“[…] a parte Romanorum octo milia numerus”. Considerazioni sulla battaglia dello Scultenna (643) e sull'esercito esarcale (VI-VIII secolo)

Abstract

It’s widely accepted that the number of eight thousand Byzantine soldiers slaughtered at the battle of the Scultenna river (643), reported by Paul the Deacon, using as his source the “Origo Gentis Langobardorum”, has been greatly exaggerated, mainly to glorify the winner of the fight, the Lombard king Rothari, and as a mere indication of his apparently overwhelming victory. However, this number also represents the only numerical indication from direct sources about the army of Ravenna between 6th and 8th century (the only other number for an Imperial army of the period in Italy, though not the army of Ravenna, is given for the battle of Forino, fought in the year 663). Moreover, historians tended to disregard this number only on the basis of caution and by considering that armies of the same period usually couldn’t even reach such numbers (a not surely verifiable notion, at times even contradicted by period sources). The aim of this article is to analyze more precisely and in dept why the number of eight thousand fallen soldiers given by the “Origo” and Paul the Deacon is indeed exaggerated, and also to give a plausible estimate of the actual forces under the direct command of the Exarch at the battle of the Scultenna river, particularly the troops stationed in Ravenna, using a comparative approach between written sources between the 6th and 8th century, by using modern studies and estimates of the strength of the Byzantine army and by considering the available epigraphic evidences linked to the Imperial forces in Italy.