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Pharas the Herulian
 
 
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Pharas the Herulian (also known as "Varus") was a sixth century commander of Herulian
Heruli

The Heruli were a nomadic Germanic people, who were subjugated by the Ostrogoths, Huns, and Byzantine Empires in the 3rd to 5th centuries. The name is related to earl and was probably an honorific military title....
 forces loyal to Byzantium
Byzantium

Byzantium was an Ancient Greece city, which was founded by Greeks colonists from Megara in 667 BC and named after their king Byzas or Byzantas ....
, who figures briefly in Procopius
Procopius

Procopius of Caesarea was a prominent Byzantine Empire scholar of the family Procopius . A participant himself in the wars of the Emperor Justinian I, he was the major historian of the 6th century, writing the Wars of Justinian, the Buildings of Justinian and the celebrated Secret History....
’ narrative of Justinian's wars.

Gibbon notes, in his History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, that Pharas was an officer noted for his "truth and sobriety".

Commander against the Persians at Daras
In 530, Procopius related, Varas and his forces supported Rome
Rome

Rome is the capital city of Italy and Lazio, and is Italy's largest and most populous city, with 2,724,347 residents in an urban area of some ....
 at Daras against a Persian
Persian Empire

The 'Persian Empire' was a series of successive Iranian or Persianization empires that ruled over the Iranian plateau, the original Persian homeland, and beyond in Southwest Asia, South Asia, Central Asia and the Caucasus....
 invasion against Byzantium (526-530).






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Pharas the Herulian (also known as "Varus") was a sixth century commander of Herulian
Heruli

The Heruli were a nomadic Germanic people, who were subjugated by the Ostrogoths, Huns, and Byzantine Empires in the 3rd to 5th centuries. The name is related to earl and was probably an honorific military title....
 forces loyal to Byzantium
Byzantium

Byzantium was an Ancient Greece city, which was founded by Greeks colonists from Megara in 667 BC and named after their king Byzas or Byzantas ....
, who figures briefly in Procopius
Procopius

Procopius of Caesarea was a prominent Byzantine Empire scholar of the family Procopius . A participant himself in the wars of the Emperor Justinian I, he was the major historian of the 6th century, writing the Wars of Justinian, the Buildings of Justinian and the celebrated Secret History....
’ narrative of Justinian's wars.

Gibbon notes, in his History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, that Pharas was an officer noted for his "truth and sobriety".

Commander against the Persians at Daras


In 530, Procopius related, Varas and his forces supported Rome
Rome

Rome is the capital city of Italy and Lazio, and is Italy's largest and most populous city, with 2,724,347 residents in an urban area of some ....
 at Daras against a Persian
Persian Empire

The 'Persian Empire' was a series of successive Iranian or Persianization empires that ruled over the Iranian plateau, the original Persian homeland, and beyond in Southwest Asia, South Asia, Central Asia and the Caucasus....
 invasion against Byzantium (526-530). There he led 300 Heruli initially as defenders against Persian infantry and cavalry, and then in a hidden flanking attack against the Persian rearguard.

Interception and capture of the Vandal King Gelimer


In 533-34, Pharas intercepted the Vandal King Gelimer
Gelimer

Gelimer , King of the Vandals and Alans from 530 to 534, was the last ruler of the North Africa during the Classical Period Kingdom of the Vandals....
, who was attempting to flee Africa
Africa

Africa is the world's second-largest and second most-populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km? including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area....
 for Spain
Hispania

Hispania was the name given by the Ancient Rome to the whole of the Iberian Peninsula . When Rome was a Roman Republic, Hispania was divided into Roman provinces: Hispania Citerior and Hispania Ulterior....
 after suffering defeat at the Battle of Tricamarum. Pharas blockaded Gelimer for three months in the Pappuan mountains of northern Africa. Pharas wrote to Gelimer and asked him to surrender, guaranteeing that he would be treated well by the Emperor Justinian
Justinian I

Flavius Petrus Sabbatius Iustinianus , AD 482 or 483 ? 13 or 14 November 565, was the second member of the Justinian Dynasty and List of Roman Emperors from 527 until his death....
.

According to Gibbon's translation of Procopius, Varas wrote “Like yourself, I am an illiterate Barbarian, but I speak the language of plain sense and an honest heart. Why will you persist in hopeless obstinacy? Why will you ruin yourself, your family, and nation? The love of freedom and abhorrence of slavery? Alas! my dearest Gelimer, are you not already the worst of slaves, the slave of the vile nation of the Moors? Would it not be preferable to sustain at Constantinople a life of poverty and servitude, rather than to reign the undoubted monarch of the mountain of Papua? Do you think it a disgrace to be the subject of Justinian? Belisarius is his subject; and we ourselves, whose birth is not inferior to your own, are not ashamed of our obedience to the Roman emperor. That generous prince will grant you a rich inheritance of lands, a place in the senate, and the dignity of Patrician: such are his gracious intentions, and you may depend with full assurance on the word of Belisarius. So long as heaven has condemned us to suffer, patience is a virtue; but, if we reject the proffered deliverance, it degenerates into blind and stupid despair.”

Gelimer initially refused but later surrendered to General Belisarius, who had pursued him from the Battle of Tricamaron, and joined Pharas.