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Narses, Hammer of the Goths: The Life and Times of Narses the Eunuch
The 6th century in Italy could still claim such enlightened names as Theodoric, Boethius and Pope Gregory the Great. On a par with all these, and serving as a link, was a small Armenian who has largely been forgotten by later historians. Narses the Eunuch served as a court official in Constantinople for most of his life, his survival for so long in a hot bed of intrigue like the Byzantine Court is unusual enough, but in 551 AD when he was well into his 70s, Narses was chosen as Supreme Commander for Justinian's final attempt to reconquer Italy.
239 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1990
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September 9, 2026
Lawrence H. Fauber Studies The Life & Times Of Narses, Persarmenian General & Statesman Of The Byzantine Empire.
Narses, the Persarmenian general and statesman who served under the Byzantine emperor Justinian I, was born between 478-80 CE in the Persian half of the former Kingdom of Armenia, his origins as a eunuch shrouded in mystery and speculation. His first recorded historical appearance was around 530, as referenced by the Greek historian Procopius of Caesarea's History of the Wars Book I, in regard to the defection of two Persarmenian generals, Aratius and Narses (a different Narses), after the eunuch had already risen to the rank of High Treasurer. He did not attain the rank of parakoimomenos, or Grand Chamberlain until around 540. After proving himself instrumental during the Nika riots' suppression in 532, Narses was one of Justinian I's key commanders in the Gothic War that spanned 535-54 CE, during which he led the emperor's armies against the Gothic King Totila and his successors in the Battles of Tagninae and Mons Lactarius.
This hardcover edition of L.H. Fauber's 1990 monograph Narses: Hammer of the Goths was published in the United States by St. Martin's Press, and it examines the life and military career of a man who ranks as perhaps Byzantium's most famous Grand Chamberlain next to John the Orphanotrophos. The author has copiously referenced contemporary and modern factual sources such as Procopius' History of the Wars and Edward Gibbon's The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, in addition to stylistic sources such as Robert Graves Count Belisarius and John W. Vandercook's Empress of the Dusk: A Life of Theodora of Byzantium in his endeavor to provide as substantial and well-developed a portrait as possible of this unconventional historical figure and the world he inhabited. The 186-page main text features copious maps and diagrams, 10 plate illustrations, 4 appendices, a 15-page bibliography, and an index at the back of the book. The study is divided into three parts - The Origins and Early Career of Narses the Eunuch, The Victories of Narses, and Narses the Exarch.
Chapter 1, The Background of Narses introduces the reader to the Byzantine setting and the dramatis personae, emphasizing the people whom comprised Narses' world in lieu of offering unsubstantiated information on the man himself. The Kingdom of Armenia, also called Greater Armenia, had been partitioned into two halves in 386 CE as a result of a treaty between the emperor Theodosius I and the Sasanid king Sapor III, and by the time of Justinian I's reign (527-65) the Byzantine section had been further divided into quarters which Fauber's map on page 5 illustrates very well. The author discusses several famous Armenians' roles in the Eastern Roman Empire's history and provides an interesting character sketch of the Byzantine Emperor Justinian that focuses on his legislative achievements and his relationship with the Empress Theodora, afterwards using fanciful depictions of Narses' early life to idly speculate on the circumstances which led to his becoming a eunuch and also exploring the history of the Grand Chamberlain, or Praepositus Sacri Cubiculi position.
In Chapter 2, The New Rome and the Rise of the Greens and Blues, Fauber establishes the background behind the two factions whom would serve as the primary antagonists in the tumultuous Nika riots that gripped Constantinople's Hippodrome during the week of 11-18 January 532 CE. The Red, White, Blue and Green sides were originally racing factions, but somehow the latter two came to represent religious and political followers of Orthodoxy and Monophysicism, respectively, and became known as demes, after the Greek word dēmos, which means "people", each under the jurisdiction of an official called a Demarch, who were the Domestics of the Schools and Excubiti, also respectively. The Hippodrome's imperial viewing structure was called the Kathisma, and Fauber's research illustrates for his readers the history behind that edifice's former decorative gold, silver and bronze sculpture which traveled great distances and changed possession numerous times before eventually becoming known as Venice's famous Horses of St. Mark, in an eloquent passage on page 28-9.
