Bessas (general)

Bessas
Native name	Βέσσας
Born	470s
Died	after 554
Allegiance	Byzantine Empire
Years of service	ca. 500–554
Rank	magister militum
Wars	Anastasian War, Iberian War, Gothic War, Lazic War

Bessas (Greek: Βέσσας, before 480 – after 554) was an East Roman (Byzantine) general of Gothic origin from Thrace, primarily known for his career in the wars of Justinian I (reigned 527–565). He distinguished himself against the Sassanid Persians in the Iberian War and under the command of Belisarius in the Gothic War, but after Belisarius' departure from Italy he failed to confront the resurgent Goths and was largely responsible for the loss of Rome in 546. Returning east in disgrace, despite his advanced age he was appointed as commander in the Lazic War. There he redeemed himself with the recapture of Petra, but his subsequent idleness led Justinian to dismiss him and exile him to Abasgia.

According to the contemporary historian Procopius of Caesarea, Bessas was born in the 470s and hailed from a noble Gothic family long established in Thrace, belonging to those Goths who had not followed Theodoric the Great when he left in 488 to invade Italy, then held by Odoacer. Procopius remarks on his fluency in Gothic, but another contemporary writer, Jordanes, claims that he hailed from the settlement of Castra Martis, comprising Sarmatians, Cemandrians, and certain of the Huns (Getica 265). This evidence has been variously interpreted, with most modern commentators leaning towards a Gothic identity. Nevertheless, according to Patrick Amory, it is impossible from the sources at hand to draw any definite conclusion about his ethnicity. Amory maintains that Bessas was a typical example of the "blurry ethnographic identity" evidenced in 6th-century Balkan populations, especially among the military.

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