Bessas (magister militum)
Bessas (Greek: Βέσσας, before 480 – after 554) was an Eastern Roman general of Gothic origin from Thrace, primarily known for his career in the wars of Justinian I (reigned 527–565).
According to the contemporary historian Procopius of Caesarea, Bessas was born in the 470s and hailed from a noble Gothic family long established in Thrace, belonging to those Goths who had not followed Theodoric the Great when he left in 488 to invade Italy, then held by Odoacer.
[1][2] Procopius remarks on his fluency in Gothic,[1][3] but another contemporary writer, Jordanes, claims that he hailed from the settlement of Castra Martis, comprising Sarmatians, Cemandrians, and certain of the Huns (Getica 265).
[1][7] In retaliation for this Byzantine success, the Persian shah Kavadh I sent against Martyropolis a large army commanded by three senior generals, Bawi, Mihr-Mihroe and Chanaranges.
Belisarius sent Constantine and Bessas to capture various outlying towns, but when he learned that the new Gothic king, Witiges, was marching on Rome, he recalled them.
[13][14] During the year-long siege of Rome by the Goths, Bessas commanded the troops at the Porta Praenestina gate and distinguished himself in a number of skirmishes.
Justinian did not appoint an overall commander to replace Belisarius, and as a result the various Byzantine generals left in Italy failed to co-ordinate their actions.
Instead of subduing the last remnants of the Ostrogoths in northern Italy, they retreated to the safety of various fortified cities, allowing the Goths to gather around a new leader, Ildibad.
[19][20] During the siege he restricted himself to passive defence, refusing to sally forth from the walls even when Belisarius, who had returned from the east and landed with reinforcements at the nearby Portus Romanus, ordered him to do so.
[22][23] Finally, he proved negligent in the conduct of the defence, and allowed security measures to grow lax: guards slept at their posts, and patrols were discontinued.
[22] Bessas re-appears in 550, following the failure of a large Byzantine army under the magister militum per Armeniam Dagisthaeus to capture the strategic fortress of Petra in the ongoing war with the Persians over Lazica (western Georgia).
To general surprise—and considerable criticism, in view of his advanced age and failure at Rome—Justinian named Bessas as Dagisthaeus' successor and entrusted him with the conduct of the war in Lazica.
The Byzantine forces in Lazica withdrew west to the mouth of the Phasis, while the Lazi, including their king Gubazes and his family, sought refuge in the mountains.