Chapter 4, The First Command of Narses discusses the circumstances that preluded Narses' first military assignment during the Gothic War as Justinian's commander Belisarius sought to solidify Byzantium's western frontier by reconquering Italy in the empire's name and defeating the Germanic Ostrogoths, a formidable adversary who were led by their resourceful king, Vitiges. Despite the tumultuous era during which he came to power, Vitiges proved himself to be a resourceful opponent, by placing Rome under a year-long siege in 537 CE and by mounting a spirited resistance to Belisarius' northward advance that culminated in a treacherous Byzantine intrigue at Ravenna, where in 540 Belisarius disingenuously accepted the crown of Western Emperor alongside the Ostrogoths' surrender before he entered the city, seized Vitiges, and refused it afterwards.
Narses' initial role was as a commander of 5,000 assorted troops whom had arrived to reinforce Belisarius at Picenum in 538, but later during the winter, after months of campaigning together, the Byzantine army began dividing into two different camps, with each side favoring either commander, and after utilizing a technicality in Justinian's wording on an imperial missive, Narses judged Belisarius' future battle plans to run against the interests of the Byzantine state and he was relieved of his command during a conference at Arminium. Narses was recalled following the fall of Milan in March 539, but Belisarius eventually triumphed after his duplicitous actions at Ravenna, which came in the wake of a five-month Byzantine siege that lasted from late 539-May 540.
When discussing Narses' troop movements during the weeks leading up to the Battle of Taginae in Chapter 7, The Italian Expeditionary Force, Fauber explains three possible routes his army could have taken to bypass Petra Petrusa as posited by two nineteenth-century historians, Thomas Hodgkin and John Bagnell Bury. Petra Petrusa, now known as Gola del Furlo, was a fortified Roman tunnel that ran along the Via Flaminia after it turned sharply inland to the southwest at Fano which was excavated during the reign of the emperor Vespasian in 76 CE, and Gothic troops had been stationed to guard the mountain passage at both ends, rendering it impassible, so Narses was necessitated to traverse an alternate route to reach the area where Totila's army was encamped - the author provides a useful map denoting each historian's divergent path.
After King Totila's death at the Battle of Taginae, the Ostrogoths selected as their new ruler his loyal lieutenant Teias, who schemed to utilize the old king's remaining Pavian treasure as an incentive to bring the Franks and the other Gothic tribes into an alliance with their ultimate objective being to drive the Byzantines from Italy, but all the Franks had to offer him were hollow words and an empty pledge of neutrality. From Rome Narses dispatched a garrison to capture the Greek colony of Cumae, where the majority of Totila's war spoils were located, but once Teias caught the gist of this he began a desperate march to reach the settlement before Narses' forces arrived. In order to evade his adversaries he ventured along a roundabout route that took him to the southeast of Mt. Vesuvius, while Cumae lay to the volcano's northwest, and the Byzantines headed him off at the River Draco. Teias' army retreated further south from the Greek pursuit to Mons Lactarius, and in March 553 the Ostrogoths made their final stand on the mountain in a struggle that took two full days before Narses' army finally emerged victorious.
Chapter 10, The Invasion of the Alamanni-Franks examines the political scenario which led to the Alamanni brothers Buccelin and Leutheris conducting a joint invasion of 75,000 troops into Italy after the Frankish king Theodebert had died in 548 CE, leaving the realm of Francia to his fourteen-year-old son, Theodebalt, and the young king had subsequently been persuaded into sanctioning, or at least allowing the operation by the two ambitious chieftains, whose initial southern advance was sufficient to capture Parma from the Byzantines and cause them to send an ultimately-unsuccessful sortie of 3,000 Herul foederati to retake the city. But Narses' extraordinary leadership abilities enabled him to prevail at Lucca after he conducted his siege of the city with "well-calculated magnanimity", according to Fauber's interesting report of the proceedings, and the eunuch-general put on what was assuredly a well-rehearsed spectacle that also nobly saved the lives of the Luccans he held in captivity.
