Bélisaire, by François-André Vincent (1776). Belisarius, blinded, a beggar, is recognized by one of his former soldiers.
Belisarius Begging for Alms, as depicted in popular legend, in the painting by Jacques-Louis David (1781)
The outcast Belisarius receiving hospitality from a Peasant by Jean-François Pierre Peyron (1779)
Bélisaire, by François-André Vincent (1776). Belisarius, blinded, a beggar, is recognized by one of his former soldiers.
Belisarius Begging for Alms, as depicted in popular legend, in the painting by Jacques-Louis David (1781)
The outcast Belisarius receiving hospitality from a Peasant by Jean-François Pierre Peyron (1779)
Little is known of Belisarius’s early years. He was probably born about 506 in Illyria (the western part of the Balkan Peninsula) to poor parents. Some traditions assign him an unlikely Slavic background, but his exact origins is undocumented. Belisarius’ native tongue was Thracian with Latin as his second language.
As a teenage Belisarius was recruited to the Byzantine army. As a member of Justinian's bodyguard, he came to the emperor's attention, and he was appointed to a command at about the age of 25.
Belisarius won his first battle as a commander against the empire's eastern neighbour and rival, Sasanian Persia. A brilliant victory at Dara in 530 was followed by the defeat the following year at Sura (Callinicum). Belisarius gained the emperor's confidence again during the Nika Insurrection which broke out in Constantinople in January 532. He commanded the troops that ended the episode by massacring the rioters.
In 533 Belisarius was sent with a small force against the Vandals to win back African provinces to the empire and 'liberate' Trinitarian (Nicene) Christians from the perceived tyranny of the Vandals who practiced Arian Christianity. Belisarius landed his forces in North Africa and marched toward Carthage, the capital of the Vandal kingdom. Within a few months In two stunning victories, he shattered the Vandal kingdom.
In 535 Belisarius was sent against the Ostrogoths in Italy. Belisarius took Sicily first in 535 and then Naples and Rome in 536. Revitalized under their new king, Witigis, the Goths besieged Rome in 537 - 538, but Belisarius held out there brilliantly. In 540, Belisarius took the city of Ravenna and secured Witigis as a prisoner. The Goths, hard-pressed, offered to surrender if Belisarius would rule over them as emperor. Justinian had already come to fear that so popular a commander might win sufficient prestige to aim at his throne. Dissembling, Belisarius accepted the Goths' capitulation and then refused the title.
The emperor recalled him from Italy in temporary disfavour but sent him in the following year to fight again in Mesopotamia against the Sasanians. While he was off fighting the Sasanians, the situation in Italy had worsened. The Byzantine officials, whom Justinian had given governorship to, had so misused their powers that a Gothic uprising, led by a charismatic, nationalist Ostrogoth named Totila had thrown the region into chaos. Totila was chosen as the Ostrogoth king and proceeded to drive out the Byzantines and claim Italy as his own kingdom.
Belisarius was reassigned there in 544, but Justinian, more suspicious than ever, would not back him with sufficient men and money. Belisarius operated insecurely around the Italian coasts for the next few years, even briefly holding Rome once more, but effective opposition to the Ostrogoths was impossible. The Italian wars were left to be completed by other generals, notably the eunuch Narses, who would receive Justinian's fuller support.
Back in Constantinople, he retired from military service in 551. In 553, during the Second Ecumenical Council of Constantinople, he remained one of the envoys of Justinian to Pope Vigilius in their Three-Chapter Controversy.
Belisarius was recalled from retirement by Justinian in 559 after the armies of Kutrigurs, commanded by Zabergan, crossed the frozen Danube during the winter of 558 and invaded Moesia, thereby threatening Constantinople. Belisarius led a force of just 300 veterans along with some locally raised levies, to defeat and drive away the Kutrigurs from the Theodosian Walls. It marked as his last battle.
Even after all his service to Justinian I, Belisarius was accused of corruption and imprisoned in 562. Justinian I pardoned him, however, and restored him to his previous standing and honour at the Byzantine court. Belisarius died of natural causes in 565, within only a few weeks of Justinian I, at his estate just outside Constantinople.
Belisarius is remembered as one of the greatest military commanders in history and is regularly compared with the most celebrated generals of all time. Considered one of the last significant military figures in the Roman tradition, Belisarius' growth had been phenomenal, starting as a royal bodyguard to advancing to military command. Mentioned frequently among the "Last of the Romans," Belisarius was a military genius whose military campaigns were mostly successful. He played an important role in re-conquering most of the former Western Roman Empire’s Mediterranean territory in Justinian's wars of re-conquest of the lost empire. He put down the Nika uprising in Constantinople and commanded Byzantine forces against the Persians, Vandals, Goths, and Bulgars, serving the empire nobly and faithfully until his death.
As a native Latin speaker Belisarius followed in the tradition begun in the Roman Republican period of having Latin-speaking commanders leading Latin-speaking troops, and as such he would have been acknowledged as an heir by the Roman commanders of old.
Quotations: "For not by numbers of men, nor by measure of body, but by valor of soul is war to be decided."
Belisarius was merciful as a conqueror, stern as a disciplinarian, enterprising and wary as a general; while his courage, loyalty and forbearance seem to have been almost unsullied. He was the idol of his soldiers, a good tactician, but not a great strategist. Two primary impulses guided his life: loyalty to Justinian and passion for his wife, Antonina. Despite the treatment he often received from Justinian, Belisarius never wavered in his obedience, contributing one of the nobler dimensions to Justinian's era.
Belisarius's reputation endured for centuries, and later legends, often mixed with stories about others, developed about him. The most famous had him actually blinded by Justinian and forced to beg in the streets in his old age. This myth, however, has no basis in fact even though many works of art, such as Jacque-Louis David's painting Belisarius, have depicted it as historical truth. As a result, the blind Belisarius became a popular subject amongst painters of that period who saw a parallel between the action of Justinian and that of contemporary rulers.
Quotes from others about the person
Will Durant: "No general since Caesar ever won so many victories with such limited resources of men and funds; few ever surpassed him in strategy or tactics, in popularity with his men and mercy to his foes; perhaps it merits note that the greatest generals - Alexander, Caesar, Belisarius, Saladin, Napoleon - found clemency a mighty engine of war."
Belisarius married Antonina, who had great influence over him. Procopius, in the first five chapters of his Secret History, presents Belisarius as a cuckold husband dominated by his wife. Procopius claimed that Antonina had love affair with the couple's adopted son, Theodosius. According to Italian historian Paolo Cesaretti, Antonina was a controversial figure and "right arm" of Empress Theodora, wife of Justinian, in exercising power. Antonina, though unfaithful, had great influence at court, which was valuable when Justinian grew suspicious of Belisarius.
