Belisarius

Belisarius (c. 505-565), Byzantine general, one of the great military leaders of history, born in Illyria. He was given command by Emperor Justinian I and first distinguished himself in action against the Sasanians of Persia in 530, when he defeated an army vastly outnumbering his own. In 532, when strife between political factions in Constantinople (the so-called Nika riots) endangered the throne and the empire, Belisarius, at the head of the imperial lifeguards, quelled the insurrection, allegedly by the slaughter of more than 30,000 rebels. In 533 he was sent to North Africa to campaign against the Vandals, who had ruled it for a century and had spread terror and destruction throughout the Mediterranean. Belisarius conquered their kingdom in one year, bringing their king back to Constantinople as a prisoner. He next took Sicily and then recovered Italy from the Ostrogoths, whose king he captured at Ravenna in 540. Except for 541-542, when he again fought the Persians, Belisarius battled the Ostrogoths in Italy until 548, when his command, owing to intrigues at court and Justinian's jealousy, was transferred to his rival, Narses. Ten years later he was recalled to repel a Bulgarian invasion that threatened Constantinople. In 562 Justinian imprisoned him for several months on an accusation of conspiracy, but the legend that he was blinded is unfounded. He lived out his last years in peace.