At one point in the Gothic War during the reign of Justinian, the Romans (or as we would now call them, “Byzantines”) under Belisarius were besieging a Gothic garrison at the town of Osimo in Italy. The blockade of the town was very effective, and the inhabitants had been reduced to eating almost anything to stay alive. But they were hoping to get some relief from the siege; their plan was to beg the Gothic commander Vittigis at the city of Ravenna to come to their aid.
The historian Procopius relates some unusual combat injuries of the Gothic War, which took place from 535 to 554 A.D. as part of the emperor Justinian’s attempt to bring back the Italic peninsula and its environs back into the Roman fold. A few incidents stand out as worth of relation here. In our modern age of firearms and high-velocity projectile weapons, we forget that battlefield wounds from swords, javelins, and spears had their own bizarre qualities.
Any fortress can be stormed, and any city can be taken. It is a matter of using the correct tactics, combined with daring and imaginative leadership. Some citadels fall to guile, and others to brute force; still others yield to a combination of the two. We will consider the fall of Naples, an event that took place during the Gothic War (A.D. 535-554). This was one of the emperor Justinian’s wars to reassert imperial control over Italy from the occupying Goths.
Gelimer lived from about 480 to 550 A.D. and was the ruler of the Vandal kingdom in North Africa for four years from 530 to 534. The emperor Justinian aspired to restore Roman control over the region, and to this end sent his general Belisarius to expel the barbarian trespassers. This he did. Gelimer was also captured for good measure, and transported back to Byzantium as a prize of war.
The outlines of the following story appear in Procopius’s Wars (II.12.8).
The Assyrian king Abgar V governed a region that had its capital at the city of Edessa. The exact dates of his birth and death are not known, but he apparently ruled from around 4 B.C. to 7 A.D. and again from about 15 A.D. to 30 A.D. He was an ally and friend of the Roman Empire; the emperor Augustus knew him well and valued his counsel on Near Eastern affairs.
There are some weapons that have become so identified with an era or organization that one only needs to lay eyes on them to be reminded of the same. The Soviet PPSh-41 is one such weapon. Its ribbed, chromed barrel, drum magazine, sturdy wooden stock, and downward sloping muzzle are all instantly recognizable. If an historian had to pick one infantry weapon to symbolize the Red Army of the Second World War, he would unhesitatingly pick the PPSh-41 (affectionately known as “Pah-pah-sha” to its users).
Ibn Abi Duwad was a judge (القاضي) who was born in Basra around A.D. 776. He lived during the reign of the eighth Abbasid caliph Al-Mu’tasim. An Arabic historian relates the following wise sayings of his, along with an amusing anecdote. We will relate them here.
In the year 530 the Eastern Roman (i.e., Byzantine) Empire was engaged in a limited frontier war with its traditional enemy, the Sassanid Persians. The two great empires had a long history of border clashes, as each constantly was testing the resolution of the other. One of the engagements that took place in this year was the Battle of Dara, and it was fought in what is now eastern Georgia in the Caucasus mountains.
Peroz I (or Pirouz) was a Persian king who wore the royal diadem from about A.D. 459 to 484. The Greek historian Procopius (I.4.18) relates a great fable about him and his pearl, which we will reproduce here. As is often the case with these enchanting old tales, the reader will be asked to suspend his credulity as to the fable’s literal truth, while being mindful of its deeper purpose as a moral exemplar.
The compound known as “Greek fire” was the Byzantine navy’s secret weapon. It was a flammable liquid hydrocarbon that could be blown through tubes, thrown in sealed pots, or poured on the heads of soldiers attacking fortifications. Its precise composition was a state secret; and this was kept so well that even now we are not certain of its ingredients.
Quintus Curtius 
You must be logged in to post a comment.