In Chapter 11, The Battle of Casilinum (Capua), Fauber discusses the tactical significance of the Byzantines' superior discipline and armaments triumphing over the Frankish angon spear and francisca battle-axe, highlighting the phases of the battle during which Narses' troops most prominently demonstrated their advantage. The eunuch placed his shock infantry, the Ante-signani, in the center and deployed cavalry and horse-archers on his right and left flanks, allowing the enemy infantry to temerariously charge ahead and commence the assault, and then pulled back his center formation just as he delayed sending out his cavalry to envelop the Franks until they had maneuvered themselves into a disadvantageous position. The author occasionally (and interestingly) pauses his account to give the reader perspective on a sixth-century Byzantine scholar, Agathias Scholasticus, whose On the Reign of Justinian serves as one of the ancient sources for this period.
Chapter 12, The Administration of Italy delineates the Byzantine Exarchate's early history, explaining that Justinian's Pragmatic Sanction of 15 August 554 preserved select laws enacted under the Gothic kings while it separated the administrative roles of church and state, and also addresses the division of Italy into Duchies under the jurisdiction of Dukes and Tribunes who were themselves subject to Narses' authority, although he did not yet carry the title of Exarch as the position was not instituted until around 584. "Enough is known of Justinian's administrative measures for the restored West (Africa and Italy) to give a good general idea of the extent of Narses' powers. The concept behind this 'Imperial Restoration' was to re-establish the literal counterpart of the old Roman Empire. The means was to be by reviving the ancient institutions. Steps along these lines had already been taken for Africa in April 534, and what proved to be slightly premature measures for Italy in the years 538 and 540. The Pragmatic Sanction of 554 was to complete these measures."
The study's thirteenth chapter, The Rebuilding Programme of Narses explores the impressive array of municipal projects that were undertaken during Narses' tenure as the unofficial Exarch of Ravenna which lasted at least twelve years, from 554-567 CE, but he remained in Italy until his death on 13 July 574. Narses was a devout Orthodox Catholic and a number of church constructions and restorations in Rome, Venice, and Ravenna are attributed to his tangible demonstrations of piety, and he also was responsible for commissioning the no-longer-extant Bridge of Narses over the Aniene River where it was crossed by the Via Salaria, after the original had been destroyed by the Gothic king Totila. Fauber has included a beautiful plate illustration of Giovanni Battista Piranesi's 'Veduta del Ponte Salario', which was a part of his set of engravings entitled, Two Views of Rome, from 1754.
Chapter 17, The Saga of Narses contains a fascinating review of classical and modern literature as Fauber examines Narses' legendary exploits as they appear in the chronicles of numerous scholars and historians throughout history, including Isidore of Seville's Etymologiae, Paul the Deacon's History of the Langobards, and even Niccolò Machiavelli's Florentine Histories. He also appraises the validity of certain aspects of the saga, most prominently the sequence which recounts Narses' famous feud with the Empress Sophia Augusta and her now-infamous message to the eunuch, an element that was possibly referenced from Claudian's Invectives against Eutropius, and may be nothing more than a later invention of Fredegarius, or Paul the Deacon, writing centuries after the fact. In the reviewer's own humble opinion, this was an outstanding chapter and a wonderful way to close out Narses' extraordinary tale.
Overall, L.H. Fauber's Narses: Hammer of the Goths was a challenging but also highly informative reading experience that will amply reward the patient reader with a treasure trove of interesting information on one of Byzantine history's most uniquely fascinating personalities, and it is also one of the more inspiring sagas to be found in literature, in the reviewer's own limited experience. While Narses may not be everyone's archetypical idea of an unlikely hero, his story was nonetheless an engaging read, and my impressions of this monograph were very positive, as it was abundantly clear that the author devoted a great deal of time toward the research and background of the book. I would first recommend this title to specialists and enthusiasts, but even if you are neither of these, please don't let this review ward you away from giving the book a try, because you will learn a tremendous amount about Narses, and also have a fantastic time while doing so. Thank you so very much for reading, I hope that you enjoyed the review!
