The Life Of Belisarius

Phenomenal work on one of the most important and undervalued leaders in western history. Belisarius, despite his human frailty, was a soldier's soldier, man's man, and brilliant strategist and tactician. No one else can claim such successes done with so little assistance. Lord Mahon pulls back the curtain on this oftentimes misunderstood and mysterious time period. Though like most of his contemporaries, as is common with 19th Century academia, there is a bit of overweening grandiosity latent in his prose. However, this does not detract from the subject matter. Over all the history reads like Game of Thrones and is thoroughly enjoyable, especially at $0.99. Original copies on Amazon go for upwards of $700.00. Just for a little perspective. Enjoy.

The writing style was a pleasure in itself, a gift from a golden age of literacy. Would our present-day elites be capable of constructing such sentences...Having read beforehand other reviewers' concerns about Lord Mahon's scholarship vis a vis what we know 200 years later, I was not bothered by possible historical inaccuracies. As for his presumed 19th Century British prejudice, I found his editorial interjections interesting, amusing, and often hilarious. Very much worth the read for those interested in Byzantium AND in 19th Century British elites' unabashed attitudes about our world then.

I became intrigued with this little known historical figure after reading the massive Gibbons book. Although Lord Mahon wrote long ago i found his style easy to follow and, as this work is a straight historical piece, I believe he was impartial in his reporting and research. The Life of Belisarius itself would make a great movie. It has all the elements needed; a heroic and loyal figure, a decadent royalty, palace intrigue, adultrous relationships and warfare. All of this under crumbling empire and religion distorted by evil men. For history buffs I highly recommend it.

I enjoyed reading this book and the author did a pretty decent job of adhering to the facts but it could be discern that he did had a favorable disposition towards this tragic hero of the Byzantine Empire, Belisarius

I gave this review 5 stars because the book itself is outstanding and many of the criticisms on here are asinine. However, do not, under any circumstance, order the hardcover edition from Kessinger Publishing. It is an abomination that looks like it was put together from a (crummy) laser printer in someone's basement. Many of the pages aren't even legible --and I mean that seriously: you literally cannot read the text on many pages in the first half of the book. I'm returning my copy to Amazon and they need to stop selling books from this publisher. Just because someone sets up a publishing company reprinting public domain books in their mom's garage doesn't mean Amazon needs to sell their garbage.

Belisarius is probably the greatest General of all of Rome's great military geniuses. He warred successfully with the Persians, regained all of North Africa and Italy for the emperor Justinian. This man is worth an HBO series. His death came after he saved Constantinople from certain doom with a hand full of veteran soldiers and the untrained street mobs of the imperial city. They trained them into Roman legionnaires virtually over night to stop a barbarian invasion. Then in the end, in a fit of jealousy, Justinian blinded him and imprisoned him leaving there till he died.

This was a fine read. One comes away really respecting and admiring the last great Roman general. For me, I appreciate the perspective it gives me that sometime life is simply not fair, but that the strong / righteous / overcomers must simply keep on going anyway. One of the take-aways historically for me was to see the crumbling of a once mighty empire in its waning years. Very sobering when one considers what could happen to America in the future. JDM

The history does a great job of portraying the life & loyalty of Belisarius to Justinian I's service. Bias of the author's time period is clear. Language is understandable despite clear OCR scanning 'best guess' language that noone bothered to correct in the e-book version.

This classic 19th century biography of Belisarius by the 5th Earl Stanhope remains an essential book for anybody with an interest in the life and career of Belisarius and the history of the later Roman Empire. Until comparatively recently it was the only comprehensive English language biography of Belisarius and it retains its value alongside the recent (excellent) book by Ian Hughes. Do not be put off by the age of this book as while some of the language is slightly archaic the book is very easy to read, indeed it is extremely well written.Belisarius is one of those countless figures of history who received the accolade "Last of the Romans", perhaps more deservingly so than most of the others who were granted this appellation. Arguably the greatest general of the later Roman Empire and one of the greatest generals of history it was his misfortune to serve an emperor who seldom provided anything like the forces required to achieve the objectives demanded of his general and whose capricious nature did little to promote success on the battlefield. The feat which Belisarius is most famous for is the re-conquest of North Africa for the Empire in the Vandalic war in a campaign which would have been sufficient to establish his reputation as a fine commander if he had achieved nothing else in his career. The war in Italy displayed his military brilliance, although his initial victories were squandered by his Emperor and those entrusted with governing Italy, necessitating the return of Belisarius for a second Italian war with resources that were completely inadequate. Later Justinian would send Narses to Italy to defeat the Goths with a large force. The campaigns of Belisarius in the East are covered, as is his final military campaign against the Bulgars which showed that even in old age the great general retained his tactical brilliance. Belisarius appears to have been blessed with rather extraordinary personal qualities and had a private life which was almost as extraordinary.Stanhope differs from most modern historians in that he believes that the story of Belisarius being blinded and reduced to begging by the Emperor Justinian was true and presents his reasons for this in detail. Certainly the practice of putting peoples eyes out was a gruesome practice which was often used by the late Roman (Byzantine) Empire against high ranking persons accused of treachery,sedition etc however I tend to agree with those who see this particular story as just a fable and not historic truth.I tend to think later works are more balanced and accurate (Stanhope clearly saw Belisarius as a heroic figure and the book does feel like hagiography) but if read in conjunction with other sources this contains far more accuracies than inaccuracies in my opinion and remains fundamentally sound as a work of history.As others have pointed out, some of the social attitudes displayed by the author are rather dated which is hardly surprising but overall this is a wonderful book and an essential one for anybody with an interest in the subject. Recommended, 5*.

The story of Belisarius is part of the story of the decline of Rome. Rome has fallen to Ostrogoths and Emperor Justinian of Constantinople would become the last Emperor to rule both capitals, mainly through the great abilities of General Belisarius.Always fighting against odds and ill supported by Justinian, Belisarius is victorious time and time again, winning the Vandals and Ostrogoths in succession and was finally called to defend Constantinople. But in the end, unlike Scipio Africanus, his victories were hollow, bringing only temporary gain while causing further unrest, wars and chaos - than if they had never been won at all.Written in 1829 by Lord Mahon (Philip Stanhope, 5th Earl Stanhope) the book is dated and though it is well written it is in an old style. But Lord Mahons admiration of Belisarius shines and the subject matter is handled well. So of the authors conclusions are a bit far fetched and not very politically correct for modern times but I found them interesting since they offer insight not only to Belisarius (505 - 565 AD) but also into the times of Lord Mahon (1829).All in all the book is easy to read and the story of Belisarius is a tragic one, both personally and as a tale of a declining Empire as Europe descends into the Dark Ages. The story covers a lot of the ancient Rome, from Constantinople to Carthage and on to Rome. Anyone with a interest into the great personalities of antiquity will find this book a good read.As to the other useless reviewer, I recommend that you google your questions before posting such silly reviews, but to answer your question then Lord Mahon wrote history not historical novels and he was dead before the other book you refer to was published.

I read a lot of military history. The style of writing in this book was so convoluted and confusing that although I know the story of Belisarius I found it excruciatingly hard to understand what was going on. Instead, read 'Count Belisarius' by Robert Graves. Much more enjoyable.

I ,bought this for my husband,and he has said it is a very interesting read,and enjoyed it very much,would buy from here again

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