John Troglita

Roman Africa, with the provinces of Byzacena, Zeugitana and Numidia.

In late 546, when John Troglita reached Carthage, the situation was dire: the imperial troops, under Marcentius the dux of Byzacena and Gregory the Armenian in Carthage, were few in number and demoralized. They held out in the coastal cities, blockaded by the Moors of Byzacena under their chieftain Antalas, while the Leuathae and Austurae tribes from Tripolitania were raiding Byzacena with impunity. Diplomatic efforts, however, secured the allegiance of the Moorish leaders Cutzinas and Ifisdaias, who joined the imperial army with several thousand of their men. In addition, the tribesmen of the Aurès Mountains under Iaudas withdrew to Numidia on learning of Troglita's arrival and pursued a course of armed neutrality.[10]

Upon his arrival in Carthage, Troglita reorganized his troops, bolstering the local forces with the veterans he had brought with him – mostly horse archers and cataphracts – and marched out to meet the rebels. At Antonia Castra, emissaries from Antalas presented themselves, but Troglita rejected their terms and imprisoned them. The Byzantine army marched into Byzacena, relieved the beleaguered cities, and joined up with Marcentius. The Moors, taken by surprise by the imperial army's swift advance, withdrew again to the mountainous and wooded interior, where they gathered their forces under the leadership of Ierna of the Leuathae and Antalas. Corippus suggests that they hoped that Troglita would not maintain his pursuit in the midst of winter and that they would have the advantage over the imperial army in this terrain. Troglita encamped near the Moorish positions and dispatched an envoy, Amantius, to bring Antalas his terms: the general offered amnesty in exchange for submitting to imperial authority again.[11]

Corippus narrates the subsequent battle at length, but his imitation of Virgilian verse provides little concrete detail: it is clear that it was a long, indecisive, and bloody conflict, which probably took place to the south or east of Sufetula in late 546 or early 547. Eventually, the Byzantines prevailed and drove back the Moors, breaking through their defences and storming their camp. According to Corippus, Ierna, who was the chief priest of the god Gurzil, was killed while trying to protect an image of the god. Many other tribal leaders fell, and the remainder scattered. The remains of the Tripolitanian tribes abandoned Byzacena, and Antalas was forced to lay down arms. In addition, many prisoners were released from the Moorish camp, and among the treasures captured there were the military standards lost by Solomon at Cillium in 544. These were dispatched to Constantinople, while Troglita held a triumphal entry into Carthage.[12]

With this victory, the war seemed won, and peace re-established in Africa. A few months later, however, the tribes of Tripolitania reassembled and formed a coalition under the king of the Ifuraces, Carcasan. After raiding Tripolitania, they turned west to raid Byzacena again. Notified of this by Rufinus, the dux of Tripolitania, Troglita marched out to meet them. The Byzantine army had been weakened in the meantime by the need to reinforce Belisarius against the Goths in Italy: of the nine regiments Troglita had brought with him from Constantinople, three were dispatched to Italy. The Moors under Antalas remained hostile but did not immediately join the conflict for the moment, but the Byzantines were deprived of the services of Ifisdaias, who refused to commit his men. Despite the hot summer, Troglita marched his men quickly to the southern limit of Byzacena, along the edge of the desert, hoping to meet the Moors there and prevent the long-suffering province from being ravaged again. The Moors initially withdrew into the arid interior, hoping to shake him off, but Troglita's army, accompanied by a caravan with water and provisions, followed them into the desert. Both armies suffered from thirst and hunger, and discontent spread among the Byzantine soldiers. Finally, a near mutiny erupted when an epidemic killed off a large part of the army's horses, forcing Troglita to turn again north towards the coast.[13]

There, Troglita positioned himself between the Matmata plateau and the coast, and awaited the Moors. He also sent for ships to bring supplies, but adverse winds made this impossible. When the Moorish army appeared nearby it was likewise exhausted from hunger and made for some sources of water, which Troglita set out to reach first. The Byzantines camped at Marta in the district of Gallica, where battle was joined. It was a disastrous defeat for the Byzantines, whose army broke and fled. Corippus, possibly in an attempt to exculpate his hero Troglita, attributes the defeat to the indiscipline of some soldiers, who attacked the enemy before the army was ready, leading to a disorganized piecemeal engagement. According to Corippus's account, the Moorish allies of the Byzantines panicked first and retreated, causing the entire army to disintegrate, despite the personal intervention of Troglita and the other Byzantine leaders.[14]

