TEIA. - Last king of the Ostrogoths in Italy. When the energetic and fortunate king Totila, who had wrested almost all Italy from Byzantine rule, fell killed in the battle of Gualdo Tadino (A.D. 552), the victor Narsete was able to advance freely towards central and southern Italy, receiving the surrender of many Italian cities.
At Pavia, meanwhile, the remnants of the army defeated at Gualdo and the garrison of the city elected T. king, a valiant general who had given good proof of himself in military actions and in the government of cities. T., after vainly seeking the help of the Franks, resolved, with the troops he was able to gather, to follow Narsete, who had laid siege to Cuma, another stronghold remaining in the hands of the Goths and where a large part of their treasure was kept. Narsete’s strategic skill and the numerical superiority of his forces succeeded, without interrupting the siege of Cuma, in driving T. back into the Valley of the Sarno and then among the Monti Lattari above Castellamare di Stabia, where the Goths could not manoeuvre their excellent cavalry and where they eventually found themselves without supplies. They then had to give battle; it was fought with great fierceness, but proved disastrous for the Goths. T. died fighting in 553.