The Lazic War, also known as the Colchidian War or in Georgian historiography as the Great War of Egrisi, was fought between the Byzantine Empire and the Sasanian Empire for control of the ancient Georgian region of Lazica. The Lazic War lasted for twenty years, from 541 to 562, and ended with the Fifty-Year Peace Treaty, which obligated the Byzantine Empire to pay tribute to Persia each year for the recognition of Lazica as a Byzantine vassal state by Persians. The Lazic War is narrated in detail in the works of Procopius and Agathias.
The Praetorian Prefecture of Africa was an administrative division of the Byzantine Empire in the Maghreb. With its seat at Carthage, it was established after the reconquest of northwestern Africa from the Vandals in 533–534 by the Byzantine Emperor Justinian I. It continued to exist until 591, when it was replaced by the Exarchate of Africa.
Artabanes was an East Roman (Byzantine) general of Armenian origin who served under Justinian I. Initially a rebel against Byzantine authority, he fled to the Sassanid Persians but soon returned to Byzantine allegiance. He served in Africa, where he won great fame by killing the rebel general Guntharic and restoring the province to imperial allegiance. He became engaged to Justinian's niece Praejecta, but did not marry her due to the opposition of the Empress Theodora. Recalled to Constantinople, he became involved in a failed conspiracy against Justinian in 548/549, but wasn't punished severely after its revelation. He was soon pardoned and sent to Italy to fight in the Gothic War, where he participated in the decisive Byzantine victory at Casilinum.
John Troglita was a 6th-century Byzantine general. He participated in the Vandalic War and served in North Africa as a regional military governor during the years 533–538, before being sent east to the wars with the Sassanid Persians. As dux Mesopotamiae, Troglita distinguished himself in several battles, and was noticed by agents of the Byzantine emperor, Justinian I. In summer 546, Justinian chose John Troglita to assume overall command of Byzantine forces in Africa, where a succession of revolts by the indigenous Moorish tribes and within the imperial army itself had seriously reduced the Byzantine position. Troglita quickly secured an initial victory in the winter of 546/547 against the Moors of Byzacena, but was defeated in summer 547 by the tribes of Tripolitania, and Africa was once again laid open to destructive raids. Troglita reorganized his army and secured the assistance of some tribal leaders, and confronted and decisively defeated the tribal coalition at the Fields of Cato in summer 548. This victory spelled the end of the Moorish revolt and heralded an era of peace for Africa. Troglita was also involved in the Gothic War, twice sending some of his troops to Italy to assist against the Ostrogoths.
Mauri was the Latin designation for the Berber population of Mauretania, located in the west side of North Africa on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea, Mauretania Tingitana and Mauretania Caesariensis, in present-day Morocco and northwestern Algeria.
Stotzas, also Stutias, Theophanes writes him Tzotzas (Τζότζας), was an East Roman (Byzantine) soldier and leader of a military rebellion in the Praetorian prefecture of Africa in the 530s. Stotzas attempted to establish Africa as a separate state and had been chosen by the rebelling soldiers as their leader. Nearly succeeding in taking Carthage, Stotzas was defeated at the Battle of the River Bagradas by Belisarius and fled into Numidia, where he regrouped. After another attempt at taking control of Africa, Stotzas was defeated by Germanus in 537 and fled with some of his followers into Mauretania.
Praejecta or Praiecta was a niece to Byzantine emperor Justinian I by blood and of his empress Theodora by marriage.
Solomon 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. Solomon successfully confronted the large-scale rebellion of the native Berbers, but was forced to flee following an army mutiny in spring of 536. His second tenure in Africa began in 539 and it was marked by victories over the Berbers, which led to the consolidation of the Byzantine position. A few years of prosperity followed, but were cut short by the rekindled Berber revolt and Solomon's defeat and death at the Battle of Cillium in 544.
Athanasius was a 6th-century Byzantine official who served as envoy and praetorian prefect of Italy and Africa under Emperor Justinian I.
Antalas was a Berber tribal leader who played a major role in the wars of the Byzantine Empire against the Berber tribes in Africa. Antalas and his tribe, the Frexes initially served the Byzantines as allies, but after 544 switched sides. With the final Byzantine victory in his and his tribe once again became Byzantine subjects. The main sources on his life are the epic poem Iohannis of Flavius Cresconius Corippus and the Histories of the Wars of Procopius of Caesarea.
Cutzinas or Koutzinas was a Berber tribal leader who played a major role in the wars of the East Roman or Byzantine Empire against the Berber tribes in Africa in the middle of the 6th century, fighting both against and for the Byzantines. A staunch Byzantine ally during the latter stages of the Berber rebellion, he remained an imperial vassal until his murder in 563 by the new Byzantine governor.
Thacia was a Roman-Berber civitas in the province of Africa Proconsulare.
Guntarith, sometimes referred to as Guntharic, was an Eastern Roman military officer and rebel of Vandalic descent.
John, referred to as John the Tyrant and sometimes given the nickname Stotzas the Younger after his predecessor, Stotzas, was a Berber military leader. Given his name, Ioannes, John was probably, like Stotzas, of Eastern Roman descent and only briefly commanded his army against the Eastern Roman Empire.
Areobindus was an official and military commander of the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire. He served as a senator in Constantinople and briefly as magister militum in Africa in 545/6.
The Battle of Sufetula took place in either late 546 or early 547, at Sufetula in Byzacena, a province of Byzantine Empire, in what is now Tunisia during the Moorish uprisings against the Byzantines. It was fought by Byzantine forces led by John Troglita, against Moorish rebels led by Antalas. The battle resulted in a crushing Byzantine victory: the Berbers suffered heavy losses, and the battle-standards lost at the battle of Cillium in 544 were recovered by the Byzantines.
The Byzantine–Moorish wars were a series of wars fought between the Byzantine Empire and the various Berber kingdoms which formed after the collapse of Roman North Africa. The war also featured other rebels such as the renegades of Stotzas and the Vandalic rebels of Guntarith. The war ended with the Berbers attempting to push the Romans out of Africa being defeated at the battle of the Fields of Cato, and the Byzantines being too weakened to take over the various newly formed kingdoms such as Altava and the Kingdom of the Aurès.
Iaudas or Iabdas was a Berber leader of the sixth century and king of the Kingdom of the Aurès who held the Byzantines in check for a long time in the Aurès, and played an important role in the Berber revolts following the Byzantine reconquest.
Sergius was a Byzantine military officer who was active in Byzantine Africa during the reign of the emperor Justinian I. The son of a priest named Bacchus, he was the brother of two Byzantine officers and nephew of the famous general Solomon. When appointed governor of Tripolitania, he murdered 80 of the leaders of the Laguatan, which intensified hostilities with the Moorish tribes.
The Battle of Marta is a military confrontation between a coalition of rebellious Berber tribes led by Carcasan and the forces of John Troglita and his Berber ally Cusina, at Marta, in the summer of 547. It follows a significant Byzantine victory through which John Troglita managed to suppress the Berber rebellion led by Antalas. However, in this instance, the Berber rebels prevail, delaying the ultimate victory of the Byzantines by a few months.