Narses, the Persarmenian general and statesman who served under the Byzantine emperor Justinian I, was born between 478-80 CE in the Persian half of the former Kingdom of Armenia, his origins as a eunuch shrouded in mystery and speculation. His first recorded historical appearance was around 530, as referenced by the Greek historian Procopius of Caesarea's History of the Wars Book I, in regard to the defection of two Persarmenian generals, Aratius and Narses (a different Narses), after the eunuch had already risen to the rank of High Treasurer. He did not attain the rank of parakoimomenos, or Grand Chamberlain until around 540. After proving himself instrumental during the Nika riots' suppression in 532, Narses was one of Justinian I's key commanders in the Gothic War that spanned 535-54 CE, during which he led the emperor's armies against the Gothic King Totila and his successors in the Battles of Tagninae and Mons Lactarius.
This hardcover edition of L.H. Fauber's 1990 monograph Narses: Hammer of the Goths was published in the United States by St. Martin's Press, and it examines the life and military career of a man who ranks as perhaps Byzantium's most famous Grand Chamberlain next to John the Orphanotrophos. The author has copiously referenced contemporary and modern factual sources such as Procopius' History of the Wars and Edward Gibbon's The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, in addition to stylistic sources such as Robert Graves Count Belisarius and John W. Vandercook's Empress of the Dusk: A Life of Theodora of Byzantium in his endeavor to provide as substantial and well-developed a portrait as possible of this unconventional historical figure and the world he inhabited. The 186-page main text features copious maps and diagrams, 10 plate illustrations, 4 appendices, a 15-page bibliography, and an index at the back of the book. The study is divided into three parts - The Origins and Early Career of Narses the Eunuch, The Victories of Narses, and Narses the Exarch.
Chapter 1, The Background of Narses introduces the reader to the Byzantine setting and the dramatis personae, emphasizing the people whom comprised Narses' world in lieu of offering unsubstantiated information on the man himself. The Kingdom of Armenia, also called Greater Armenia, had been partitioned into two halves in 386 CE as a result of a treaty between the emperor Theodosius I and the Sasanid king Sapor III, and by the time of Justinian I's reign (527-65) the Byzantine section had been further divided into quarters which Fauber's map on page 5 illustrates very well. The author discusses several famous Armenians' roles in the Eastern Roman Empire's history and provides an interesting character sketch of the Byzantine Emperor Justinian that focuses on his legislative achievements and his relationship with the Empress Theodora, afterwards using fanciful depictions of Narses' early life to idly speculate on the circumstances which led to his becoming a eunuch and also exploring the history of the Grand Chamberlain, or Praepositus Sacri Cubiculi position.
In Chapter 2, The New Rome and the Rise of the Greens and Blues, Fauber establishes the background behind the two factions whom would serve as the primary antagonists in the tumultuous Nika riots that gripped Constantinople's Hippodrome during the week of 11-18 January 532 CE. The Red, White, Blue and Green sides were originally racing factions, but somehow the latter two came to represent religious and political followers of Orthodoxy and Monophysicism, respectively, and became known as demes, after the Greek word dēmos, which means "people", each under the jurisdiction of an official called a Demarch, who were the Domestics of the Schools and Excubiti, also respectively. The Hippodrome's imperial viewing structure was called the Kathisma, and Fauber's research illustrates for his readers the history behind that edifice's former decorative gold, silver and bronze sculpture which traveled great distances and changed possession numerous times before eventually becoming known as Venice's famous Horses of St. Mark, in an eloquent passage on page 28-9.
Chapter 4, The First Command of Narses discusses the circumstances that preluded Narses' first military assignment during the Gothic War as Justinian's commander Belisarius sought to solidify Byzantium's western frontier by reconquering Italy in the empire's name and defeating the Germanic Ostrogoths, a formidable adversary who were led by their resourceful king, Vitiges. Despite the tumultuous era during which he came to power, Vitiges proved himself to be a resourceful opponent, by placing Rome under a year-long siege in 537 CE and by mounting a spirited resistance to Belisarius' northward advance that culminated in a treacherous Byzantine intrigue at Ravenna, where in 540 Belisarius disingenuously accepted the crown of Western Emperor alongside the Ostrogoths' surrender before he entered the city, seized Vitiges, and refused it afterwards.
