Iran-Byzantine War (502–506)

The most detailed information about this war is contained in the chronicles of Jeshu Stylite ^[1] and Pseudo-Zechariah, in Procopius of Caesarea, and in Theophanes the Confessor's “Chronography”. The Iranian version of events has not reached us; there is only a brief mention by Tabari .

Since 441, peaceful relations between Byzantium and Iran have been maintained, due to the fact that the Sassanids were forced to wage a difficult struggle with ephtalits in the east. At the same time, there was an agreement between the parties, under which Byzantium pledged to pay the Persians money to guard the passes through the Caucasus Mountains. It is believed that the Byzantines, taking advantage of Iran’s foreign policy difficulties, stopped paying, believing that the Persians would in any case have to defend the passes.

Shah Kavad , released from Ephtalit captivity for a promise of ransom, demanded that the Byzantines pay the required amount. Theophanes reports that the Byzantines agreed to give money, but only in debt, which Kavad perceived as an insult. According to Procopius, Kavad wanted to make a loan to the Byzantines, but Anastasia I’s advisors persuaded the emperor to refuse, in order to contribute to the continuation of the Persian struggle with ephthalitis ^[2] . The Pseudo-Zechariah Chronicle claims that Kavad directly accused the Byzantines of persuading the Ephtalites to attack the Persians.

Desperately in need of funds, the Persian Shah decided to start a war, hoping to fix his finances by robbery and indemnities. In areas that have not been subjected to military devastation for several decades, one could really hope for rich prey.

In August 502, Kavad invaded Byzantine Armenia and advanced on Theodosiopol . The governor of the city, Constantine, who was descended from the Senate class, surrendered the city to the Persians and went over to their side. Kavad made a traitor his commander. Theodosiopol was looted and burned, its area was devastated, and the population that had not managed to escape was driven into slavery ^[3] .

Then the Persians moved south to Sofena , a province inhabited by Syrians and Armenians. The main city of the province of Martiropol was commissioned by its deputy, Theodore. In the city, the Persians seized taxes collected from the region in two years.

After this, Kavad invaded the province of Mesopotamia ^[4] .

On October 5, the Persians laid siege to Amida . The city was well protected and it was not possible to quickly master it. Kavad sent troops to Tella (Constantine) and Harran . Olimp, Dux Tella, opposed the Persians, defeated the Persian troops, but on November 19 was defeated in a night battle with the main forces in the area of ​​Tell-Besh. The Byzantine cavalry fled, and the infantry suffered heavy losses.

On November 26, the Lakhmid king An-Numan II , a vassal of the Sassanids, invaded the Haran region. He got a huge booty, because in this area the grape harvest was just going on and not only villagers but also many citizens from Harran and Edessa came to field work. The whole area until Edessa was plundered. According to Yeshu Stylite, the Arabs drove 18,500 people into slavery, polling the inhabitants of entire villages. All that the Romans could do was strengthen the defense of Edessa ^[5] .

Eugene, duks Meliteny , marched with the army from Cappadocia , destroyed the Persian detachment standing in Theodosiopol, and returned the city to the Romans.

Emperor Anastasius, having learned that the Persians were preparing for an invasion, sent to Kavad Rufin with a large sum, but allowed to transfer money only if the Persians had not yet invaded Byzantine territory. On reaching Caesarea Cappadocia , Rufin learned that Kavad was under Amida. Leaving the money in Caesarea, the ambassador went to the Persian camp, where he was taken into custody.

January 10-11, 503, the Persians took the unapproachable Amida thanks to cunning and treachery. Three days in the city was a massacre, the victims of which, according to Yeshu Stylite and Pseudo-Zechariah, were 80,000 people. Modern researchers consider this figure to be greatly overestimated, as well as the losses of the Persians suffered during the siege, which Yeshu Stylite defines in 50,000 ^[6] .

After wintering in Amida, Kavad left a three-thousand-strong detachment there and withdrew to Nisibis . He released Rufin to tell the emperor about the fall of Amida, and in April 503 he sent a message to Anastasia: “send me gold or accept war”.

In May, Anastasius sent troops under the command of Areobind , Hypatius, and Patricia to the eastern border. Areobind received the post of Master of the Army of the East, but the other two commanders were not subordinate to him. Among the commanders of lower rank were Laz Farasman, Comit Justin (the future emperor), Zimarh and two leaders ready: Godigiskl and Bess.

