Battle of Mons Lactarius
Encyclopedia : B : BA : BAT : Battle of Mons Lactarius
| Wars of Justinian I |
|---|
| Gothic War (535–552) - Iberian War - Lazic War - Ad Decimum – Ticameron - Taginae – Mons Lactarius – Volturnus |
After the Battle of Taginae, in which the Ostrogoth king Totila was killed, the Byzantine general Narses captured Rome and besieged Cumae. Teia, the new Ostrogoth king, gathered the remnants of the Ostrogoth army and marched to relieve the siege, but in October of 553 Narses ambushed him at Mons Lactarius (modern Monte Lattaro) in Campania, near Mt. Vesuvius. The battle lasted two days, and Teia was killed in the fighting. The Ostrogoth power in Italy was eliminated, but Narses allowed the few survivors to return to their homes as subjects of the empire. The absence of any real authority in Italy immediately after the battle led to an invasion by the Franks, but they too were defeated and the peninsula was, for a short time, reintegrated into the empire.
The battle can be considered revenge for the Roman defeat at Adrianople (378), since at Mons Lactarius the imperial infantry annihilated the Ostrogoth cavalry.
References
- [Procopius, Gothic War, iv 31–32]
- [History of the Later Roman Empire by J. B. Bury], from Lacus Curtius
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