Solomon (Byzantine general)

Solomon
Born	480s/490s Idriphthon, near Dara
Died	544 Cillium
Allegiance	Byzantine Empire
Rank	magister militum
Battles/wars	Vandalic War, Moorish Wars

Solomon (Greek: Σολόμων) was an East Roman (Byzantine) general from northern Mesopotamia, who distinguished himself as a commander in the Vandalic War and the reconquest of North Africa in 533–534. He spent most of the next decade in Africa as its governor general, combining the military post of magister militum with the civil position of praetorian prefect. Solomon successfully confronted the large-scale Moorish rebellion, but was forced to flee following an army mutiny in spring of 536. His second tenure in Africa began in 539 and it was marked by victories over the Moors, which led to the consolidation of the Byzantine position. A few years of prosperity followed, but were cut short by the rekindled Moorish revolt and Solomon's defeat and death at the Battle of Cillium in 544.

Solomon was born, probably circa 480/490, in the fortress of Idriphthon in the district of Solachon, near Dara in the province of Mesopotamia. He was a eunuch as a result of an accident during his infancy, not from deliberate castration. Solomon had a brother, Bacchus, who became a priest. Bacchus fathered three sons, Cyrus, Sergius and Solomon, who later became military officers in Africa under their uncle; Sergius also succeeded Solomon as governor of Africa after the latter's death. Little is known of Solomon's early career, except that he served under the dux Mesopotamiae Felicissimus, perhaps as early as the latter's installment to the post in 505/506. Certainly by 527, when he came to the service of General Belisarius, Solomon was considered an experienced officer. It is perhaps at this time that he was named Belisarius's domesticus, or chief-of-staff, the post with which he is mentioned by the historian Procopius in 533, before the onset of the campaign against the Vandal Kingdom of North Africa.

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