Belisarius & Alexander's Armour

[Taphoi]

I am aware of a rumour that Count Belisarius (Justinian's general) may have had "Alexander's armour" carried before his army in battles (perhaps against the Vandals in North Africa). However, I haven't found anything about this in the most obvious source: Procopius.

Some other possible sources (not checked) might be:

The Chronicle of John Malalas

The Chronicle of Marcellinus Comes

The Ecclesiastical History of Evagrius

John of Ephesus (monophysite), Ecclesiastical History (surviving part 521-585) and Lives of Eastern Saints

The challenge is to find a source or else to show that the tale is apocryphal, but I appreciate this is a tricky one

Best wishes,

Andrew

[marcus]

I am aware of a rumour that Count Belisarius (Justinian's general) may have had "Alexander's armour" carried before his army in battles (perhaps against the Vandals in North Africa). However, I haven't found anything about this in the most obvious source: Procopius.

Some other possible sources (not checked) might be:

The Chronicle of John Malalas

The Chronicle of Marcellinus Comes

The Ecclesiastical History of Evagrius

John of Ephesus (monophysite), Ecclesiastical History (surviving part 521-585) and Lives of Eastern Saints

The challenge is to find a source or else to show that the tale is apocryphal, but I appreciate this is a tricky one

Best wishes,

Andrew

I don't remember reading about that, but I haven't read the possible sources you list - to be honest (and I hate admitting it), I never even finished reading Procopius.

I wonder whether there is a mention of it in Robert Graves' Count Belisarius? I haven't read it for years - maybe this is a spur to re-read it. I doubt Graves would cite a source for that, though...

ATB

[Taphoi]

Thanks Marcus, but I don't think it's in Graves' book (which I have in my library).

I believe I got this from a newsgroup discussion some years ago. I wouldn't normally pay much attention to such a rumour, except that this one makes a sort of sense. Belisarius' army famously stopped off at Abydos near Troy on the way to North Africa and we know that Alexander had left a suit of armour at Troy (Arrian, Anabasis 1.11.7).

It is the sort of thing that might have been mentioned by some obscure Byzantine chronicler.

Best wishes,

Andrew