Italy he failed to confront the resurgent Goths and was largely responsible for the loss of Rome in 546. Returning east in disgrace, despite his advanced age he was appointed as commander in the Lazic War. There he redeemed himself with the recapture of Petra, but his subsequent idleness led Justinian to dismiss him and exile him to Abasgia
.
Origin
According to the contemporary historian
Italy, then held by Odoacer.[1][2] Procopius remarks on his fluency in Gothic,[1][3] but another contemporary writer, Jordanes, claims that he hailed from the settlement of Castra Martis, comprising Sarmatians, Cemandrians, and certain of the Huns (Getica 265).[1] This evidence has been variously interpreted, with most modern commentators leaning towards a Gothic identity.[4] Nevertheless, according to Patrick Amory, it is impossible from the sources at hand to draw any definite conclusion about his ethnicity. Amory maintains that Bessas was a typical example of the "blurry ethnographic identity" evidenced in 6th-century Balkan populations, especially among the military.[5]
Career in the east
Map of the Byzantine-Persian frontier area.
Very little is known of Bessas' early life and career: he joined the
mines, but the garrison, under Bessas and Bouzes, held firm. Finally, the approach of winter, the arrival of large Byzantine forces at nearby Amida, and the news of the death of Kavadh forced the Persian commanders to raise the siege (in November or December).[1][8] Soon after their withdrawal, a force of Sabir Huns, who the Persians had hired as mercenaries, invaded Roman territory and raided as far as Antioch, but Bessas caught one of their raiding parties and destroyed it, capturing 500 horses and much booty.[1][9]
Actions in Italy
In 535, Bessas was appointed as one of
Apennines to Rome, and there met and defeated the Gothic vanguard in a skirmish.[13][14]
During the
patricius.[13] In early 538, Bessas had protected Belisarius when the general Constantine tried to kill him during a dispute,[13][15] but by 540, when Belisarius was preparing to enter Ravenna under pretense of accepting the Gothic offer to become Emperor of the West, he clearly felt that Bessas could not be trusted, and sent him, along with other troublemaking generals such as John and Narses, to occupy remote locations in Italy.[13][16]
Following the departure of Belisarius in mid-540, Bessas remained in Italy. Justinian did not appoint an overall commander to replace Belisarius, and as a result the various Byzantine generals left in Italy failed to co-ordinate their actions. Instead of subduing the last remnants of the Ostrogoths in northern Italy, they retreated to the safety of various fortified cities, allowing the Goths to gather around a new leader,
Faventia by Totila's Goths. The Goths then invaded Tuscany and threatened Florence, held by the general Justin. Bessas, along with John and Cyprian, marched to Justin's aid. The Goths retreated before the Byzantine reinforcements, but as the latter pursued, the Goths fell upon them and drove them to flight. After this new defeat the Byzantine commanders dispersed again to various cities and abandoned each other to his fate. Bessas withdrew with his forces to Spoleto.[13][18]
Nothing is known of his activities from then until early 545, by which time he was the garrison commander of Rome. Along with the general
Portus Romanus, ordered him to do so. As a result, Belisarius' attempts to succour the beleaguered city failed.[21][22] Procopius heavily criticizes Bessas for his conduct during the siege. He neglected of the civilian population of the city and enriched himself by selling the starving populace the grain he had hoarded at exorbitant prices. The civilians were so exhausted by famine that when he finally allowed those who wanted to leave the city to do so, many simply died on the wayside, while others were killed by the Goths.[22][23] Finally, he proved negligent in the conduct of the defence, and allowed security measures to grow lax: guards slept at their posts, and patrols were discontinued. This allowed four Isaurian soldiers to contact Totila, and on 17 December 546, the city was betrayed to the Goths. Bessas managed to escape with the greater part of the garrison, but the treasure that he had amassed was left behind for the Goths to enjoy.[22][24] Following his dismal performance in Italy, Bessas was apparently recalled to Constantinople.[22]
Return to the eastern front and command in Lazica
Late Antiquity
Bessas re-appears in 550, following the failure of a large Byzantine army under the magister militum per ArmeniamDagisthaeus to capture the strategic fortress of Petra in the ongoing war with the Persians over Lazica (western Georgia). To general surprise—and considerable criticism, in view of his advanced age and failure at Rome—Justinian named Bessas as Dagisthaeus' successor and entrusted him with the conduct of the war in Lazica.[22][25]
Bessas first sent an expeditionary force to suppress a rebellion among the
Abasgians, who neighboured Lazica to the north, and had called upon Sasanian assistance.[26] The expedition, under John Guzes, was successful, and the Abasgian leader Opsites was forced to flee across the Caucasus to the Sabir Huns.[27][28] In spring 551, after a long siege and thanks largely to his own perseverance and bravery, the Byzantines and their Sabir allies (some 6,000 troops) captured Petra. A few Persians continued to resist from the citadel, but Bessas ordered it torched. Following his victory, he ordered the city walls razed to the ground.[22][29][30]
If the capture of Petra redeemed Bessas in the eyes of his contemporaries, his subsequent actions tarnished it again: instead of following up his success and capture the mountain passes connecting Lazica with the Persian province of
Phasis, while the Lazi, including their king Gubazes and his family, sought refuge in the mountains. Despite enduring harsh conditions in the winter of 551–552, Gubazes rejected the peace offers conveyed by envoys from Mihr-Mihroe. In 552, the Persians received substantial reinforcements, but their attacks on the fortresses held by the Byzantines and the Lazi were repulsed.[32]
Bessas reappears in the campaign of 554, when he was appointed joint commander in Lazica with
Telephis–Ollaria. Gubazes soon protested to Justinian about the incompetence of the Byzantine generals. Bessas was dismissed, his property was confiscated, and he was sent in exile among the Abasgians. Following his removal, Bessas was lost to history.[33][34][35]
