Belisarius: The Last Roman General (15 page)

Callinicum was a completely different sort of battle. Not being constrained by the objective of capturing a town, and not having any slow-moving infantry present, the Persians retained a complete fluidity of movement, enabling them to retain the strategic and tactical initiative. Furthermore, Belisarius did not have the time to examine the battlefield, plan a strategy and dig the trenches that he had at Dara. A further difficulty was that Belisarius personally took position on the lower ground, not on the hill, and he was therefore unable to see the enemy’s tactical movement, which would have indicated a concentration of forces on his right flank.

In a similar manner to the battle at Dara, the Persians attempted to locate the Byzantine weak point, but in this case they succeeded in doing so, and then manoeuvred superior numbers of quality troops into a position from where they could attack with superior numbers. Once the Byzantine right wing had collapsed, the Persians simply rolled up the enemy from right to left, making sure to maintain their local superiority in numbers. As a further point, it must be noted that Belisarius again fought a tactically defensive battle. On this occasion, his personal deployment and tactics were poor. He placed himself in a position from where he could not observe the battlefield, and failed to keep a force in reserve to counter any Sasanid threat. As a result he was heavily defeated.

At the Battle of Callinicum we have two versions of Belisarius’ actions as the tide of the battle turned against him. In Procopius, he dismounted and joined the infantry, fighting until the Persians withdrew and the infantry could cross the Euphrates and escape. Malalas has him fleeing from the field and leaving the infantry to their fate. We need to establish which one is true.

It is believed that Procopius did not give the true version of events, possibly in order to defend Belisarius from criticism. The main reason for this belief is that Procopius remains silent about the enquiry that was held under Constantiolus following the battle. We know from other sources, including Malalas (Malalas, 466) and Zacharias (Zach,
HE,
ix.6.17), that the enquiry took place, and that Belisarius was blamed for the reverses at Tanurin and Callinicum. Belisarius attributed the defeat at Callinicum to the impetuous request of his troops to fight, a claim supported by Hermogenes, who reported this version to the emperor (Malalas, 465). Belisarius was subsequently cleared of blame by the enquiry and joined the emperor in Constantinople. Nevertheless, he had lost his post as
magister utriusque militum per Orientem
and had been recalled by the emperor to Constantinople. He would not take part in the Persian war for a long time.

Chapter 5

The Nika Riots and Marriage

The Nika Riots

Whilst the Persian War was being fought in the east, Justinian was busy in Constantinople. Once he felt secure on the throne, Justinian began a major overhaul of the system acquired from his predecessors.

One of the most dramatic reforms undertaken was that of the law courts. Justinian ordered Tribunianus to head a commission to codify the vast accumulation of laws that had amassed over the preceding centuries. Their efforts were published in three books: the
Code
was published in 529, and the
Digest
or
Pandects
in 533. Following the
Digest,
there was a need to revise the
Code,
and the revision was published in 534. Also published in 533 was
Institutes,
a handbook for students in the law schools of Constantinople, Beirut and elsewhere. The whole purpose was to make the vast edifice of the laws accessible to every magistrate in a simplified version in manageable divisions. A last publication was the
Novels,
published after the rest and concerned solely with new legislation under Justinian dealing with areas where the
Code
was found wanting. Most of these publications would not be of importance in the life of Belisarius except for one major difficulty; imperial bureaucrats did not like change.

Unfortunately, despite his education and skill, Tribunianus began to acquire a reputation for greed, ensuring that lawsuits were decided in favour of either friends or the highest bidders. The general population gained an increasingly antagonistic view of him.

When he came to the throne, Justinian found that he had not inherited a healthy monetary situation. In order to remedy this, he placed John the Cappadocian in the post of praetorian prefect with orders to fill the treasury and reduce the cost of the civil service. John began to implement taxation in a new, ruthless manner which quickly earned him a reputation for greed and deviousness. His tax reforms also put a stop to many of the forms of bribery common in the civil service. This caused more unrest, since it was noted that John himself was becoming increasingly rich. Slowly, the general population began to feel the effects of John’s policies.

As discussed previously, John’s reforms of the civil service alienated many of the nobles, who lost both their income and their status when they lost their positions. They quickly swelled the ranks of the Greens – the faction associated
with the civil service – while others who were disillusioned joined the Blues. The disaffected quickly found their voice in the growing circus factions, who over a limited amount of time became more and more of a problem.

In response, and because after five years on the throne he felt secure and able to rule without outside approval, Justinian now took measures to curb the influence and behaviour of the circus factions, both the Blues and Greens. The Blues understandably felt betrayed, whilst the Greens – swollen by the ranks of unemployed bureaucrats – perceived it as a further sign of imperial oppression.

The two factions became increasingly restive until on 10 June 532 they came to blows in the Hippodrome. Justinian sent in the troops and seven ringleaders were arrested and condemned to death. However, when they were taken down from the scaffold two were found to be still alive. They were rescued by a group of monks and taken to the monastery of St Lawrence. Unwilling to enter the monastery using violence, the city prefect, Eudaimon, posted armed guards outside the monastery in order to starve them out.

