On March 2, 537, Rome — no longer the capital of an empire but still the most symbolic city on Earth — was surrounded by an Ostrogoth army determined to take it back.

In this episode of Baked Battlefields, we break down the opening of the Siege of Rome, where Belisarius and a tiny Byzantine force faced the army of Vitiges. Belisarius personally rode out near the Flaminian Gate with his elite bucellarii cavalry and nearly got cut off in the opening clashes. What followed was a brutal, grinding siege where starvation and disease mattered more than swords.

We talk elite bodyguards, collapsing supply lines, why Rome still mattered politically, and how one general surviving a near-disaster may have saved the campaign. Along the way, we get a little high, crack some jokes, and remind ourselves that sometimes holding on is the real victory.

Precise history.

Imprecise sobriety.

Sieges are hell.