Narses' initial role was as a commander of 5,000 assorted troops whom had arrived to reinforce Belisarius at Picenum in 538, but later during the winter, after months of campaigning together, the Byzantine army began dividing into two different camps, with each side favoring either commander, and after utilizing a technicality in Justinian's wording on an imperial missive, Narses judged Belisarius' future battle plans to run against the interests of the Byzantine state and he was relieved of his command during a conference at Arminium. Narses was recalled following the fall of Milan in March 539, but Belisarius eventually triumphed after his duplicitous actions at Ravenna, which came in the wake of a five-month Byzantine siege that lasted from late 539-May 540.
When discussing Narses' troop movements during the weeks leading up to the Battle of Taginae in Chapter 7, The Italian Expeditionary Force, Fauber explains three possible routes his army could have taken to bypass Petra Petrusa as posited by two nineteenth-century historians, Thomas Hodgkin and John Bagnell Bury. Petra Petrusa, now known as Gola del Furlo, was a fortified Roman tunnel that ran along the Via Flaminia after it turned sharply inland to the southwest at Fano which was excavated during the reign of the emperor Vespasian in 76 CE, and Gothic troops had been stationed to guard the mountain passage at both ends, rendering it impassible, so Narses was necessitated to traverse an alternate route to reach the area where Totila's army was encamped - the author provides a useful map denoting each historian's divergent path.
After King Totila's death at the Battle of Taginae, the Ostrogoths selected as their new ruler his loyal lieutenant Teias, who schemed to utilize the old king's remaining Pavian treasure as an incentive to bring the Franks and the other Gothic tribes into an alliance with their ultimate objective being to drive the Byzantines from Italy, but all the Franks had to offer him were hollow words and an empty pledge of neutrality. From Rome Narses dispatched a garrison to capture the Greek colony of Cumae, where the majority of Totila's war spoils were located, but once Teias caught the gist of this he began a desperate march to reach the settlement before Narses' forces arrived. In order to evade his adversaries he ventured along a roundabout route that took him to the southeast of Mt. Vesuvius, while Cumae lay to the volcano's northwest, and the Byzantines headed him off at the River Draco. Teias' army retreated further south from the Greek pursuit to Mons Lactarius, and in March 553 the Ostrogoths made their final stand on the mountain in a struggle that took two full days before Narses' army finally emerged victorious.
Chapter 10, The Invasion of the Alamanni-Franks examines the political scenario which led to the Alamanni brothers Buccelin and Leutheris conducting a joint invasion of 75,000 troops into Italy after the Frankish king Theodebert had died in 548 CE, leaving the realm of Francia to his fourteen-year-old son, Theodebalt, and the young king had subsequently been persuaded into sanctioning, or at least allowing the operation by the two ambitious chieftains, whose initial southern advance was sufficient to capture Parma from the Byzantines and cause them to send an ultimately-unsuccessful sortie of 3,000 Herul foederati to retake the city. But Narses' extraordinary leadership abilities enabled him to prevail at Lucca after he conducted his siege of the city with "well-calculated magnanimity", according to Fauber's interesting report of the proceedings, and the eunuch-general put on what was assuredly a well-rehearsed spectacle that also nobly saved the lives of the Luccans he held in captivity.
In Chapter 11, The Battle of Casilinum (Capua), Fauber discusses the tactical significance of the Byzantines' superior discipline and armaments triumphing over the Frankish angon spear and francisca battle-axe, highlighting the phases of the battle during which Narses' troops most prominently demonstrated their advantage. The eunuch placed his shock infantry, the Ante-signani, in the center and deployed cavalry and horse-archers on his right and left flanks, allowing the enemy infantry to temerariously charge ahead and commence the assault, and then pulled back his center formation just as he delayed sending out his cavalry to envelop the Franks until they had maneuvered themselves into a disadvantageous position. The author occasionally (and interestingly) pauses his account to give the reader perspective on a sixth-century Byzantine scholar, Agathias Scholasticus, whose On the Reign of Justinian serves as one of the ancient sources for this period.
