David Alan Parnell is Professor of History at Indiana University Northwest, author of Justinian's Men: Careers and Relationships of Byzantine Army Officers, ca. 518-610, co-editor of The Routledge Handbook on Identity in Byzantium, and has published numerous articles on the military and social life of the sixth-century Roman Empire. He is an award-winning teacher, a frequent guest on podcasts dedicated to ancient and medieval history, and a consultant for historical documentaries.

This is a splendid analysis of one of the great power couples of Late Antiquity. Outsiders both, Belisarius and Antonina, were alternatively welcome and unwelcome to their contemporaries; their lives together were objects of potent contemporary image making as well as intensely hostile gossip. Parnell does a masterful job untangling the complex traditions stemming from the ambiguity of their positions, both at the time and the later myths surrounding them. In so doing, he offers a valuable picture of the Roman Empire in the sixth century from a fresh perspective.

• List of IllustrationsAcknowledgments Introduction1. The World of Antonina2. General of the East3. Victory in Africa4. The Eternal City5. From Rome to Ravenna6. Trying Times7. Italy Redux8. Twilight of a Power Couple9. Afterlife and Legend Appendix 1: Dramatis PersonaeAppendix 2: Timeline of Their LivesAppendix 3: The Wealth of BelisariusNotesBibliographyIndex

David Alan Parnell is Professor of History at Indiana University Northwest, author of Justinian's Men: Careers and Relationships of Byzantine Army Officers, ca. 518-610, co-editor of The Routledge Handbook on Identity in Byzantium, and has published numerous articles on the military and social life of the sixth-century Roman Empire. He is an award-winning teacher, a frequent guest on podcasts dedicated to ancient and medieval history, and a consultant for historical documentaries.

This is a splendid analysis of one of the great power couples of Late Antiquity. Outsiders both, Belisarius and Antonina, were alternatively welcome and unwelcome to their contemporaries; their lives together were objects of potent contemporary image making as well as intensely hostile gossip. Parnell does a masterful job untangling the complex traditions stemming from the ambiguity of their positions, both at the time and the later myths surrounding them. In so doing, he offers a valuable picture of the Roman Empire in the sixth century from a fresh perspective.

• List of IllustrationsAcknowledgments Introduction1. The World of Antonina2. General of the East3. Victory in Africa4. The Eternal City5. From Rome to Ravenna6. Trying Times7. Italy Redux8. Twilight of a Power Couple9. Afterlife and Legend Appendix 1: Dramatis PersonaeAppendix 2: Timeline of Their LivesAppendix 3: The Wealth of BelisariusNotesBibliographyIndex

David Alan Parnell is Professor of History at Indiana University Northwest, author of Justinian's Men: Careers and Relationships of Byzantine Army Officers, ca. 518-610, co-editor of The Routledge Handbook on Identity in Byzantium, and has published numerous articles on the military and social life of the sixth-century Roman Empire. He is an award-winning teacher, a frequent guest on podcasts dedicated to ancient and medieval history, and a consultant for historical documentaries.

This is a splendid analysis of one of the great power couples of Late Antiquity. Outsiders both, Belisarius and Antonina, were alternatively welcome and unwelcome to their contemporaries; their lives together were objects of potent contemporary image making as well as intensely hostile gossip. Parnell does a masterful job untangling the complex traditions stemming from the ambiguity of their positions, both at the time and the later myths surrounding them. In so doing, he offers a valuable picture of the Roman Empire in the sixth century from a fresh perspective.

• List of IllustrationsAcknowledgments Introduction1. The World of Antonina2. General of the East3. Victory in Africa4. The Eternal City5. From Rome to Ravenna6. Trying Times7. Italy Redux8. Twilight of a Power Couple9. Afterlife and Legend Appendix 1: Dramatis PersonaeAppendix 2: Timeline of Their LivesAppendix 3: The Wealth of BelisariusNotesBibliographyIndex