Gripas was an

Ostrogothic The Ostrogoths ( la, Ostrogothi, Austrogothi) were a Roman-era Germanic people. In the 5th century, they followed the Visigoths in creating one of the two great Gothic kingdoms within the Roman Empire, based upon the large Gothic populations who ...

military commander. During the Gothic War of

Justinian I Justinian I (; la, Iustinianus, ; grc-gre, Ἰουστινιανός ; 48214 November 565), also known as Justinian the Great, was the Byzantine emperor from 527 to 565. His reign is marked by the ambitious but only partly realized ''renovat ...

he and

Asinarius Asinarius was an Ostrogothic military commander during the Justinian’s Gothic War.{{Cite book, url=https://archive.org/details/belisariuslastro00ianh, title=Belisarius : the last Roman general, last=Hughes, Ian (Historian), date=2009, publisher=W ...

led an invasion into

Dalmatia Dalmatia (; hr, Dalmacija ; it, Dalmazia; see #Name, names in other languages) is one of the four historical region, historical regions of Croatia, alongside Croatia proper, Slavonia, and Istria. Dalmatia is a narrow belt of the east shore of ...

trying to capturing

Salona Salona ( grc, Σάλωνα) was an ancient city and the capital of the Roman province of Dalmatia. Salona is located in the modern town of Solin, next to Split, in Croatia. Salona was founded in the 3rd century BC and was mostly destroyed in t ...

. They defeated their Byzantine opponent Mauricius and killed him but were defeated by his father Mundus. Mundus died however and his army retreated but so did the Goths. As the Byzantine army was reforming under

Constantinianus Constantinianus was a Byzantine military commander during the reign of Justinian the Great who took part in the Justinian’s Gothic War. After the death of Mundus he was sent into Dalmatia to defend Salona. While he was still gathering his troop ...

Gripas led a Gothic force to Salona, successfully capturing it. After hearing of reports emphasising the large size of Byzantine force moving towards him he retreated. After retaking the city Constantinianus had its defences rebuilt. Seeing his position was desperate Gripas returned to

Ravenna Ravenna ( , , also ; rgn, Ravèna) is the capital city of the Province of Ravenna, in the Emilia-Romagna region of Northern Italy. It was the capital city of the Western Roman Empire from 408 until its collapse in 476. It then served as the cap ...

References

Ostrogothic Kingdom Medieval military leaders Gothic War (535–554) Date of birth unknown Date of death unknown {{Military-bio-stub