Godas (died 533) was a Gothic nobleman of the

Vandal kingdom The Vandal Kingdom () or Kingdom of the Vandals and Alans () was a confederation of Vandals and Alans, which was a barbarian kingdoms, barbarian kingdom established under Gaiseric, a Vandals, Vandalic warlord. It ruled parts of North Africa and th ...

North Africa North Africa (sometimes Northern Africa) is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region. However, it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of t ...

. King Gelimer of the Vandals made him governor of the Vandalic province of

Sardinia Sardinia ( ; ; ) is the Mediterranean islands#By area, second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, and one of the Regions of Italy, twenty regions of Italy. It is located west of the Italian Peninsula, north of Tunisia an ...

, but Godas stopped forwarding the taxes he collected and declared himself ruler of Sardinia. In 533, he began communicating with

Justinian I Justinian I (, ; 48214 November 565), also known as Justinian the Great, was Roman emperor from 527 to 565. His reign was marked by the ambitious but only partly realized ''renovatio imperii'', or "restoration of the Empire". This ambition was ...

Byzantine emperor The foundation of Constantinople in 330 AD marks the conventional start of the Eastern Roman Empire, which Fall of Constantinople, fell to the Ottoman Empire in 1453 AD. Only the emperors who were recognized as legitimate rulers and exercised s ...

, as an independent sovereign, clearly with the intent of creating his own principality out of the island of Sardinia. In reaction, Gelimer sent a large army composed of most of the available soldiers in Africa to Sardinia under his brother Tzazo to put down the rebellion. According to

Procopius Procopius of Caesarea (; ''Prokópios ho Kaisareús''; ; – 565) was a prominent Late antiquity, late antique Byzantine Greeks, Greek scholar and historian from Caesarea Maritima. Accompanying the Roman general Belisarius in Justinian I, Empe ...

, Tzazo landed at

Cagliari Cagliari (, , ; ; ; Latin: ''Caralis'') is an Comune, Italian municipality and the capital and largest city of the island of Sardinia, an Regions of Italy#Autonomous regions with special statute, autonomous region of Italy. It has about 146,62 ...

and immediately captured the city, killing Godas and the soldiers with him. A military expedition sent to support him by Justinian failed to reach Godas in time. Godas' revolt proved fatal to the Vandal kingdom; for while Tzazo was away with the bulk of the Vandal forces, a Byzantine army commanded by

Belisarius BelisariusSometimes called Flavia gens#Later use, Flavius Belisarius. The name became a courtesy title by the late 4th century, see (; ; The exact date of his birth is unknown. March 565) was a military commander of the Byzantine Empire under ...

landed unopposed near Caputvada with the intention of restoring North Africa to the Byzantine Empire. Belisarius then defeated the remaining Vandal troops and captured

Carthage Carthage was an ancient city in Northern Africa, on the eastern side of the Lake of Tunis in what is now Tunisia. Carthage was one of the most important trading hubs of the Ancient Mediterranean and one of the most affluent cities of the classic ...

before Gelimer summoned Tzazo back home.Procopius, ''De Bellus'' III.25; translated by Dewing, vol. 2 pp. 201ff

Notes

Bibliography

* {{Authority control 533 deaths 6th-century Gothic people Gothic warriors Ancient Sardinia Medieval rebels Kings of Sardinia Monarchs killed in action Year of birth unknown Vandalic War