Unfortunately for Justinian, the two men were a Green and a Blue. Finding themselves with a common cause, the two factions united. When Justinian appeared in the Hippodrome three days later there was uproar. The two factions chanted ‘Nika! Nika!’ (‘Victory! Victory!’) and Justinian quickly realised that the chants were directed at him. The races began, but there was no reduction in the tension. Finally the races were abandoned and the crowd poured out of the Hippodrome, and headed to the palace of the city prefect. They killed the guards, freed all of the prisoners kept inside and then set fire to the building. They then continued to the praetorian prefecture, the senate house and the baths of Zeuxippus and those of Alexander, finishing at the churches of St Irene and St Sophia. All of these building and more were soon engulfed in flames.

On the second day the mob returned to the Hippodrome, calling for the removal of John of Cappadocia, Tribunianus and Eudaimon. Justinian granted their wish, but this did not placate the rioters; on the third day they demanded a new emperor – Probus, Anastasius’ nephew – and when they found that he had left the city they set fire to his house and the revolt continued.

Tension remained high and on 18 January Justinian faced the mob in the Hippodrome, assuming full responsibility and promising an amnesty if the rioters now returned to peaceful ways. Unlike Anastasius twenty years before, Justinian was not held in reverence and his appeal failed.

The rioters now decided upon a new emperor. Anastasius had two more nephews available, both of whom were resident in the palace. However Justinian, possibly fearful of an assassination attempt, refused to allow them to remain. Despite their protests that should they be found by the mob they would be unwillingly forced to assume the crown, they were made to leave. Found by the rioters, the elderly Hypatius, who had had a distinguished military career, was taken to the Hippodrome. Having no imperial regalia, a necklet was appropriated from one of the crowd in place of a diadem and Hypatius was declared emperor.

In contrast to these events, according to the
Pascal Chronicle
(p. 339) sanity had begun to return to many of the Blues. They now began to become dismayed at the deeds taking place in their name, and realised that events had gone too far. Slowly, singly or in small groups, they began to leave the Hippodrome and return to their homes. Furthermore, the aged eunuch Narses – who had also remained loyal to Justinian – began to distribute gifts to members of the Blues. These either decided to return home or began to argue with the mob concerning the crowning of Hypatius.

According to Procopius, Justinian, unaware of this slow turn of the tide, now lost his nerve and prepared to leave; not only were the mob against him, the soldiers stationed in the palace had decided to remain neutral in the affair, neither helping nor hindering Justinian but simply waiting upon the turn of events. It was at this point that Theodora stood forth and made an impassioned speech for Justinian to stay and fight (Proc,
Wars,
I.xxiv.32-7).

Present in the palace were two of the emperor’s loyal generals: Mundus, a Gepid with a sizeable force of Herul mercenaries, and Belisarius, with his
comitatus,
newly returned from the east. Accordingly, Mundus exited the palace by the Snail Gate whilst Belisarius headed towards the emperor’s box in the Hippodrome along the short private route the emperors were accustomed to use. At the entrance to the Hippodrome there were soldiers stationed according to custom, but, when Belisarius called to them to open the door so that he could arrest Hypatius, they pretended not to hear him and stuck by their choice of neutrality. Baffled by their refusal to obey, Belisarius returned to Justinian and informed him that the troops were rebelling.

Justinian now ordered Belisarius to exit via the Bronze Gate and complete his mission. Clambering over the still-smoking ruins of the buildings in the area, Belisarius finally reached the Blue Colonnade and determined to take the narrow route via a small door to ascend to the royal seat and arrest Hypatius. However, the door was closed and held by men loyal to Hypatius. Belisarius did not want to attack, since he was worried that the defenders would hold him and that he would then be attacked from the rear by the rioters. He therefore determined to attack the rioters instead, as they were mainly unarmed civilians.

As a consequence, he bypassed the door and, followed by his
comitatus
of veterans from the east, he charged the mob. Unsurprisingly, they retreated amidst loud cries and screams. Attracted by the screams and seeing Belisarius and his men assaulting the rioters, Mundus gave the order for his own men to charge the crowd from where they were standing on the other side through the Gate of Death.

At this point Narses stationed his men at the exits in order to trap the rioters in the Hippodrome. A slaughter now ensued. Over 30,000 people died, and Hypatius and his brother Pompeius were arrested and executed, their lands and property being confiscated by Justinian. Later, possibly realising that they had had little control over events, Justinian returned the majority of the lands and property to their sons (Proc,
Wars,
I.xxiv.40-58).

So ended the Nika riots. Within a few weeks John of Cappadocia and Tribunianus had been reinstated, although their excesses were severely curtailed. However, whilst Tribunianus was to live for many years until he died from disease, and kept within the restraints laid down, John retained his brutal habits until brought down ten years later by the machinations of the Empress Theodora (Proc,
Wars,
I.xxv.1-36).

With the war against Persia over and the population of Constantinople cowed, Justinian felt free to undertake other adventures.

Marriage to Antonina

No details survive concerning the meeting, courtship or marriage of Belisarius and Antonina. Procopius nowhere mentions Antonina during the narrative of
the Persian War, and she is not referred to in the passages concerning the Nika Riots. Given the fact that she travelled with Belisarius throughout the Vandalic War it is therefore assumed that the marriage took place after the riots but before Belisarius set sail for Africa. Although this is accepted – especially as she would most likely have been referred to in the sources – the argument is based on negative evidence; that she is not mentioned does not necessarily mean that she was not present during the episode of the Nika riots. Unfortunately, without further documentation, the matter must remain unclear.