Narses

born с 480, Armenia

died 574, probably Rome or Constantinople

Byzantine general under Justinian I.

A eunuch, he commanded the imperial bodyguard and rose to become grand chamberlain. He helped to quell a riot in 532 and save Justinian's throne; his loyalty to the emperor brought him into the confidence of the emperor's wife Theodora. In 538 Narses was sent on a military expedition to retake Italy, but his inability to cooperate with the commander allowed the Ostrogoths to triumph. He returned to Italy in 551 and conquered the Ostrogothic kingdom. He held power in Italy until removed by Justinian's successor (567). It was rumoured that Narses had invited the Lombards, who conquered much of Italy, into the peninsula in retaliation for his dismissal.

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▪ Byzantine general

born c. 480, , Armenia

died 574, probably Rome or Constantinople

      Byzantine general under Emperor Justinian I; his greatest achievement was the conquest of the Ostrogothic (Ostrogoth) kingdom in Italy for Byzantium.

      A eunuch, Narses became commander of the imperial bodyguard of eunuchs and eventually rose to be grand chamberlain. When rioting broke out in Constantinople in 532, Narses helped save Justinian's throne both by timely military action and by skillful and lavish political bribes. He was sent to Alexandria (535) to ensure the establishment of the imperial candidate Theodosius as patriarch and to quell disturbances that had arisen from the election. In 538 he became imperial treasurer and was sent to Italy to assist Belisarius, commander of an expedition for the reconquest of Italy, but was also ordered to spy upon him. The rivalry, misunderstanding, and mutual antipathy between the two soon paralyzed all military operations and led to the recapture and devastation of Milan by the Ostrogoths. Consequently, Justinian recalled Narses in 539.

      In the summer of 551, Narses was in charge of operations against barbarian raiders, mainly Huns, Gepids, and Lombards, who were devastating the Balkans. Later that year, with the resurgence of Ostrogothic power in Italy under Totila, Narses headed for Italy with 30,000 troops. He defeated the Ostrogothic forces under Totila (who died of his wounds) in June 552, at Taginae in the Apennines. During the next two years, he crushed scattered Ostrogothic resistance and stopped attempts by the Franks and Alemanni to enter northern Italy.

      Narses seems to have exercised both military and civil authority in Italy until the death of Justinian I. In 567, however, Justinian's successor, Justin II, removed him from his command, and he retired to a villa near Naples. When the Lombards invaded Italy and conquered large parts of it the following year, it was rumoured that Narses had retaliated for his dismissal by inviting the Lombards into Italy, but this report has never been confirmed.

▪ king of Sāsānian empire

also called  Narseh  

died c. 302

      king of the Sāsānian Empire whose reign (293–302) saw the beginning of 40 years of peace with Rome.

      Narses was the youngest son of an earlier king, Shāpūr I. On the death of Bahrām II (293), Narses, at that time viceroy of Armenia, successfully contested the succession of Bahrām's son, Bahrām III. Narses later antagonized Rome by occupying the independent portion of Armenia. In the following year he suffered a severe reversal, losing his war chest and his harem. He then concluded a peace (296), by the terms of which Armenia remained under Roman suzerainty, and the steppes of northern Mesopotamia, with Singara and the hill country on the left bank of the Tigris as far as Gordyene, were also ceded to the victors. In return Narses recovered his household. By this peace, which lasted for 40 years, the Sāsānians withdrew completely from the disputed districts.

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