Battle of Mons Lactarius
| date | October 552 |
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| place | Monti Lattari (near Naples , possibly Monte Sant'Angelo) |
| output | Decisive victory for the Eastern Roman Empire |
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Iberian War
Dara - Satala - Callinicum
Vandal
War Ad Decimum - Tricamarum
Gothic War
1. Naples - 1. Rome - Verona - Faventia - Mucellium - 2. Naples - 2. Rome - 3. Rome - Sena Gallica - Busta Gallorum - Mons Lactarius - Casilinus
Moors wars
Mammes and Bourgaon - Babosis and Zerboule - Cillium - Marta - Fields of Cato
In the Battle of Mons Lactarius (milk mountain) in October of the year 552, the defeated Byzantine general Narses on behalf of the Emperor Justinian I the last Ostrogothic King Teja . This was the last great battle in the Gothic War of that time .
Teja had been elected the new king after the heavy defeat of the Ostrogoths in the battle of Busta Gallorum a few months earlier, in which King Totila had been killed. He had gathered the remains of the Ostrogoths around him and withdrew to Campania , where his brother Aligern still held a few Gothic bases.
Narses placed the Goths near Naples on the Milk Mountain , where they had holed up at a narrow pass. A detailed, but well-decorated description of the battle can be found in the eighth book of the histories of the contemporary historian Prokopios of Caesarea . The limited space made it impossible for the imperial troops to exploit their numerical superiority. The bitter battle is said to have lasted two days and only ended when Teja himself was killed: He is said to have been fatally wounded by a Roman throwing spear at the moment he was about to change his shield. Aligern and the surviving Goths fought on for a while, but then surrendered to the promise of free retreat on their own land; they vowed not to take up arms against the emperor any more and were given part of their valuables refunded. Only a small group of Goths under Indulf withdrew north, while most of the survivors now submitted to Narses. This practically ended the second Gothic War, even if individual Gothic garrisons resisted the Eastern Romans until 562.
literature
- Alexander Demandt : The late antiquity. The Roman history from Diocletian to Justinians ( Handbook of Classical Studies / Section 3; Vol. 6). 2nd Edition. Beck, Munich 2007, ISBN 978-3-406-55993-8 .
- Herwig Wolfram : The Goths. From the beginning to the middle of the 6th century. Draft of a historical ethnography (early peoples). 4th edition. Beck, Munich 2001, ISBN 3-406-33733-3 .
- Prokopios of Caesarea : Histories, Vol. 8 ( Tusculum Library ). Heimeran, Munich 1977.
Remarks
- ↑ a b cf. Alexander Demandt : Die Spätantike , p. 246.
- ↑ Herwig Wolfram : Die Goten , p. 360.
- ↑ On the Eastern Roman-Gothic war, cf. summarizing Herwig Wolfram: Die Goten , S. 341ff
- ↑ Prokopios: Historien, Vol. 8 , p. 33.
- ↑ Prokopios: Historien, Vol. 8 , p. 35.