Areobindus is overthrown soon after and murdered in March 546 by Guntharic, the dux Numidiae, who had come into negotiations with the Moors and intends to set himself up as an independent king.

Guntharic himself is overthrown by loyal troops under the Armenian Artabanes in early May.

Artabanes is elevated to the office of magister militum Africae, but is soon recalled to Constantinople.

The man Justinian sends to replace him is the talented general John Troglita, whose exploits are celebrated in the epic poem Iohannis, written by Flavius Cresconius Corippus.

Troglita had already served in Africa under Belisarius and Solomon, and had had a distinguished career in the East, where he had been appointed dux Mesopotamiae.

Despite his numerically weak forces, he manages to win over several Moorish tribes.