Chapter 12, The Administration of Italy delineates the Byzantine Exarchate's early history, explaining that Justinian's Pragmatic Sanction of 15 August 554 preserved select laws enacted under the Gothic kings while it separated the administrative roles of church and state, and also addresses the division of Italy into Duchies under the jurisdiction of Dukes and Tribunes who were themselves subject to Narses' authority, although he did not yet carry the title of Exarch as the position was not instituted until around 584. "Enough is known of Justinian's administrative measures for the restored West (Africa and Italy) to give a good general idea of the extent of Narses' powers. The concept behind this 'Imperial Restoration' was to re-establish the literal counterpart of the old Roman Empire. The means was to be by reviving the ancient institutions. Steps along these lines had already been taken for Africa in April 534, and what proved to be slightly premature measures for Italy in the years 538 and 540. The Pragmatic Sanction of 554 was to complete these measures."
The study's thirteenth chapter, The Rebuilding Programme of Narses explores the impressive array of municipal projects that were undertaken during Narses' tenure as the unofficial Exarch of Ravenna which lasted at least twelve years, from 554-567 CE, but he remained in Italy until his death on 13 July 574. Narses was a devout Orthodox Catholic and a number of church constructions and restorations in Rome, Venice, and Ravenna are attributed to his tangible demonstrations of piety, and he also was responsible for commissioning the no-longer-extant Bridge of Narses over the Aniene River where it was crossed by the Via Salaria, after the original had been destroyed by the Gothic king Totila. Fauber has included a beautiful plate illustration of Giovanni Battista Piranesi's 'Veduta del Ponte Salario', which was a part of his set of engravings entitled, Two Views of Rome, from 1754.
Chapter 17, The Saga of Narses contains a fascinating review of classical and modern literature as Fauber examines Narses' legendary exploits as they appear in the chronicles of numerous scholars and historians throughout history, including Isidore of Seville's Etymologiae, Paul the Deacon's History of the Langobards, and even Niccolò Machiavelli's Florentine Histories. He also appraises the validity of certain aspects of the saga, most prominently the sequence which recounts Narses' famous feud with the Empress Sophia Augusta and her now-infamous message to the eunuch, an element that was possibly referenced from Claudian's Invectives against Eutropius, and may be nothing more than a later invention of Fredegarius, or Paul the Deacon, writing centuries after the fact. In the reviewer's own humble opinion, this was an outstanding chapter and a wonderful way to close out Narses' extraordinary tale.
Overall, L.H. Fauber's Narses: Hammer of the Goths was a challenging but also highly informative reading experience that will amply reward the patient reader with a treasure trove of interesting information on one of Byzantine history's most uniquely fascinating personalities, and it is also one of the more inspiring sagas to be found in literature, in the reviewer's own limited experience. While Narses may not be everyone's archetypical idea of an unlikely hero, his story was nonetheless an engaging read, and my impressions of this monograph were very positive, as it was abundantly clear that the author devoted a great deal of time toward the research and background of the book. I would first recommend this title to specialists and enthusiasts, but even if you are neither of these, please don't let this review ward you away from giving the book a try, because you will learn a tremendous amount about Narses, and also have a fantastic time while doing so. Thank you so very much for reading, I hope that you enjoyed the review!
November 20, 2013
This book contains phrases like 'Narses the greatest general of his time, if not...'; so don't expect too much critical engagement with the sources. What you do get is a chronological account of what is known on Narses and a lot of arguments on why any 'morally problematic' decisions could not possibly have been real. I particularly 'liked' his attempt to discard the invitation of the Longobards into Italy, DESPITE several near contemporary sources mentioning it, on the strength of the argument that somebody like Narses just could not have done something so stupid.
As you can tell, I am not fully convinced by this book, but it is well written and a good read and at least he provides references for his ideas, which beats a lot of other books on the era.
As you can tell, I am not fully convinced by this book, but it is well written and a good read and at least he provides references for his ideas, which beats a lot of other books on the era.
March 8, 2014
This is nice for what it is. This is sort of an extra-long high-quality Wikipedia article about Narses. There’s not really any critical engagement with the primary sources, but it provides a good overview of the all the (older) academic positions on Narses’ life, and is a good biographical treatment of his life and doings, in chronological order. The author takes a pretty hardline pro-Narses position, but that’s fine with me. Honestly I’d be kinda sad if his only biography was like “Narses sucked and he was right to be forgotten.” Otherwise, no fuss, no muss.
April 19, 2017
Good book about Narses the eunuch, whose main point is exactly that: tell an interesting account of the life and deeds of this important character of his time
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