Areobind with an army of 15,000 men settled between Dara and Amudi and for some time successfully repelled the attacks of the Persians from Nisibis. Patricius and Hypatius, who had 40,000 men under the command, attempted to return Amida.

Kavad sent 20,000 people against Areobind, but Areobind defeated them twice and drove them into Nisibis. In July, Kavad pulled reinforcements from the Huns and Arabs under the command of traitor Constantine to Nisibis. Areobind asked for support from Patricius and Hypatius, but they refused to help him and the commander had to quickly retreat to Edessa. ^[7]

After this, Patricius and Hypatius themselves had to lift the siege and retreat. They tried to stop the offensive of Kavad, destroyed the vanguard consisting of 800 Ephtalits, but then were taken by surprise by the main Persian forces and fled. After some time, they again approached Amida. Farasman managed to lure from the fortress a detachment of 400 Persians led by the commander of the garrison. The warriors were killed, and the captured warlord agreed to surrender Amida. The garrison, however, refused to obey him, and disgruntled Romans crucified the Persian commander ^[8] .

Arabs-lakhmids of an-Numan II attacked the terrain near the Habor River, inhabited by Byzantine Arabs, but were repulsed by the Duks of Kallinik (Ar -Raqqa ) by Timostrat. In response, Byzantine Arabs attacked the capital of Lakhmids , Khitra , looted it and captured the caravan standing there.

In August 503, the Persian troops defeated Patricia at Apadna. The Byzantines fled to Samotha . In the battle, the king of the Arab lakhmids en-Numan II was mortally wounded. Kavad marched on Tella and Edessa. In Tella, accusing local Jews of helping the Persians to seize the city, the Byzantines exterminated the Jewish population to the ^{full [9]} . Kavadu had to lift the siege. In September, he approached Edessa, the Persian detachments scattered to plunder the territory of Osroena ^[10] .

The siege of Edessa was also unsuccessful for the Persians. The defenders reflected the attacks, and the Persians could not agree on the amount of the ransom for the city with the Byzantines. After removing the siege, Kavad moved toward the Euphrates in the direction of Apamea .

After a series of failures at the front, the government was forced to appoint a single commander in the war with the Persians - Koehler , who received the post of master of the presentation army (magister militum in presenti). In October 503, Koehler reached the Pri-Efrat region, and Kavad, fearing a collision with large Romanian forces, retreated into Persian territory. In the winter of 503, Köhler besieged Amida, defeating the Persian troops sent to help the garrison. Attempts to take the fortress were unsuccessful, but because the Byzantines decided to limit its blockade.

In the spring of 504, Kavad concentrated 10,000 people in Nisibis, but the Byzantines under the command of Patrick and Dux Kallinik Timostrat suddenly attacked this detachment, defeated him and drove off horses and cattle.

Kavad could not direct a significant force against the Byzantines, since the northern regions of Iran were attacked by Savirs .

While the siege of Amida continued, Koehler decided to hold an action of intimidation and peace enforcement. Areobind's troops, having crossed the Tigris , invaded the province of Arzanen in Persian Armenia. They passed through the country, exterminating the entire male population over 12 years old. Köhler gave a strict order to this effect: if it turns out that someone from the Romans has spared the man, “he will be killed in his place” ^[11] . Only women and children were allowed into captivity. The village was ordered to completely destroy, leaving no houses standing. “They even cut and ruined vines, olive trees and all other trees.” During a large-scale raid, in which Byzantine Arabs participated, 10,000 men were killed, 30,000 women and children were captured, and troops looted and burned many villages. 120,000 heads of cattle and small livestock were stolen from the Persian territory. On the way back, passing by Nisibis, Areobind ambushed part of the Persian army, encircling and completely killing a detachment of 7,000 people ^[12] .

In the besieged Amida, meanwhile, famine began. The Persian commandant chained 10,000 men from among the townspeople and left them to die of starvation in the city stadium. According to chroniclers, the unfortunate were forced to eat excrement and drink urine, and then reached cannibalism. Women divided between their warriors. Since the Persians themselves had little provisions, women secretly began to kill single passersby, whose bodies were then cooked and fried. Due to the smell of hot crime opened and the commandant dressed search. Many women were tortured and executed, and the rest he forbade to commit murder, however, allowed to openly eat the bodies of the dead. Yeshu Stylite, describing all these horrors, adds:

... this will not be believed by those who will be after us. Now there is no person who tried to find out about these events and did not hear about everything that happened, even if he lived far away from us.

