The Life of Belisarius: The Last Great General of Rome

by Philip Henry Stanhope

Book Overview

Serving the Byzantine Emperor Justinian during the 6th century A.D., Belisarius defeated a superior Persian force that threatened to extinguish Constantinople; his small army next drove the Vandals out of the ancient Roman provinces of North Africa and forced the Visigoths to retreat from Italy, returning Rome to the Emperor for the final time. His ability to achieve victory against overwhelming odds and his fairness to both his own troops and those...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1594160198
• ISBN13: 9781594160196
• Release Date: November 2005
• Publisher: Westholme Publishing
• Length: 235 Pages
• Weight: 0.99 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.1" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Belisarius

I became intrigued with this little known historical figure after reading the massive Gibbons book. Although Lord Mahon wrote long ago i found his style easy to follow and, as this work is a straight historical piece, I believe he was impartial in his reporting and research. The Life of Belisarius itself would make a great movie. It has all the elements needed; a heroic and loyal figure, a decadent royalty, palace intrigue, adultrous relationships and warfare. All of this under crumbling empire and religion distorted by evil men. For history buffs I highly recommend it.

19th century scholarly rigor

This book is the only scholarly biography I'm aware of that deals with the life of the great Roman general Belisarius. As the author points out, Belisarius was one of the few great men in history who deserved to wear a crown but never did. He has been called the greatest Roman general of them all, having defeated the Persians, the Vandals, and the Ostrogoths in turn with forces that would have been considered paltry by Caesar. He achieved what might have been his most glorious victory of all near the end of his life when he turned away an invading army of Huns from the very walls of Constantinople with a scant 300 veterans and some ill-equipped city-dwellers. The depth of scholarly research needed to produce this volume is impressive. Lord Mahon cast a wide net to include a wealth of citations from historians both ancient and more contemporary to himself. Let the reader beware, however--Lord Mahon includes a number of references written in the original Latin and Greek so a working knowledge of those two languages is helpful but not necessary. My only minor criticism of Lord Mahon's scholarship is that he falls prey to one of the bugbears of his times--antipathy toward Roman Catholicism in general and the Papacy in particular. While his animus toward Catholics was not nearly as pronounced as some of his contemporaries, I still found it irksome in the few instances where it reared its ugly head. I recommend the edition of The Life of Belisarius (Christian Roman Empire Series) by Evolution Publishing. It is a completely unabridged version of the 1848 edition of the work and is not a facsimile. The clumsy footnotes of the original have been helpfully reset as chapter endnotes. It includes a reference list of modern sources in English and additional notes and citations which help bring the text up-to-date. If, like me, you find Belisarius to be a fascinating historical figure, you might also like Belisarius: The First Shall Be Last by Paolo Belzoni which is a novel about the young general's early years.

Great Book, Get the Right Edition

The Life of Belisarius is an excellent period history. This book provides an interesting picture of the time between the disintegration of the Roman Empire and the emergence of both Islam in North Africa and the medieval principalities in Europe. The first modern reprint (2005) is the Westholme edition that includes an important introduction and further reading section by St Andrews historian Jon Coulston. I recommend that edition and not those that are simply a facsimile.

Brilliant work on a great leader

When the West was threatened only one man could save it. This is not today, but its symbolism is important, this is the story of the Byzantine Roman empire and the threat from easern hordes whose immigrant populations moving into anatolia and accompanied by a rampaging, terrible, hateful, intolerant Persian army were confronted with one man, a simple general whose aspirations were for nation and country, a man of honor named Belisarius. This is the story of courage, of victory over great odds, of barbarism versus fairness, of honesty in the face of terror, of resolution and perseverence, of genious against the masses. A very well written tale. A prescient tale that mirrors todays problems with societies in Europe being overun so that the native peoples and indigenous Europeans are becoming minorities in their own lands. Belisarius is a model, a worthwhile tale that many in the West have forgotten about a simple man setting out to defend a dying, sinful, gluttunous, licientous, selfish culture, against a much worse intolerant slave owning culture. Belisarius didnt go to war to defend the rich court of Byzantium, he went to war to protect the simple Roman farmers and Greek peasants who were not living the urban bon vivant culture. Seth J. Frantzman

Outstanding Social and Military History

The life of Belisarius, a late-Georgian (not Victorian) history in the vein of Gibbons, is the story of one of the most interesting figures of late antiquity. The author does a great job of combining Byzantine court intrigue and gripping battle accounts--the entrance into Naples through an abandoned aqueduct and the seige of Rome are particularly well drawn--to chronicle the amazing military campaigns and tribulations of Belisarius. This is a sumptuous narrative--old fashioned in the best sense. These is also a very interesting subplot of the struggle between the Arian and Catholic faiths; also, the suggestion that Belisarius' defeat of the Vandals and subsequent abandonment by Byzantium led to a power vacuum in North Africa on the eve of the Islamic conquests. Professor Coulston explains in his introduction how the sources mined by Mahon are impressive for their breadth and range--and that is what makes the book relevant to the modern audience. "Lord Mahon closely attended the literary sources so in the biography we not only have a powerful story, well told, but also a solid work of history standing alongside, and interacting with, the work of other nineteenth century historians." Since the book was written more than 150 years ago, Coulston also provides a helpful "Further Reading" section. When I decided to post a review, I became a bit concerned after reading the review below. Is this history really that "politically incorrect?" Well, I went back through the book carefully and I was relieved to find that the reviewer's claims are specious. I found no consistent allusion to "north versus south" or "east versus west." In fact to Mahon's credit, writing in an age where it was common to make sweeping generalizations based on prejudices, most of the "barbarians" are from the north. He does express dismay at the conditions along the Italian peninsula, but any criticism of Mahon's observations (and support from ancient sources) has to be viewed in the context of the time. (It would be another thirty years after the book first appeared before Italy would become a unified country.) But all of this is minor and takes up exceedingly little space in this engrossing narrative. According to Coulston--and from the notes in the book--Lord Mahon was very well traveled for his age, and he is sympathetic to other cultures. If any charge of "political incorrectness" can be leveled at Mahon it is that he plays into centuries-old mysogyny, blaming the influence of the wives of Belisarius and Justinian for most bad decisions. Enjoy this book for what it is: it is a great read, a classic account of a very interesting historical figure.