The Goths in Puglia. Story of a Destruction

Around 545, Totila's Goths advanced as far as the South to threaten the dominions of Byzantium. And they made many victims. The most illustrious was Egnazia. Together with who knows how many other villages that remained nameless.

The first invaders, such as the Heruli of Odoacer (476-493) and the Ostrogoths of Theodoric (493-526), ​​did not upset the social and economic conditions of the region. It was after the death of Theodoric that the balance was broken. Justinian decided to reconquer the western part of the Empire. He sent the general Belisarius to Italy who, by attacking the Gothic king Theodatus (534-536) in Sicily, gave rise to the ‘Greco-Gothic’ war (535-553).

Puglia was devastated several times. After the defeat of Totila's Goths, the region was reduced to starvation and passed under Byzantine rule.

Taranto was also involved in the war. Procopius of Caesarea reports that Totila, during one of the phases of the war, conquered Taranto. The garrison of Taranto was placed under the command of Ragnaris, who tried to save himself and his soldiers by reaching an agreement with the Byzantines. The agreement did not go well, he attempted a sortie, but was defeated and never returned to Taranto.

The consequences of the ‘Greek-Gothic’ war were terrible: devastation of fields, abuses, killing of citizens and hunger.