David Parnell Profile picture
Sep 13, 2022 17 tweets 6 min read Read on X
September 13: The Battle of Ad Decimum took place #OTD in 533. Belisarius vs. Gelimer. Romans vs. Vandals. An epic battle which just happens to be my favorite in Belisarius' career. Read on to discover how the battle unfolded. #BelisariusAndAntonina Artist's depiction of a you...Artist's depiction of Gelim...
The first element of the Roman army to reach Ad Decimum (the ten mile marker south of Carthage) was the vanguard, led by a household retainer of Belisarius named John. The vanguard consisted of 300 cavalry from the personal guardsmen (bucellarii) of Belisarius. Artist's depiction of what ...
Phase 1: The Roman vanguard under John arrives at Ad Decimum and immediately runs into Ammatas and his men. Ammatas, remember, had been instructed by Gelimer to come from Carthage with all the forces available to him and converge on Ad Decimum.
Gelimer intended to arrive at the same time as Ammatas, but Ammatas in his excitement had charged out too quickly. He also had not waited to assemble the entire Vandal garrison of Carthage, and had rushed ahead of them with only his retainers.
In a fierce battle, John and the guardsmen destroyed the Vandal force, killing Ammatas, and then rode all the way up to the walls of Carthage, killing or scattering the stragglers of the Vandal garrison along the way. Map showing the clash betwe...
Phase 2: At roughly the same time, about five miles away, Gibamund and his force of 2,000 Vandal warriors, who were to close the Vandal pincer from the west, ran into the west guard of the Roman army: 600 Hunnic cavalry.
Although they were outnumbered, the Huns shattered Gibamund's army and slaughtered the Vandals to the last man. Thus, without the main army of Belisarius or Gelimer yet engaging in combat, the plan of Gelimer was already in tatters. Neither general nor king knew this, though. Map showing the clash betwe...
Phase 3: Belisarius and the main Roman army make camp four miles south of Ad Decimum. Belisarius leaves the infantry in the camp, and leads out his cavalry, about 5,000 strong, to do some reconnaissance in force.
To protect the main body of his cavalry, Belisarius dispatched a smaller unit of cavalry known as the federates ahead as a screen. When these reached Ad Decimum, they found the bodies of Ammatas and his men (recall that John and the vanguard had already ridden ahead to Carthage). The federates discover the ...
As the federate screen were inspecting the bodies, a dust cloud appeared to the southwest: Gelimer and the main Vandal army had arrived at last. The federates fought a brief battle against the Vandals for control of the nearest hill, but being outnumbered, fell back in disarray. Map showing the clash betwe...
While falling back, the federates swept up a force of 800 guardsmen of Belisarius (an additional screen?), and the whole united group then fled back to the main Roman cavalry body. This caused confusion and only with difficulty did Belisarius restore order.
Phase 4: Belisarius receives a full report from his men. He learned that John had shattered the Vandal garrison of Carthage, and that the Huns had destroyed the force of Gibamund. This gave him the confidence to proceed: he ordered his cavalry forward to attack.
Gelimer, meanwhile, had been idle at Ad Decimum. The historian Procopius accuses him of being overly sentimental: he was busy weeping over the body of his brother Ammatas. But this is unlikely to have been the main reason for Gelimer remaining at Ad Decimum. Coin of Gelimer.
Unlike Belisarius, Gelimer did not have intelligence on what had happened. He knew Ammatas was dead, yes, but he did not have any clue what happened to Gibamund and his 2,000 men. He was perhaps awaiting them, or sending out scouts to determine the location of the Roman army.
So Gelimer and the Vandals were still idling at Ad Decimum when the main body of Roman cavalry arrived. Belisarius and the Romans charged immediately. The Vandals broke and fled, with the Romans pursuing and killing as many as they could. Map showing the final clash...
Gelimer and many of the Vandals escaped west, toward modern Algeria, and survived to fight another day. But Belisarius had won the first battle (really four mini battles) of the Vandal War. This would eventually lead to him winning a triumph the next year. Artist's depiction of Belis...
Tweets not enough for you? Check out the video on Belisarius' Vandal War from @EpicHistoryTV here:

