Battle of Faventia | |||||||
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Part of the Gothic War | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
Ostrogothic Kingdom | Byzantine Empire | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Totila | Constantian Alexander | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
5,000 [1] | 12,000 |
In the spring of 542, at the Battle of Faventia (modern Faenza), an Ostrogothic army under king Totila scattered the larger Roman forces of generals Constantian and Alexander, [1] beginning the resurgence of Gothic resistance to the Roman reconquest of Italy. Before the battle, Valaris, a gigantic Goth, challenged any Roman to do single combat with him. Valaris was slain by the Byzantine soldier Artabazes, who was also mortally wounded.
The key moment during the battle, was, according to Procopius, when the Roman rear was violently attacked by some 300 men of the Ostrogothic cavalry. [1]
The Ostrogoths were a Roman-era Germanic people. In the 5th century, they followed the Visigoths in creating one of the two great Gothic kingdoms within the Western Roman Empire, drawing upon the large Gothic populations who had settled in the Balkans in the 4th century. While the Visigoths had formed under the leadership of Alaric I, the new Ostrogothic political entity which came to rule Italy was formed in the Balkans under Theodoric the Great.
Totila, original name Baduila, was the penultimate King of the Ostrogoths, reigning from 541 to 552 AD. A skilled military and political leader, Totila reversed the tide of the Gothic War, recovering by 543 almost all the territories in Italy that the Eastern Roman Empire had captured from his Kingdom in 540.
Athalaric was the king of the Ostrogoths in Italy between 526 and 534. He was a son of Eutharic and Amalasuntha, the youngest daughter of Theoderic the Great, whom Athalaric succeeded as king in 526.
Ildibad was a king of the Ostrogothic Kingdom in AD 540–541.
Teia, also known as Teja, Theia, Thila, Thela, and Teias, was the last Ostrogothic King of Italy. He led troops during the Battle of Busta Gallorum and had noncombatant Romans slaughtered in its aftermath. In late 552/early 553, he was killed during the Battle of Mons Lactarius. Archaeological records attesting to his rule show up in coinage found in former Transalpine Gaul.
The Battle of Mons Lactarius took place in 552 or 553 AD during the Gothic War waged on behalf of Justinian I against the Ostrogoths in Italy.
Gesalic, Gesaleico in Spanish and Portuguese, Gesaleic in Catalan,, was a king of the Visigoths from 507 to 511, and died in 513.
This is a chronology of warfare between the Romans and various Germanic peoples. The nature of these wars varied through time between Roman conquest, Germanic uprisings, later Germanic invasions of the Western Roman Empire that started in the late second century BC, and more. The series of conflicts was one factor which led to the ultimate downfall of the Western Roman Empire in particular and ancient Rome in general in 476.
The Balt dynasty or Balth dynasty was the first ruling family of the Visigoths from 395 until 531. They led the Visigoths into the Western Roman Empire in its declining years.
The Amali – also called Amals, Amalings or Amalungs – were a leading dynasty of the Goths, a Germanic people who confronted the Roman Empire during the decline of the Western Roman Empire. They eventually became the royal house of the Ostrogoths and founded the Ostrogothic Kingdom.
The Ostrogothic Kingdom, officially the Kingdom of Italy, was a barbarian kingdom established by the Germanic Ostrogoths that controlled Italy and neighbouring areas between 493 and 553. Led by Theodoric the Great, the Ostrogoths killed Odoacer, a Germanic soldier and erstwhile leader of the foederati. Odoacer had previously become the de facto ruler of Italy following his deposition of Romulus Augustulus, the final emperor of the Western Roman Empire, in 476. Under Theodoric, the Ostrogothic kingdom reached its zenith, stretching from modern southern France in the west to the modern western Serbia in the southeast. Most of the social institutions of the late Western Roman Empire were preserved during his rule. Theodoric called himself Gothorum Romanorumque rex 'King of the Goths and Romans', demonstrating his desire to be a leader for both peoples.
Amalafrida was queen of the Vandals by marriage to Thrasamund. She was the daughter of Theodemir, king of the Ostrogoths, and his wife Erelieva. She was the sister of Theodoric the Great, and mother of Theodahad, both of whom also were kings of the Ostrogoths.
Valamir or Valamer was an Ostrogothic king in the former Roman province of Pannonia from AD 447 until his death. During his reign, he fought alongside the Huns against the Roman Empire and then, after Attila the Hun's death, fought against the Huns to consolidate his independent control over a large group of Goths.
The Goths, Gepids, Vandals, and Burgundians were East Germanic groups who appear in Roman records in late antiquity. At times these groups warred against or allied with the Roman Empire, the Huns, and various Germanic tribes.
The Battle of Marcianople or Marcianopolis took place in 376 following the Goths' migration over the Danube. It was the first notable battle of the Gothic War of 376–382.
Valaris was a Gothic soldier who fought for the Ostrogoths against the Eastern Roman Empire in the Gothic War.
Coccas was an Eastern Roman soldier who deserted to the Ostrogoths during the final stages of the Gothic War. Procopius calls him "a Roman soldier" and "a man of the Gothic army". His name is not Germanic, and might be Thracian.
The Battle of Treviso was an engagement in 541 near Treviso, Italy, between Ostrogoths and Byzantines during the Gothic War.
The Battle of Horreum Margi was fought between the Ostrogothic Kingdom and the Eastern Roman Empire in 505. The battle took place as the Ostrogothic Kingdom was expanding into the Balkans, eventually encroaching upon Eastern Roman territory. In this endeavor they were led by the general Pitzias and had allied themselves with the Hunnic-Gepidic robber-chieftain Mundo. As a response, the Eastern Roman Empire sent Sabinianus with a large force of Bulgars. At Horreum Margi, modern-day Ćuprija, Serbia, Sabinuanus was defeated.
The battle of Scardon was fought during the Gothic War of Justinian I, near Skradin. In it a Roman force under Constantinianus defeated an Ostrogothic force under Uligisalus. After Asinarius approached with a combined Suevi-Gothic army Constantinianus retreated to Salona to which the Goths laid siege.