Siege of Rome

Siege of Rome, siege mounted on Rome, then an outpost of the Byzantine Empire, by the kingdom of the Ostrogoths in 537–538. The desire of Emperor Justinian to restore the full extent of the Roman Empire led to a struggle for control of Italy between his Byzantine army, led by Belisarius, and the Ostrogoths, led by a Romanised king named Theodatus, whose interests lay more in the city’s wealth than in any permanent political advantage. Deposed and then killed by his own people, Theodatus was replaced by a tested general named Witigis.

Belisarius began his campaign to reconquer Italy with victory in Sicily. He then crossed into Italy at Rhegium and lay siege to Naples. In the autumn of 537, he took Naples and marched on Rome. To the Ostrogoths, it was obvious that the populace favored Belisarius, so they left as Belisarius triumphantly entered the ancient capital, with Witigis moving north to wage war briefly on the Franks. Belisarius liberated Rome, but then had a hard fight to hold the city when the Ostrogothic army returned.

Belisarius had a defensive ditch dug outside the walls and prepared the city for siege. The Ostrogoths built seven camps around the city and destroyed aqueducts that supplied fresh water. On the eighteenth day, they attacked with siege towers but were pushed back. Belisarius decided to dig in and sent for reinforcements, occasionally launching small sorties to wear down the morale of the Goths. Finally, after many weeks of attrition, Roman reinforcements arrived. The Ostrogoths were suffering from plague and famine as much as the Romans and sought a truce, offering parts of southern Italy in return for Rome. However, realizing that the tide was turning in his favor, Belisarius waited as the condition of the Ostrogoths deteriorated still more. In desperation, the Goths attempted to storm the city, but they were defeated, even at the cost of much of Belisarius’s far smaller force, whose defence centred on the Aurelian Wall and Castel Sant’Angelo.

In the meantime a Roman army under the command of John won several victories, effectively cutting the Goths off. After almost 400 days, the Goths, whose army probably numbered about 50,000 at the outset of the campaign, abandoned the siege in order to defend their capital of Ravenna. As they withdrew, Belisarius pursued them and routed them at the Milvian Bridge over the Tiber River outside Rome.

Although some of its accuracy is questionable, the Byzantine historian Procopius’s Secret History is a widely used source for the siege. Robert Graves’s 1938 novel Count Belisarius is a vivid portrayal of the great Byzantine commander.

Losses: Unknown.