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More from @byzantineprof

Jul 4
To celebrate my book's first birthday (released July 4 last year), I offer up a meditation on a curious little episode: the Vandal King Gelimer quoting the great refrain of Ecclesiastes: "Vanity of vanities, all is vanity." #Roman #Byzantine 🧵
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Some background: At the command of Justinian (r. 527-565), the general Belisarius led a Roman army to crush the Vandals and restore North Africa and most of its surrounding islands to Roman control in a lightning campaign that lasted just six months (September 533-March 534). Image
(This is probably underselling the shocking rapidity of this victory, because all major combat operations were complete by December 533 [3 months], and everything after that was claiming far-flung outposts and forcing the besieged Vandal King Gelimer into submission.)
Read 19 tweets
Jan 24
The Count of the Stable (Comes Stabuli, from which we derive "constable") was a late antique officer of the Roman imperial court responsible for levying horses and pack animals for government use. Although it sounds like a humble post, it was held by a number of famous Romans. 🧵 Artist's rendition of Roman stables as imagined by english-heritage.org.uk.
I have been writing on the Comes Stabuli recently and was astonished to learn that occupants of the office included the future emperor Valens (r. 364-378) and the famous generals Stilicho (d. 408) and Aetius (d. 454). Diptych showing either Stilicho or Aetius, image from Wikipedia.
This is of particular interest to me since in the sixth century Belisarius held the title of ἄρχον τῶν βασιλικῶν ἱπποκόμων (Commander of the Imperial Grooms), which was presumably a variant form of the same office. Sixth-century man, probably Belisarius, detail from the imperial panel in San Vitale. Photo by Steven Zucker.
Read 4 tweets
Nov 17, 2023
Over the past few months I engaged in a variety of media (podcasts, blogs, book sites, etc) to get word out about my new book. This thread summarizes all that activity, both to keep it in one place and to give ideas to other academics with new books! Image
I started with places that would let me write a few words about my book to catch the interest of other bibliophiles. The first was on a humble blog called "The Page 99 Test":
A natural place to write a piece promoting your book is on the publisher's own blog, so I wrote this for the Oxford University Press blog:
Read 12 tweets
Aug 29, 2023
Just how large was the Roman army during the reign of Justinian in the sixth century? Direct contemporary evidence is scarce. Modern estimates range from 150,000 to 326,000. Let's dive into the controversy. 🧵 #Roman #Byzantine #History Soldiers on the imperial mosaic panel of Justinian in San Vitale. Photo by Steven Zucker.
Let's start with the number all modern historians must reckon with. The Roman historian Agathias complains about the army during Justinian's reign: "there should have been a total effective fighting force of 645,000 men, but the number dropped to barely 150,000." Emperor Justinian on his mosaic panel in San Vitale. Photo by Steven Zucker.
First thing to note is that this total (150,000) is meant to make Justinian's army look small. In other words, it is offered in a polemical spirit, not simply as a factual report. Nevertheless, it's the evidence we have, so we try to do something with it.
Read 23 tweets
Aug 23, 2023
I recently listened to @byzantiumcast's interview with Adrian Goldsworthy (episode 273). In the discussion, Dr. Goldsworthy repeats the old canard that Justinian's armies in the West were "tiny." This is not accurate. 🧵 #Roman #Byzantine #History A depiction of sixth-century Roman soldiers marching, footage from Attila Total War, as shown in an EpicHistoryTV episode.
First, let's establish a baseline for typical campaign army sizes in the reign of Justinian in the East. For the Battle of Dara in 530, Belisarius commanded 25,000 soldiers. At Satala in 530, Sittas had 15,000. At Callinicum in 531, Belisarius had 20,000. A map of the Roman/Persian frontier highlighting Callinicum and Dara, from Greatrex 1998.
We don't have firm numbers of soldiers for the eastern campaign of Belisarius in 541, or the defense of the East against the great invasion of Khusro in 540. But the earlier data points we have suggest a typical campaign army averaged around 20,000. The Persian King Khusro I, as envisioned by artist Milek Jakubiec for EpicHistoryTV.
Read 19 tweets
Aug 18, 2023
Yesterday we looked at evidence that Belisarius loved Antonina. Today, the reverse side of the coin. Do we have evidence that Antonina loved Belisarius? It’s less substantial and obvious than the evidence for Belisarius’ love, but yes, we have some! 🧵 #Roman #Byzantine #History Image
While in the Secret History Procopius is very direct about Belisarius’ infatuation with Antonina, he is more reticent about her feelings toward him. Instead, he focuses on Antonina’s supposed power to control Belisarius with spells, suggesting she ensorcelled him into loving her.
In the History of the Wars, however, Procopius lets slip an anecdote that might demonstrate the care Antonina had for Belisarius. After a long and dangerous day for the general during the siege of Rome, his wife came to him and compelled him to “taste a little bread.” Belisarius with Antonina behind to his right, in front of the Pantheon, as imagined by artist Milek Jakubiec for EpicHistoryTV.
Read 9 tweets

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