Belisarius Walks into Rome: The Ostrogoths Leave Quietly
The gates opened at dawn. Not a sword drawn, not a drop of blood. Belisarius walked into Rome with 5,000 men while the Ostrogothic garrison — outnumbered, underfunded, abandoned by their king — simply marched out the opposite gate. Sixty years after the Western Empire fell, the old capital belonged to an emperor again. But the city Belisarius claimed held maybe 50,000 people, down from a million. Empty forums. Crumbling aqueducts. Within a year, the Goths would besiege it, and Romans would eat rats to survive. This bloodless victory was the easy part.
December 9, 536
1490 years ago
Key Figures & Places
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