MELANTHIUS -v1.0
559
by Chris Jackson
symbol set required: master 1


HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

Apart from being sent to southern Spain to consolidate new Byzantine holdings
there in 554, Belisarius had been living in retirement since his recall from his
frustrating second campaign in Italy in 549. It took one more crisis to bring
him out for a final moment of triumph on the battlefield.

In 559 a horde of Bulgarians and Slavs, under Bulgar King Zabergan, invaded the 
provinces of Moesia and Thrace, causing great alarm in Constantinople. The old 
wall of Anastasius was no obstacle to them, as it was weakened by earthquakes and
a lack of funds to repair it over the years. Three Bulgarian divisions attacked 
these provinces, looting heavily as they went, with one pressing southwards to 
Greece, one headed to the Asian passes, and Zabergan himself leading 7,000 horsemen
over the crumbling wall towards Constantinople itself. Panic set in as the army 
seemed ill-prepared to meet this invasion: emperors, especially the financially 
hard-pressed Justinian, had taken to bribery when choosing the elite Scholarii, or
Household Troops, who defended the capitol, and as a result held offices for 
political reasons rather than skill. The only veteran units in the capitol were 300
of Belisarius' old troops from Italy. Justinian, now 77 years old and eleven years 
without the influence of his deceased wife Theodora, was seized with fear. He overcame
his past jealousy and gave supreme command to Belisarius.

Now about 54, Belisarius was said to have looked much older due to the stress of his
long campaigns. But donning the armour once more, he took his 300 veterans, all the
horses he could take from the Circus and imperial stables, and a crowd of eager but
totally inexperienced recruits. He made camp at Chettus (probably about half-way to
Melanthius) and returned to some old tricks like burning many campfires and raising 
clouds of dust and noise to create the illusion of a much larger force. When 2,000 
of Zabergan's horsemen advanced, Belisarius ambushed them with archers hiding in the
woods on both flanks. The Bulgar-Slavs were forced to narrow their line to avoid the
javelins and stones, and concentrated into the center, strongest part of the Byzantine
line, unable to bring the full extent of their bows to bear on the enemy. Soon the 
invaders, already discouraged by Belisarius' deception tactics, fled the field with 400 
casualties, and Constantinople was saved with NO Byzantine losses.

Justinian quickly reverted to his old ways and immediately recalled Belisarius again,
allowing the enemies to regain their courage. They were only turned back by bribery.
Belisarius was hailed by the people of Constantinople, but returned to retirement once
more. In 562-563 Belisarius suffered another indignity by being imprisoned for allegedly
conspiring against Justinian, but he was eventually released with his honours restored 
to live out two more peaceful years until his death in March 565, preceding Justinian by
about eight months.


SOURCES

Dupuy, B. Ernst and Dupuy, Trevor N. "Harper Encyclopedia of Military 
     History". New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1993.

Hodgkin, Thomas. "Italy and Her Invaders, Volume 4". London: Russell and Russell, 
     (1880-89), 1967.


BATTLE NOTES

Well, the actual battle wasn't much, and this scenario doesn't really work too well
either. It actually ends up a lot like Casilinum where the archer wings have their
way with a slow-moving packed enemy (as the computer, anyway). It's a good send-off
for Belisarius so I didn't feel like throwing it out.


- Chris Jackson
March 29, 2000