# Vacis

> Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Vacis
> Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Vacis.md
> Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vacis
> Source revision: 1300973940
> License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)

{{Short description|Ostrogothic commander}}
{{for|the manufacturer of VACIS scanners|Leidos}}
'''Vacis''' (or '''Wachis''') was an [Ostrogothic](/source/Ostrogothic_Kingdom) commander under King [Witigis](/source/Witigis) during the [Byzantine–Gothic War (535–554)](/source/Gothic_War_(535%E2%80%93554)).

Vacis had a [Gothic](/source/Gothic_language) name{{efn|It is related to the modern German ''[wacker](/source/%3Awikt%3Awacker)'', "brave". In the [Greek](/source/ancient_Greek_language) of Procopius, it is spelled both Οὐάκις (''Ouakis'') and Οὐάκης (''Ouakes'').{{sfn|Schönfeld|1911|pp=248–249}} Ensslin gives slightly different diacritics: Οὔακις.{{sfn|Ensslin|1948}}}} and, if the words [Procopius](/source/Procopius) attributes to him are accurate, identified as a Goth. From the latter's brief account, it can also be inferred that he could speak [Latin](/source/Latin).{{sfn|Amory|1997|p=432}}{{sfn|Vitiello|2014|pp=117–118}}

Procopius (''De bello Gothico'', I.18.39–41), calls him one of the ''[archon](/source/archon)tes'' (leaders) of the Goths and "a man of no mean station".{{sfn|Martindale|1980|p=1350}}{{sfn|Amory|1997|p=432}} He records that in February 537, after [Belisarius](/source/Belisarius) took [Rome](/source/Rome), he was dispatched by Witigis to persuade the citizens of Rome not to abandon the Ostrogoths.{{sfn|Martindale|1980|p=1350}}{{sfn|Amory|1997|p=432}} He gave a speech at the [Porta Salaria](/source/Porta_Salaria){{sfn|Ensslin|1948}} in which he reminded the Romans that the Ostrogoths were capable of defending them, but the Greeks (i.e., Byzantines) had only ever came to Italy before as "actors of tragedy and mimes and thieving sailors".{{sfn|Ekonomou|2007|p=2}}{{sfn|Cameron|2000|p=205}} The Romans made no response and the [siege of Rome](/source/Siege_of_Rome_(537%E2%80%93538)) began the following day.{{sfn|Bury|1958|p=183}}

Vacis is probably to be identified with the Vacimus{{efn|Procopius calls him Οὐάκιμος (''Ouakimos'').{{sfn|Ensslin|1948}} This is the same stem with a ''[-moth](/source/%3Awikt%3AReconstruction%3AProto-Germanic%2Fm%C5%8Ddaz)'' suffix.{{sfn|Schönfeld|1911|pp=248–249}}}} who fought the Byzantines in the following year.{{efn|For Ensslin, "certainly the same" (''derselbe ist sicher''),{{sfn|Ensslin|1948}} but neither Amory nor the PLRE make any attempt to identify them.{{sfn|Amory|1997|p=432}}{{sfn|Martindale|1980|p=1350}}}} Procopius (II.13.5–15) describes him as an ''archon'' dispatched by Witigis against the Byzantine forces under [Conon](/source/Conon_(general_under_Justinian_I)) at [Ancona](/source/Ancona) in the summer of 538, for which task Vacimus took men from the garrison of [Osimo](/source/Osimo).{{sfn|Amory|1997|p=432}}{{sfn|Martindale|1980|p=1350}}{{sfn|Ensslin|1948}} Although he inflicted a major defeat on Conon in the open field, he was unable to take the city.{{sfn|Ensslin|1948}} He may have been involved in the failed [defence of Osimo](/source/Siege_of_Osimo) in 539, but this can only be a guess.{{sfn|Amory|1997|p=432}}

