Belisarius

Belisarius was a Byzantine general under Emperor Justinian I who led campaigns against Persia, the Vandals, and the Ostrogoths. His victories restored Byzantine rule over parts of the former Western Roman Empire.

Vandalic War: The Byzantine campaign of 533–534 that destroyed the Vandal kingdom in North Africa. Belisarius’s swift victory returned Carthage and North Africa to imperial rule.
Bucellarii: Elite, privately maintained soldiers who served as a commander’s personal guard and field force in late Roman and Byzantine armies. Belisarius relied on his own bucellarii as a disciplined core within imperial forces.
Justinian I: Byzantine emperor from 527 to 565, known for legal codification, building projects, and wars to recover former Roman territories. Justinian appointed Belisarius and set the reconquest policy his campaigns served.
Antonina: A Byzantine court figure and wife of Belisarius who accompanied him on several military campaigns. Antonina’s presence in the field and her court connections influenced accounts of Belisarius’s career.
Secret History (Procopius): A work by Procopius that sharply criticizes Justinian, Theodora, and other figures of the Byzantine court. Its hostile portrayal complicates the more favorable picture of Belisarius in Procopius’s war histories.
Gothic War (535–554): The prolonged Byzantine war to conquer Italy from the Ostrogoths. Belisarius captured Rome and Ravenna before the war continued under other commanders.
Byzantine military: The armed forces and military institutions of the Byzantine Empire. Belisarius’s campaigns drew on the empire’s professional troops, logistics, and command structure.
Byzantine–Sasanian wars: A series of conflicts between the Byzantine and Sasanian Persian empires over territory and influence. Belisarius first established his reputation fighting Persia on the empire’s eastern frontier.
Theodora: Byzantine empress and wife of Justinian I, influential in imperial politics during the sixth century. Belisarius and Antonina were connected to Theodora’s court and patronage networks.
History of the Wars (Procopius): Procopius’s account of the wars fought during Justinian I’s reign. It provides the fullest contemporary narrative of Belisarius’s major campaigns.

Linked from 21 pages