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st sophia and the ‘reconquest’(c. 532,54) 73
Equally active in religious affairs, the emperor was anxious to find a doctrinal
formula that could reconcile east with west, and in 533 he issued a
lengthy decree, for which he later obtained papal approval, affirming
Chalcedon while at the same time seeking to meet Monophysite concerns. 62
Meanwhile it was believed that Theodora was seeking to promote
Monophysite interests – for instance, in achieving the appointments of
Anthimus and Theodosius as patriarchs of Constantinople and Alexandria
in 535, and in engineering a visit to the capital by Severus of Antioch and
lodging him in her own palace. Procopius was not the only one who suspected,
rightly or wrongly (SH 10.13f.), that the emperor and empress followed
opposing religious policies in order to divide and rule. 63 However,
Justinian was soon persuaded by a visit from pope Agapitus (536) to
remove Anthimus and Severus alike, deposing Theodosius also in 537.
Long before the completion of St Sophia in a.d. 537, and indeed very
shortly after the Nika revolt, the emperor had launched the first stage in the
enterprise for which he is probably best known, the so-called ‘reconquest’ of
the west. The scheme may have developed in stages, the first being the
despatch of Belisarius against Vandal Africa in the summer of 533, with
15,000 troops in addition to bucellarii. According to Procopius, many were
doubtful of the prospects of success, but the emperor’s determination was
increased by a vision conveniently vouchsafed to one of his bishops (Wars
iii.10.1–21). Procopius took part in this expedition himself in the entourage
of Belisarius’ wife Antonina. Having sailed via Sicily, the fleet landed on the
coast of Byzacena, and the expedition met with extraordinary success,
defeating the Vandal army at Ad Decimum and entering Carthage, where
Belisarius occupied the palace and took possession of the throne of the
Vandal king Gelimer on 14 September. He was rewarded with the exceptional
honour of a triumph in Constantinople in 534, during which he
marched into the Hippodrome at the head of a procession of Vandal prisoners
and spoils and with Gelimer himself walking in chains. The spoils
included the treasures originally taken by Titus from the Temple at Jerusalem
in the Jewish war and captured from Rome by the Vandal king Geiseric.
Belisarius presented all this to Justinian and Theodora in state as they occupied
the imperial box in the Hippodrome, only two years after the scenes of
carnage which had taken place there during the Nika revolt, while the noble
Gelimer neither wept nor lamented, but only repeated the verse from the
Book of Ecclesiastes: ‘Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.’ 64 This great occasion
was echoed soon afterwards when on 1 January 535 Belisarius celebrated his
62 CJ i.i.6; cf. Amelotti and Zingale (1977) 31–5; the decree is also preserved with some differences
in Chron. Pasch. 630–3.
63 Cf. Evagr. HE iv.10, 30, 32; Zonaras, Epit. xiv.6, 9; Stein, Bas-Empire ii.377–86.
64 Procop. Wars iv.9.1–12, see PLRE iii, s.v. Belisarius, 193; Marcell. Chron. s.a. 534, the end of the
Chronicle, with Croke (1995) 126–7; McCormick, Eternal Victory 125–9.
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