Stotzas

Stotzas (also Stutias ; ancient Greek Στότζας ; † 545 near Thacia ) was an Eastern Roman soldier and rebel against Emperor Justinian I.

Life

In 536 parts of the Eastern Roman garrison troops in Africa rose against the Magister militum Solomon and chose Stotzas as their leader. With a strong army, which in addition to the rebels also comprised around a thousand vandals and a few slaves, he marched to Carthage and besieged the city. When the Eastern Roman general Belisarius landed again in Africa, Stotzas lifted the siege and withdrew to Membressa , but was defeated by Belisarius and fled to Numidia . There he could reorganize his troops; After Prokopios of Caesarea around two thirds of the garrison troops had finally joined the rebels, with Stotzas having numerous officers executed.

The situation changed when General Germanus , a relative of Emperor Justinian, arrived in Africa: Germanus succeeded in appeasing the rebels, so that numerous rebels now defected to Germanus, whereupon Stotzas sought his luck in battle. At Cellas , Stotzas, who was abandoned by several allies, was defeated by Germanus. The rebellion collapsed and Stotzas fled with a few loyal followers to Mauretania , where he married the daughter of a local prince and is said to have even assumed the title of king in 541. In 544 he again invaded the province of Africa proconsularis and was killed the following year in a battle near Thacia.

A year later, the dux Numidiae Guntarith and Johannes failed with another attempt at usurpation or vandalism.

literature

• John Robert Martindale: Stotzas. In: The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire (PLRE). Volume 3A, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1992, ISBN 0-521-20160-8 , pp. 1199-1200.