Antalas Antalas ( ; c . 500 – after 548 ) was a Berber tribal leader who played a major role in the wars of the Byzantine Empire against the Berber tribes in Africa . Antalas and his tribe , the Frexenses of Byzacena , initially served the Byzantines as allies , but after 544 switched sides . With the final Byzantine victory in 548 , Antalas and his tribe once again became Byzantine subjects . The main sources on his life are the epic poem " Iohannis " of Flavius Cresconius Corippus and the " Histories of the Wars " of Procopius of Caesarea . Life . Antalas was born c . 500 , and was the son of a certain Guenfan , according to Corippus . He belonged to one of the Berber tribes of Byzacena ( central Tunisia ) , most likely the Frexenses . Corippus reports that Antalas ' career began at the age of seventeen , stealing sheep . He soon gathered followers around him and became a brigand , fighting against the Vandals . By 530 , he had become leader of the Berbers in Byzacena , and in the same year led them to a decisive victory against the Vandals . Following the Vandalic War ( 533 – 534 ) and the capture of the Vandalic Kingdom by the Byzantine Empire , Antalas became an ally of the Empire , receiving subsidies and supplies in exchange . In 543 , however , a revolt broke out among the Berbers of Byzacena , which resulted in the execution of his brother Guarizila and the cessation of the subsidies by the Byzantine governor , Solomon . This treatment alienated Antalas , and when the Leuathae rebelled in Tripolitania in the next year , he and his followers joined them . The united tribes inflicted a heavy defeat in the Battle of Cillium , where Solomon himself was killed . With the death of the capable Solomon , his nephew Sergius , whose arrogant treatment of the Leuathae had prompted their rebellion in the first place , was appointed governor in Africa . Stotzas , a renegade Byzantine soldier who had led an unsuccessful rebellion a few years earlier , now joined Antalas from his refuge in Mauretania . Antalas wrote to the Byzantine emperor , Justinian I , asking for Sergius ' dismissal , but in vain . Justinian only dispatched the patrician Areobindus in early 545 to share command with Sergius , but both were militarily incompetent and spent their time bickering with each other . While Sergius remained inactive at Carthage , Antalas and Stotzas led their troops north and managed to trick Himerius , the commander of Hadrumetum , into leaving the town with his troops and rendezvous with another Byzantine commander , John . Himerius fell into the trap , and while his soldiers mutinied and joined Stotzas , he was forced to betray Hadrumetum to save his life . Finally , in late 545 Areobindus ordered the reluctant John to advance and meet the joint army of Antalas and Stotzas , which was encamped at Sicca Veneria . John ' s troops were considerably outnumbered by the rebel forces , and in the Battle of Thacia his army was routed and he himself was killed , but not before mortally wounding Stotzas in a duel . After the defeat at Thacia , Sergius was relieved and Areobindus replaced him . At this time , he ambitious Byzantine " dux " of Numidia Guntharic contacted the various Berber leaders in a bid to unseat Areobindus . Antalas was promised the rule of Byzacena , half the treasure of Areobindus and 1 , 500 Byzantine troops as his command . In order to increase pressure on the latter , the Berbers and the renegade followers of Stotzas approached Carthage . At the same time , Areobindus himself had secret contacts with another Berber leader , Cutzinas , who led the Numidian Berbers , and who had promised to murder Antalas once battle was joined , a plan that Guntharic revealed to Antalas . In the event , due to Areobindus ' timidity , a battle was averted , and in March Guntharic seized Carthage and murdered Areobindus . Guntharic , now master of Carthage , refused to honour his agreement with Antalas , and the latter withdrew his men into Byzacena . There , in an effort to reconcile himself with the emperor , he contacted the " dux " of Byzacena , Marcentius , who had fled to an offshore island , proposing to make common cause against Guntharic . Guntharic sent an army under Cutzinas and Artabanes against Antalas and defeated him . Guntharic himself was murdered soon after ( May 546 ) by a conspiracy headed by Artabanes , and Carthage and the army returned to the Empire ' s allegiance . Justinian now sent an experienced soldier , John Troglita , to impose order on the troubled African provinces . Gathering his forces , Troglita marched out of Carthage into Byzacena . Antalas sent an embassy to the Byzantine general , but the latter rejected his demands and imprisoned the envoys . Shortly after , he sent an emissary of his own , who placed Antalas before the choice of battle or immediate submission . Antalas refused , and the two armies confronted each other somewhere in Byzacena in late 546 or early 547 . The battle resulted in a crushing Byzantine victory : the Berbers suffered heavy losses , and the battle - standards lost at Cillium were recovered by the Byzantines . In the summer , however , Antalas joined the Berbers of Tripolitania ( though he is not mentioned by Corippus , Procopius records his presence ) and inflicted a heavy defeat on Troglita at the Battle of Marta . After their victory , the Berbers raided even to the outskirts of Carthage itself . In the next year , Antalas again joined the Tripolitanian Berbers , under their leader Carcasan , when they invaded Byzacena . In contrast to the impetuous Carcasan , Antalas advocated a more cautious scorched earth tactic when Troglita marched forth to meet them . Nevertheless , when the two adversaries met later in the summer in the Battle of the Fields of Cato , the result was a decisive Byzantine victory : Carcasan fell , and the Berber revolt was crushed as Antalas and the surviving leaders submitted to Troglita . Nothing further is known of him after that .