- Yeshua Stylite . Chronicle. 77 ^[13]

In the winter of 504, Kavad sent an army of 20,000 men to the border. The head of this army was assigned to negotiate. He tried to help out the Amida garrison by offering to exchange these people as prisoners. Köhler replied to him: "You do not remind me of these prisoners, because they are in captivity in our city, and they are our slaves." Persian asked to allow a caravan with provisions in the city, indicating to the master that “it is not fitting for you that your slaves perish from starvation”. Köhler and his commanders vowed not to touch the wagon train, but the Nonn Comit was not present at the council and was not bound by an oath. He attacked a caravan, interrupted people and took 300 camels with luggage. In addition to food there were ammunition that the Persians wanted to smuggle into the city.

The Persian commander demanded to punish the guilty, but Koehler sarcastically replied that he did not know which of his people did this, because he has a large army, if the Persian knows the guilty, let him take revenge if he can ^[14] .

In the meantime, it was cold and even snowing. Byzantine troops began to crawl along the rear fortresses, taking with them the loot. The Persians, seeing that the Romanian army was weakening from mass desertion, insisted on making peace, threatening to go on the offensive otherwise. Köhler ordered Komit Justin to gather troops, but he could not get the dispersed soldiers to return.

At the beginning of 505, an armistice was concluded and the Persians were allowed to leave Amida. A commission of Persian and Byzantine commanders is located at the gates of the city ^[15] . Persians released with weapons and without inspection. The townspeople who left with the Persians were interviewed, and if they wanted to leave the city, they were not obstructed. According to Procopius, a ransom of 1,000 liters of gold was paid for Amida to the Persians. According to Pseudo-Zechariah, 11 centenaries of gold were paid for the liberation of the city and for the world of Kavad. Theophanes writes about the three talents.

In the summer of 505, Koehler was summoned to Constantinople to work out peaceful conditions. In the spring of 506, he arrived with troops in Edessa, where he learned that the Persian delegate had died and would have to wait for the shah to send him a replacement. Meanwhile, the concentration of a large mass of troops in the city led to clashes between soldiers and citizens, and in order to avoid major unrest, Köhler led his troops out and marched to the border.

Peace was finally concluded in Dara in November 506. According to Procopius, the contract was concluded for seven years.

Both sides were so eager for peace that they even punished Arabs who committed unauthorized raids. When the Persian Arabs destroyed two Byzantine villages, the marzpan who commanded in Nisibis seized their sheikhs and executed them. In turn, when the Byzantine Arabs ransacked the Persian village, Dux Timostrat grabbed five sheikhs, executed them with a sword, and crucified three on a tree ^[16] .

The war demonstrated the weakness of the defense of the Byzantine border. While the world had not yet been signed, Köhler decided to build a fortress in Dar , a strategically important point in Northern Mesopotamia, 98 stages (20 km) from Nisibis. In 505–506, the necessary materials were brought there, and then a strong fortress was erected in a short time. This was contrary to the Byzantine-Iranian agreements, which forbade the construction of new fortifications on the border, but Kavad did not have the opportunity to prevent construction, and the dissatisfaction of Shah Anastasius moderated alternately with threats and money.

• Kulakovsky Yu. A. History of Byzantium. Vol. 1. St. Petersburg: Aletheia. 1996. ISBN 5-89329-003-13 (err.)
• Pigulevskaya N.V. Mesopotamia at the turn of the 5th — 6th centuries AD er Syrian chronicle Yeshu Stylite as a historical source. Proceedings of the Institute of Oriental Studies. T. XXXI. M.-L., 1940.
• Procopius of Caesarea . War with the Persians. War with vandals. Secret story. M .: "Science". 1993. ISBN 5-02-009494-3
• Chekalova A. A. Yeshu Stylite or Prokopy? (To the question of the manner in which the Greek and Syrian authors depicted the war between Byzantium and Iran in 502-506) // Byzantine Temporary. 42

• War with Persians , Procopius of Caesarea