Following this defeat, Troglita fled to Iunci (modern Bordj Younga, 9 km south of Mahares[15]), where he began regrouping the survivors. The losses were so high and the army's morale so low, however, that he was soon forced to withdraw further north to the fortress of Laribus (the modern village of Lorbeus, near Le Kef[16]), where he started mustering his army. Learning of the battle, Antalas immediately rose up again and joined the Tripolitanian tribes, while the Byzantines' allies, Cutzinas and Ifisdaias, were quarreling among themselves. Throughout the remainder of 547, the Moors were free to raid across Africa, even reaching the vicinity of Carthage itself.[17]

Troglita did not remain inactive: from Carthage, the praetorian prefect Athanasius and Troglita's young son organized reinforcements and supplies for the camp at Laribus, while Troglita himself succeeded not only in reconciling Cutzinas and Ifisdaias, but also in gaining the allegiance of King Iaudas and his tribe. In the spring of 548, Troglita, having regrouped his forces, met with his Moorish allies at the plain of Arsuris on the northern limits of Byzacena. Corippus gives extraordinary numbers for the native contingents provided by each chief: 30,000 for Cutzinas, 100,000 for Ifisdaias, and 12,000 under Iaudas's brother. Whatever the real numbers, it seems clear that Troglita's regular troops formed the lesser portion of the imperial army.[18]

The tribes, under the leadership of Carcasan and Antalas, had encamped in central Byzacena, in the plain of Mamma or Mammes. Carcasan, confident after his victory the previous year, wanted to confront the imperial army immediately, but as it happened he gave way to Antalas, who advocated the more cautious and well-tried Moorish tactic of withdrawing and drawing the Byzantines into the interior, forcing them to march far from their supply bases and through a devastated country, thus exhausting and demoralizing them. The rebels thus retreated south and east, reaching Iunci after ten days. Troglita's army pursued them at some distance, only exchanging a few blows with the tribes' rearguard. Once the Byzantine army reached the plain before Iunci and laid camp, however, the Moors again withdrew into the mountainous interior. Having been informed by a spy of his enemy's strategy, Troglita refused to follow and remained encamped near the port of Lariscus, from where he could be easily resupplied. Nevertheless, discontent grew among the soldiers, who did not understand their leader's reluctance to fight: the army mutinied and attacked the tent of Troglita, who was barely able to escape. Thanks to the allied Moorish contingents, who remained steadfast, Troglita was able to reimpose control over his men.[19]

Troglita now moved his army to confront the enemy, who were encamped at a plain called the Fields of Cato. The Moorish camp had been heavily fortified, and Troglita was reluctant to launch a direct assault. He, therefore, blockaded it, hoping that hunger would force the Moors to fight him in open battle. To further encourage them, he restrained his men, feigning a reluctance to fight. Troglita's plan worked: encouraged by sacrifices to their gods and hoping to catch the imperial army unprepared, the Moors attacked the Byzantine camp on a Sunday. The battle hung long in the balance, with many dead on both sides, but eventually the Byzantines gained the upper hand. At this point, Carcasan rallied his forces and launched a fierce counterattack, but was killed by Troglita himself. Seeing their leader fall, the Moors broke and fled. The battle was a resounding success for the Byzantines: seventeen of the Moors' principal leaders were dead, the Tripolitanian tribes were decimated and withdrew to the desert, and Antalas and his followers submitted to Troglita. Byzacena, Numidia, and Tripolitania were finally secured, and a period of peace was inaugurated that lasted for the next fourteen years, until 562.[20]

At about this time, Troglita seems to have been promoted to the honorific court rank of patricius, as attested by the 6th-century historian Jordanes (Romana 385). He remained in command in Africa for at least another four years, beginning the difficult work of reconstruction. Troglita re-established the civil administrative apparatus as originally envisaged by Emperor Justinian in 533, sharing his authority with the prefect Athanasius. The provincial fortifications built by Solomon were restored, and the subdued Moorish tribes carefully returned to a status of vassalage as imperial foederati. According to the scholar John B. Bury, Troglita's record in re-establishing order and tranquility in the troubled province make him, along with Belisarius and Solomon, "the third hero of the Imperial reoccupation of Africa".[21]

Troglita's success in restoring peace to Africa can be seen from the fact that in late 551, when Totila, king of the Ostrogoths, captured Sardinia and Corsica, Troglita was able to spare enough forces and send a fleet to reclaim them, albeit without success.[22] The exact date of Troglita's death is unknown, but it is most likely that he died in 552 or soon after.[23]