John the Armenian was a

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

official and military leader. He was killed during the

Vandalic War The Vandalic War was a conflict fought in North Africa between the forces of the Byzantine Empire and the Vandal Kingdom, Vandalic Kingdom of Carthage in 533–534. It was the first of Justinian I's wars of reconquest of the Western Roman Empi ...

in 533. John the Armenian commanded the Byzantine vanguard at the Battle of Ad Decimum, and killed

Ammatas Ammatus also spelled Ammatas was a Vandal noble and military leader. He was the brother of the Vandal king Gelimer. He had the previous Vandal king, Hilderic Hilderic (460s – 533) was the penultimate king of the Vandals and Alans in North Afr ...

the brother of the Vandal king

Gelimer Gelimer (original form possibly Geilamir, 480–553), King of the Vandals and Alans (530–534), was the last Germanic ruler of the North African Kingdom of the Vandals. He became ruler on 15 June 530 after deposing his first cousin twice rem ...

near

Carthage Carthage was the capital city of Ancient Carthage, on the eastern side of the Lake of Tunis in what is now Tunisia. Carthage was one of the most important trading hubs of the Ancient Mediterranean and one of the most affluent cities of the classi ...

. John fought in the center of the Byzantine army during the subsequent Battle of Tricamarum. After the Byzantine victory there, Belisarius tasked him with Gelimer's pursuit and gave him 200 cavalry. John almost caught up with Gelimer, but he was accidentally killed by Uliaris, one of Belisarius' bodyguards. According to Procopius, he was much loved and his death was widely mourned.

Following the battle of Tricamaron in North Africa, December 533 AD, where the Romans were victorious against the Vandals, General Belisarius dispatched John the Armenian with two hundred horsemen in pursuit of Gelimer, and transmitted to safe custody at Carthage the Vandal treasures and captives.... John the Armenian had continued in his pursuit during five days, and was on the point of overtaking him, when he himself was slain by a random blow from one of his own soldiers. Belisarius, who was attached to him by the closest ties of friendship, shed tears at the tidings of his death, and assigned a yearly payment for the maintenance and repairs of his tomb. Yet he forgave the involuntary murderer, not only since he had taken shelter at a shrine, but because the dying words of John had avouched his innocence, and with a solemn oath adjured his comrades to refrain from his punishment. The loss of this generous officer had suspended the progress of the cavalry under his command, and favored the escape of Gelimer.

Source: The Life of Belisarius, by Philip Henry Stanhope

Notes

*Popular character in "Total War: Attila"

References

* * * 533 deaths Byzantine people of Armenian descent 6th-century Byzantine military personnel Year of birth unknown Vandalic War 6th-century Armenian people {{Byzantine-bio-stub