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IIn 527AD Justinian is crowned Emperor but sends his young relative, Vitalian, to study in Alexandria. The youth falls in love with the exotic pagan, Passara. Disillusioned with academia, Vitalian enlists in the Legions. Fighting in in Syria and the Caucasus transforms the pampered legate into a battle-hardened cavalry officer. In 529, Vitalian arrives on the Danube front but that winter the barbarians swarm across the frozen river and capture him. Meanwhile, in the East, General Belisarius withstands a Persian onslaught against the isolated fortress at Daras. When the Emperor hears of Vitalian’s fate, he orders the veteran, Zimarchus, to rescue him from the Dacian mines. Zimarchus dies in the operation but Vitalian escapes the war-ravaged Bulgarian frontier and returns to the luxuriant court at Constantinople. He becomes the personal bodyguard of the glittering Empress and former prostitute, Theodora. As Egyptian and Orthodox priests squabble, rivalry at court pits the ruthless and debauched praetorian prefect, John the Cappadocian, against the Empress' protégés: Peter the Patrician, the eunuch Narses and Belisarius’ unfaithful wife, Antonina. Austerity, corruption and court machinations cripple the Byzantine economy. In 532, the Nika revolt convulses the regime. To cling on to power, mercenaries slaughter 30,000 rebels in the Hippodrome. In the massacre's aftermath, Justinian cements his authority by rebuilding Hagia Sophia, denouncing heresy and planning reconquest. The Arian Vandals in Africa are his first target. Carthage becomes a hotbed of espionage as the Byzantines gather intelligence for their planned invasion. In 532, Euphemia - the Cappadocian’s daughter - seduces the Vandal king, Gelimer. The following summer, General Belisarius sets sail with a Byzantine expeditionary force. Despite corruption, food contamination and Antonina’s shameless perfidy, Belisarius routes the dissolute Germans. Vitalian garrisons Corsica but, in 535, the Empress orders him to kill her rival, Amalsuintha. The Goths have imprisoned their Italian Queen on Lake Bolsena. Her murder provides the Byzantines a convenient pretext for invasion. However, Belisarius initial victories fizzle out. The Emperor, jealous of his now famous general, emasculates the Italian expeditionary force and muddles its command structure. The inevitable consequences are civilian massacres and a stalemate. In the East, the Sasanids ravage the frontier. Not until Artabanes returns from Eastern Africa is peace eventually restored to Armenia. Meanwhile, in Italy the Gothic war drags on interminably. Farms are abandoned and Rome’s population falls to 500. Vitalian returns to Constantinople to beg Justinian for finance and reinforcements but Narses, now Chamberlain, frustrates him. Languishing at court, the commander falls in love with the aristocratic and nubile Justina. The couple return to Italy but their relationship sours as Narses power waxes. In 553, the last Gothic king mortally wounds Vitalian. The dying Byzantine commander dictates his memories but remains estranged from his beguiling spouse. Vitalian's autobiography spans war in the East, Imperial adventure and the Italian debacle. Priests urge Vitalian to confess - did he kill Amalsuintha as Theodora ordered?