Vacis may also be identified with the Wacces{{efn|In the Latin accusative, ''Waccenem''.{{sfn|Martindale|1980|p=1397}} Amory renders it Wacca. The identification between him and Vacis was first proposed by [Theodor Mommsen](/source/Theodor_Mommsen). Amory points out the similarity between Vacis' rhetoric as recorded by Procopius and the style of Cassiodorus' letter, but ultimately rejects their identification on the grounds that Wacca appears to have been a civilian and Vacis a military man.{{sfn|Amory|1997|pp=435–436}} The identification is accepted by Theodahad's modern biographer.{{sfn|Vitiello|2014|p=176}}}} who served King [Theodahad](/source/Theodahad) as ''[maior domus](/source/majordomo)'' in 534–535.{{sfn|Amory|1997|pp=435–436}} According to a letter of [Cassiodorus](/source/Cassiodorus) to the [Senate](/source/Roman_Senate), he was placed in charge of Ostrogothic troops in Rome after Theodahad received a complaint about their behaviour from the Senate.{{sfn|Martindale|1980|p=1397}} Possibly Wacces is the unnamed individual mentioned in an earlier letter of Cassiodorus who was put in charge of victualing the army in Rome in such a way as to spread the burden of its upkeep fairly across the populace. Wacces was considered a man of virtue and integrity who would stand as an example for the soldiers. If his identification with Vacis is correct, then he must have been part of the faction of the aristocracy that immediately threw its support behind Witigis despite the latter's poor treatment of the deposed Theodahad.{{sfn|Vitiello|2014|pp=117–118}}{{efn|Wigitis had Theodahad murdered after taking power.{{sfn|Vitiello|2014|pp=117–118}}}}

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{reflist|30em}}

==Bibliography==
{{refbegin|30em}}
*{{cite book |authorlink=Patrick Amory |first=Patrick |last=Amory |title=People and Identity in Ostrogothic Italy, 489–554 |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1997}}
*{{cite book |authorlink=J. B. Bury  |first=J. B. |last=Bury |title=A History of the Later Roman Empire from the Death of Theodosius I to the Death of Justinian |orig-year=1923 |year=1958 |volume=II |publisher=Dover Books |url=https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/secondary/BURLAT/home.html}}
*{{cite book |authorlink=Averil Cameron |first=Averil |last=Cameron |title=Procopius and the Sixth Century |orig-year=1985 |publisher= Taylor & Francis |year=2000}}
*{{cite book |first=Andrew J. |last=Ekonomou |title=Byzantine Rome and the Greek Popes: Eastern Influences on Rome and the Papacy from Gregory the Great to Zacharias, A.D. 590–752 |location=Plymouth |publisher=Lexington Books |year=2007}}
*{{cite encyclopedia |encyclopedia=[Realencyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft](/source/Realencyclop%C3%A4die_der_classischen_Altertumswissenschaft) |first=Wilhelm |last=Ensslin |authorlink=:de:Wilhelm Enßlin |volume=2nd ser., vol. VIIA, part 14 |year=1948 |title=Wachis |at=col. 2041 |location=Stuttgart |publisher=Alfred Druckenmüller}}
*{{Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire|volume=2}}
*{{cite book |author=Procopius |authorlink=Procopius |translator=H. B. Dewing |title=History of the Wars |volume=3, Books V and VI |location=New York |publisher=G. P. Putnam's Sons |year=1919 |url=https://archive.org/details/procopius03proc_0/page/n7/mode/2up}}
*{{cite book |first=Moritz |last=Schönfeld |authorlink=:de:Moritz Schönfeld |publisher=Carl Winter's Universitätsbuchhandlung |location=Heidelberg |year=1911 |title=Wörterbuch der altgermanischen personen- und völkernamen: Nach der überlieferung des klassischen altertums |url=https://archive.org/details/wrterbuchderal00scho/page/n6/mode/2up}}
*{{cite book |first=Massimiliano |last=Vitiello |title=Theodahad: A Platonic King at the Collapse of Ostrogothic Italy |publisher=University of Toronto Press |location=Toronto |year=2014}}
{{refend}}

Category:6th-century Ostrogothic people
Category:People of the Gothic War (535–554)
Category:Gothic warriors

---
Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Vacis](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vacis) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vacis?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.