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Text | Historic Exploration
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Maybe Belisarius was too talented personally, or maybe he had already devoted himself to fighting for the empire and had no time to take care of his family.
In short, the family life of the first general of the Byzantine Empire became the place where he was most criticized.
Wife Antonina
In the winter of 531 A.D., Belisarius married a woman named Antonina in Constantinople, and from then on she followed Belisarius as his only legal wife.
Their union, like that of Justinian and Theodora, is so incompatible on the surface:
Antonina came from humble beginnings, her grandfather and father were both motorists, her father was a trader in Constantinople and Thessaloniki, and her mother was a theater actress.
Antonina's early life is unknown, but according to historical records, she lived a life of dissoluteness from her youth, learning from her parents all kinds of shoddy witchcraft that she should be familiar with.
Before marrying Belisarius, Antonina had an unsatisfactory marriage, and according to Mahonlius's research, her ex-husband was not famous.
Among their children, only one son and one daughter were later mentioned by name, the son was named Photius, and the daughter was unknown, but it is mentioned that she was married to an official named Idigor.
Although Antonina came from a humble background and was much older than Belisarius, she still had moral corruption after marriage by virtue of her outstanding appearance and amorous nature.
When Belisarius was on his expedition to the kingdom of Vandal, she had an affair with her adopted son Theodosius, and murdered the servants who had reported it to Belisarius in an unusually cruel way.
Even so, Belisarius claimed that he still loved his wife and would not hurt her. Throughout his life, the general remained faithful to his marriage.
Procopius ostensibly praised Belisarius for "having a surprising virtue, and that he had never had an affair with any woman except his wife." ”
Privately, in the "Secret History", he denounced this feeling as worthless, and regarded it as the biggest stain and stupidity in Belisarius's life.
He took the trouble to enumerate Antonina's evils, but he ignored Antonina's great help to Belisarius.
First, Antonina had a major influence on Belisarius' political career.
She was a very intelligent woman who, although of low birth in her early years, later enjoyed aristocratic treatment in the Byzantine court through her political mastery.
After becoming Belisarius's wife, Antonina actively joined the upper echelons of the empire, personally participating in and plotting several political intrigues.
She had won the support of Theodora by helping the Empress plot to frame her political enemies on several occasions, and on more than one occasion she used this relationship to defuse the crisis and preserve Belisarius's reputation at critical moments when her husband was convicted of rebellion.
It can be said that without Antonina's influence at court, Belisarius's political and military career would likely have ended much earlier in the frequent court struggles.
Secondly, Antonina had given great support to Belisarius in his campaigns.
Putting aside all the wickedness of the people, she always did her best to assist her husband in the face of Belisarius.
Antonina often accompanied Belisarius when he went on his expeditions, and she traveled throughout the battlefields of Persia, Vandal, and Italy.
In addition to her attendants, she also used her wit on several occasions to solve various problems faced by Belisarius and the Byzantine army.
Procobi once described her as "the most miraculous woman", such as during Belisarius's expedition to Vandal, if Antonina had not properly stored drinking water, Belisarius would have had to drink spoiled water on the ship with the soldiers.
Finally, when Procobi contemptuously accuses Belisarius of being morbid in love with Antonina, even Gibbon asks such questions,
"This invincibility of patience and loyalty to his wife makes it impossible to know whether he is the best or the least of men. ”
People ignore the daughter of Antonina and Belisarius in their frequent battles, Ioannina, and the end of Antonina's death after Belisarius's death, when she donated the rest of her family property to a monastery and eventually spent the rest of her life there.
Stepson Phutilus
Belisarius's stepson, Phoetius, is the only child born to Antonina and her former husband to be mentioned by later historians.
According to the Secret History, Antonina's first husband died while Phoetius was still in his mother's arms. Belisarius raised him to adulthood and had high hopes for him.
Due to Belisarius's connections, Phoetius also entered the imperial army at a very young age and became a general.
He followed Belisarius in the war against Italy in 535 AD, and although he was young at the time, he showed maturity and caution beyond his years.
He was a distinguished performer in battle, volunteering to jump off an aqueduct to lead the way during the attack on Naples in 536 AD, and taking part in the siege of Rome in 537 AD, where he also performed well.
In November 537, he was also ordered to arrest Pope Silvilius. Belisarius had a close relationship with Phtius,
Belisarius had given him the position of consul when he was in high power, and gave him many opportunities to make a fortune, which shows that he won the trust and attention of his stepfather.
In the same way, Phoetius reciprocated by learning of the misdeeds of his biological mother Antonina, and took the initiative to find Belisarius to inform him of all the details, and chose to side with his stepfather and went to Ephesus to capture the adulterer and his servants.
When Antonina learned of this, she quickly calmed Belisarius' anger and told her master and close friend Theodora, who tortured those involved while keeping the adulterer Theodosius in custody.
Later, Antonina framed her son in every possible way and flogged him to suppress the matter.
Procobi was unsparing in his Secret History at Belisarius, saying that his total inaction after the revelation of Photius's denunciation of Antonina was an act of dishonor.
However, he also mentions that Phoetius did this in order to bring down his adopted son, Theodosius, who was favored by Antonina. Eventually, Photius was imprisoned in the dungeons of the Palace of Theodora, and his escape was unsuccessful twice.
It was not until three years later that he finally managed to escape to Jerusalem, and his life is unknown after that. Since the whereabouts of Photius were unknown, Belisarius had fewer trusted people around him, which illustrates the complexity of his family's internal relationships.
