MONS LACTARIUS, BATTLE OF

(553), decisive engagement fought near Naples, Italy, in which the Byzantine general Narses defeated the Goths. This battle ended the threat of the last king of the Ostrogoths, Teas, who, after leading his warriors through a valley near Mount Vesuvius and then retreating to Mons Lactarius (Italian Monte Lettere, a mountain in the St. Angelo range), attacked the Roman army. Teas was slain while in the process of changing shields; his army was allowed to retire peaceably outside the Roman frontiers on the condition that they would never again invade the empire. Narses, a eunuch who rose to the position of grand chamberlain during the reign of Justinian I, is credited with the restoration of imperial control to Italy.