Pacurius of Iberia

Who is Pacurius of Iberia?

Pacurius was a prince of the Iberian royal family and a military commander in the Roman service in Italy. His name is presumably a Latinized rendition of the Georgian Bakuri.

Pacurius was a son of Peranius, also a general under the emperor Justinian I. During the Gothic War, he was sent, together with Sergius, to reinforce Belisarius in Calabria in 547. In 552, he commanded the Roman troops in Hydruntum and negotiated the surrender of Tarentum and Acherontia and their Gothic commandants Ragnaris and Moras. When Ragnaris attempted to outplay the Romans and took fifty of their soldiers hostage, Pacurius marched against him and won a decisive victory.