Siege of Naples (536)

Siege of Naples

Date	October–November 536 AD
Location	Naples, Italy
Result	Byzantine victory

Belligerents

Byzantine Empire

Ostrogoths and citizens of Naples

Commanders and leaders

Belisarius

Unknown

Strength

8,000 men

800 Goths
Citizen militia

Wars of Justinian I

Iberian War Dara Satala Callinicum Vandalic War Ad Decimum Tricamarum Gothic War 1st Naples 1st Rome Treviso Verona Faventia Mucellium 2nd Naples 2nd Rome 3rd Rome Sena Gallica Taginae Mons Lactarius Volturnus Conquest of Spania Moorish Wars Mammes and Bourgaon Babosis and Zerboule Cillium Marta Fields of Cato Lazic War Phasis

The Siege of Naples in 536 was a successful siege of Naples by the Byzantines under Belisarius during the Gothic War. The Byzantine army under Belisarius, having subdued Sicily with ease, landed on mainland Italy in late spring 536, and advanced along the coast on Naples. The citizens of Naples, roused by two orators, decided to resist. The siege dragged on for twenty days with numerous Byzantine casualties, and Belisarius was preparing to abandon it when his soldiers discovered an entrance into the city through the disused aqueduct. After giving the city a final chance to surrender, Belisarius launched his troops in a brutal sack. The Ostrogothic garrison of 800 men was taken prisoner and treated well, but the citizens suffered greatly at the hands of the Byzantine troops, and especially their Hunnic mercenaries. From Naples, the Byzantines marched on to Rome, which they entered in early December.

Sources

Bury, John Bagnell (1958). History of the Later Roman Empire: From the Death of Theodosius I to the Death of Justinian, Volume 2. Mineola, New York: Dover Publications, Inc. pp. 175–178. ISBN 0-486-20399-9.

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