Solomon (magister militum)
Solomon (Greek: Σολομών) was an East Roman (Byzantine) general from northern Mesopotamia, who distinguished himself as a commander in the Vandalic War and the reconquest of North Africa in 533–534.
He spent most of the next decade in Africa as its governor general, combining the military post of magister militum with the civil position of praetorian prefect.
[1] It is perhaps at this time that he was named Belisarius's domesticus, or chief-of-staff, the post with which he is mentioned by the historian Procopius in 533, before the onset of the campaign against the Vandal Kingdom of North Africa.
He is not mentioned in Procopius's narrative during the subsequent campaign, but he probably participated in the decisive Battle of Ad Decimum on 13 September 533, which opened the road for the Vandal capital of Carthage.
After diplomatic entreaties over the winter failed, and with his forces bolstered to some 18,000 men (as estimated by Charles Diehl) following the arrival of reinforcements, in spring 535 Solomon led his troops into Byzacena.
Solomon managed to find refuge in a church, and under the cover of night, with the aid of Theodore, he departed the city by boat for Missua, accompanied among others by the historian Procopius.
Belisarius himself was forced to return to Italy due to trouble there, and Emperor Justinian appointed his cousin Germanus as magister militum to deal with the crisis.
[16] With imperial control over the army restored, Solomon was sent back to Africa to replace Germanus in 539, again combining in his person the posts of magister militum and praetorian prefect (in the meantime, he had also been raised to the rank of patricius and named an honorary consul).
[2][17] Solomon further reinforced his control of the army by weeding out unreliable soldiers, sending them to Belisarius in Italy and to the East; by expelling all remaining Vandals from the province; and by initiating a massive programme of fortification across the region.
The open cities and villa-dotted countryside of the past was transformed into a medieval landscape of small walled towns surrounded by fortified manor houses [...] at the same time sewer systems were overhauled, aqueducts reconnected, harbours cleared and grandiose churches erected to dominate the new urban centres [...] The three great rectangular military fortresses, which were constructed on the south-western frontier zone of Tebessa, Thelepte and Ammaedara, would have required over a million laboring days in their construction.
While Solomon was considering how best to attack the inaccessible fortress, a minor skirmish between the two forces gradually escalated into a full-scale and confused battle, as more and more soldiers from both sides joined in.
Aided by the captured treasure of Iaudas, Solomon extended his fortification programme in these two provinces: some two-dozen inscriptions testifying to his building activity survive from the area.
[22][19] In the words of Procopius, "all the Libyans who were subjects of the Romans, coming to enjoy secure peace and finding the rule of Solomon wise and very moderate, and having no longer any thought of hostility in their minds, seemed the most fortunate of all men".
[23] His restoration programme reached at least as far as the Jedars south of Tiaret; medieval Arabic sources record that the Fatimid caliph al-Mansur bi-Nasr Allah (r. 946–953) encountered there an inscription commemorating Solomon's putting down a revolt of the local Berbers, possibly referring to the Mauro-Roman Kingdom of Mastigas.
At the same time, Solomon's nephew Sergius, newly named governor of Tripolitania as a token of Emperor Justinian's gratitude (along with his brother Cyrus in the Pentapolis), caused the outbreak of hostilities with the tribal confederation of the Leuathae when his men killed 80 of their leaders at a banquet.
The contemporary poet Flavius Cresconius Corippus even accused Guntharis of treason, alleging that he withdrew from the line with his troops, causing a general and disorderly Byzantine retreat.
His usurpation did not last long as he was assassinated by Artabanes, but it was not until the arrival of John Troglita in late 546 and his subsequent campaigns that the province was to be pacified and brought again securely under Byzantine imperial control.