Adopted son Theodosi
Originally from Thrace, he was born into a heretical family of the Unomians, and Belisarius baptized him according to Christian rites before his expedition to the Vandal, and adopted him as an adopted son with his wife.
After that, he started an affair with Antonina. In fact, Belisarius had witnessed the two behaving in the basement as early as the time of his death.
Perhaps it was Belisarius's trust in them that made him credible, or perhaps it was because of the seriousness of the matter, but the lack of evidence did not act rashly.
Belisarius did nothing to deal with the scandal of the slave Masidonia when he first heard about it, and it was not until Phutilus put the witnesses and evidence in front of him that Belisarius finally believed it.
He sent his guards to kill Theodosius, who fled to the monastery of Ephosph.
After Antonina successfully used the empress's authority to pacify Belisarius and remove Phutilus, Theodosius was quietly taken back to Constantinople by the empress and hid in the palace, where he died of malaria.
In the early days, Belisarius showed more trust and importance to Theodosius than Phutilus.
Not only did he help Theodosius gain nobility and bring him under his command, but he also used his position to make him a lot of wealth.
Theodosius was once one of the most prominent members of Belisarius' family, and in 539 CE he served as an envoy to negotiate peace with the Gothic king Vitigis.
Belisarius' attention to him aroused the jealousy of Phoetius. The consequence of his self-revelation was that both sides were defeated, and the fall of the two heirs dealt a serious blow to the power of the Belisarius family.
Daughter Joanneina
Joannena was Belisarius and Antonina's only child, born around the time Belisarius left for the African War.
After a succession of misfortunes befell Belisarius' stepson, Phoetius, and his adopted son, Theodosius, she became the heir to Belisarius' vast fortune.
Procobius records in the Secret History that Queen Theodora wrote frequently to the Belisarius after she reached the age of marriage, asking her nephew Anastasiaus to marry Joannena.
In the absence of a clear reply, Theodora orchestrated an adultery while Belisarius and Antonina had not yet returned to Constantinople, forcing the girl to agree to the marriage after the loss and living with Anastasiaus for eight months.
After Theodora's death in 548 AD, Antonina returned to Constantinople, where she firmly refused to recognize Anastasias as her son-in-law and used violence to separate them.
Since then, Joanneina's life is unknown. The union of Joannena with Anastasia was entirely a political marriage.
In Procobi's view, it was the Empress Theodora who coveted Belisarius's family property and hoped to make this huge wealth her own and the emperor's, while Antonina desperately opposed this, and it was ruthless and unrighteous to ignore the honor and emotions of her own daughter.
He also pointed out that Belisarius easily listened to Antony in this matter, so that everyone could see who he was from now on.
In the case of Theodosius, those who defended Belisarius's actions thought that Belisarius's inaction against Phthyus's misfortune was a fear of the power of the empress.
However, after the death of the Empress, Belisarius still obeyed his wife's fate, so Procobi ruthlessly pointed out that "Belisarius's stupidity is known to the world." ”
It should be noted, however, that Belisarius' relationship with the Emperor was already very strained at this time, and Antonina's actions destroyed the friendship she had built up with the Empress over the years.
The queen's approach is certainly too extreme and shameful. What's more, the two were well aware that behind this political marriage was the emperor's desire to wipe out Belisarius, along with his fortune and family.
Coupled with the usurpation conspiracy that Belisarius had previously been involved in and the humiliation on the battlefield in Italy, it can be said that this repentance incident was a sign of a complete break between Belisarius and the emperor's heart.
After this incident, Belisarius almost disappeared from the public eye for a full decade, which also shows that Justinian has completely distrusted Belisarius and his family.
Antonina's son-in-law, Idigore
Idigor is the husband of Antonina's daughter with her ex-husband, and his early life is unknown, but Procobius records suggest that he was from Cappadocia and was a brave general.
When Belisarius returned to Constantinople after winning a great victory in Vandal, the Libyan Moors staged a mutiny.
In order not to delay his journey, Belisarius entrusted the troops and the rebellion to Solomon, and the emperor also sent Ceozorus and Idigor, who were also Cappadocians, to lead an army to support.
Later, Solomon fled due to a mutiny plot and turned to Belisarius for help, and after Belisarius led his army to suppress the first Libyan mutiny, he reentrusted the local affairs to Idigor and Theozoros due to the unrest in Sicily.
Later, the two men, together with a large army led by Germanus, sent by the emperor again, put down the Libyan mutiny. After the Libyan mutiny, Idigor led his army to Italy to support Belisarius's expedition.
He took part in the first Gothic siege of Rome and the siege of Petra, and was appointed president of the expeditionary force by Belisarius during the attack on Alimini.
At the end of the First Italian War, Idigor was in charge of guarding the banks of the Po River while the two sides negotiated peace talks. After the war, he also returned to Byzantium as a hero along with Belisarius.
In 543 he also accompanied the eastern general Martinus on an expedition to Persia. Idigor held a high position in the Belisarius family, and he was an important member of Belisarius's southern and northern wars, and the events in Libya and Italy fully demonstrated that he and Belisarius supported each other in the war.
In the same way, he was also a political ally of Belisarius, and he supported him firmly at many critical moments, standing up for Belisarius when he was assassinated by Constantinus, and trusted by Belisarius.
summary
It can be seen from this that Belisarius, who was highly praised in military affairs, had a very chaotic family life, and his final tragic ending had a lot to do with it.
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[4] 钮先钟: "The History of Western Thought," 广西师范 University Press, 2003 edition.
[5] Qian Mu, "Masterpieces of Chinese Historiography", Life Reading Xinzhi Sanlian Bookstore, 2005 edition.
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