Vitiges
King of the Ostrogoths
"The walls of Rome shall be your grave."
Biography
Raised to the Gothic throne by the soldiers after the murder of the weak Theodahad, Vitiges was a brave and experienced warrior but an unlucky king. He marched on Rome with a great army to crush Belisarius's small garrison, and besieged the city for over a year — cutting its aqueducts and storming its walls again and again — but could never break the Byzantine defence. Worn down and outmanoeuvred, he fell back on the marsh-girt capital of Ravenna, where Belisarius trapped him. When the Goths, in desperation, offered Belisarius the western throne, the general feigned agreement, entered the city, and took Vitiges prisoner. Carried off to Constantinople, the captured king was treated honourably and given estates, dying there a couple of years later — while the war he had lost roared back to life under Totila.
Did you know?
The Gothic offer to make his conqueror Belisarius emperor of the West — which Belisarius pretended to accept to take Ravenna — was one of the great might-have-beens of the age.
Key Battles
The Siege of Rome
Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire victory537 – 538 · 15,000 total casualties
The year-long defence of Rome was Belisarius's masterpiece of active siege warfare and saved the reconquest of Italy. But the fighting, the severing of the aqueducts, and the famine devastated the ancient city, accelerating its decline from a metropolis to a shrunken medieval town.
The Fall of Ravenna
Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire victoryMay 540 · 500 total casualties
The bloodless capture of Ravenna seemingly ended the Gothic War and completed the reconquest of Italy. But a suspicious Justinian recalled the over-mighty Belisarius, and the settlement collapsed almost at once when a new Gothic king, Totila, reignited the war.
Life Journey
Timeline
c. 490
🌅 Birth
Born in Ostrogothic Italy
537–538
⚔️ Battle
Fails to retake Rome from Belisarius
542
✝️ Death
Dies a captive in Constantinople