JAG, And NCIS, And Quantum Leap...)

[Antoninus]

So you have a hasty retreat that wasn’t even necessarily to safety, and you weren’t controlling your flanks and choke points. Ouch

I'm not sure the retreat was hasty, but it was necessary. Based on my reading of the history, Vittiges didn't think for a second that the small force of defenders remaining in Rome would dare to attack his full army on the march.

[Spok]

Why do they make movies about comic book characters when there’s so much real history that tell more fantastic but true stories?

[Fiji Hill]

The Milvian Bridge today

[Antoninus]

Why do they make movies about comic book characters when there’s so much real history that tell more fantastic but true stories?

That is so true. The South Koreans do both. They make comic books about their heroes (such as Admiral Yi Soon Shin of turtle-ship fame) and then make incredible TV series about them.

I would encourage western entertainment media to follow suit, but our entertainment mavens can't make historical works without saturating it with SJW cr@p and/or porn. They suck.

[Reily]

An excellent read though somewhat questionable in its historical accuracy is the Robert Grave’s novel “Count Belisarius”.

Perhaps the greatest and least known general of late antiquity.

[PGR88]

Belisarius was a great general who achieved a lot for Justinian - but didn’t his public life eventually end in disgrace and disfavor of the crown?

[Reily]

I saw that TV series! It’s unbelievably good!
You can get it off Amazon.

I have never understood why a movie have never been done on Justinian & Theodora! It would be a great story on the screen. High ranking Roman falls in love with a prostitute\actress later become Emperor & Empress. The Byzantines if anything were colorful, had the Roman sense of pageantry.

In fact you could do multiple movies! One with them as heroes & one with them as villains! Their actual lives were that multisided! (What would you expect they were late Antiquity/dark Age Emperor & Empress and successful rules! They have to be both!)

[Antoninus]

I have never understood why a movie have never been done on Justinian & Theodora! It would be a great story on the screen. High ranking Roman falls in love with a prostitute\actress later become Emperor & Empress. The Byzantines if anything were colorful, had the Roman sense of pageantry.

Agree. Justinian is also a rags-to-riches story with plenty of intrigue to go around. I think our Hollyweird friends can't tolerate the fact that he was also a very devout Orthodox Catholic. That makes him not particularly useful as a hero for them.

Constantine's life would also make outstanding fodder for a TV series -- if told correctly.

[Verginius Rufus]

Supposedly he ended as a beggar outside Constantinople. A political cartoon from 1767 mocking Britain's mistreatment of its North American colonies shows Belisarius with limbs chopped off seated on the ground. There is a sash reading Date obolum Bellisario ("Give a penny to Belisarius").

[Verginius Rufus]

Read Procopius' Secret History. Theodora was the Hillary Clinton of her day.

But that may be unfair to Theodora.

[Antoninus]

Read Procopius' Secret History. Theodora was the Hillary Clinton of her day.

I've read it several times. I consider it the equivalent of the Weekly World News of Constantinople. It accuses Justinian of, among other things, being a demon in human form, walking around the palace at night without a head, of being able to transform his face into a shapeless mass of flesh, and being responsible for the death of a trillion people.

Honestly, I don't think Procopius actually wrote it but it was an expertly done ancient forgery by Justinian's enemies that used his name to add credibility.

[morphing libertarian]

Thanx

[Antoninus]

Belisarius was a great general who achieved a lot for Justinian - but didn’t his public life eventually end in disgrace and disfavor of the crown?

Well, Belisarius was disgraced for a period of time toward the end of his career according to the contemporary sources. It's doubtful that he was blinded, as the story goes. The sources are unclear. But it seems he ended his life in Justinian's good graces.

This aspect of Belisarius's life was turned into something of an historical fantasy by the pre-Revolutionary French author Marmontel who used it as an anti-royalist allegory for his own time.