Download Persia and Byzantium - Wiley Online Library

1
Persia and Byzantium
GEOFFREY GREATREX
From the 320s to the 630s CE, the two greatest
powers of the Near East comprised the Eastern
Roman Empire, otherwise known as BYZANTIUM, and Sasanian Iran. Each side recognized
the other’s power and, until the seventh century, neither attempted to destroy the other.
Although these three centuries were marked by
repeated bouts of warfare, increasingly so in
the sixth century, the two powers were able to
conduct high-level negotiations, conclude
peace treaties, and even on occasion to
collaborate.
Byzantine emperors in the fourth century
still harbored ambitions of conquering Persia.
Constantine, however, died before setting
off on campaign; his son’s successor, Julian
(361–3), undertook a large expedition to
Lower Mesopotamia but died in the course of
a costly retreat. His successor, Jovian (363–4),
was forced to agree to terms dictated by
Shapur II (309–79). The Byzantines were
obliged to withdraw from NISIBIS and Upper
Mesopotamia and to grant the Persians a free
hand in ARMENIA. A boundary was established
between the two powers in Upper Mesopotamia, the most frequent field of conflict, and
this frontier remained more or less fixed until
the seventh century. Persian attempts to gain
a decisive advantage in Armenia and Iberia
(modern Georgia) were thwarted by Emperor
VALENS (364–78), leading ultimately to the
definitive partition of the former between
Byzantine- and Persian-backed kings in 387.
The resolution of this source of discord
ushered in a lengthy period of peace, broken
only by a brief war in 421–2 and a minor
Persian incursion in 440. Both powers had
huge problems of their own to contend with
in the fifth century and were thus content
to maintain peaceful relations. The Persians,
hit by invaders from the central Asian
steppes, frequently turned to the Byzantines
for financial assistance; in some cases, they
received it, although there is no reason to
suppose that the Byzantines were obliged to
furnish it.
Prolonged hostilities resumed at the start of
the sixth century. The Persian king Kavad, just
restored to his throne by the Hephthalites,
desperately needed funds to reward his allies.
When Emperor ANASTASIOS I (491–518) refused
his repeated demands for subsidies, Kavad
seized several Roman cities and plundered
Byzantine territories. In response, the Byzantines mobilized an army and soon regained the
initiative. Kavad was forced to agree to terms
and proved unable to prevent the Byzantines
from building a significant new fortress on the
frontier, Dara. Despite this conflict, enough
trust remained to induce Kavad to ask JUSTIN I
(518–27) to adopt his son CHOSROES I (531–79),
in order to guarantee his succession to the
Persian throne. The request was denied,
sparking a further round of inconclusive hostilities, culminating in the Eternal Peace of 532,
by which JUSTINIAN I (527–65) agreed to make
one lump-sum payment to the Persians to
secure the permanent security of the eastern
frontier. In 540, however, Chosroes took
advantage of the weakening of Byzantine
defenses, caused by troops being transferred
to Italy and north Africa, and captured numerous Roman cities, including Antioch itself.
Notwithstanding a series of truces, fighting
continued until 561, confined mostly to
the Caucasus. A further peace was then concluded, this time securing the tranquility of
Byzantium’s eastern frontier through annual
payments to the Persians.
This arrangement held good for only ten
years. JUSTIN II (565–78) found it shameful,
since it could be portrayed as a sort of tribute
payment to the Persians. Encouraged by
diplomatic overtures from the TURKS, then
arriving in central Asia, he launched a new
war in 572. The Persians swiftly gained the
upper hand in the struggle, capturing Dara,
but internal instability precipitated the fall
of Hormisdas IV (579–90). When Emperor
Maurice (581–602) gave decisive backing to
Hormisdas’ son, CHOSROES II (590–628),
allowing him to seize power in Iran, the war
The Encyclopedia of Ancient History, First Edition. Edited by Roger S. Bagnall, Kai Brodersen, Craige B. Champion, Andrew Erskine,
and Sabine R. Huebner.
© 2012 Blackwell Publishing Ltd. Published 2012 by Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
2
was brought to an end on favorable terms to
the Byzantines in 591. But the overthrow of
Maurice in 602 gave chosroes the pretext to
intervene in Roman territory, posing as the
emperor’s avenger. Persian armies gradually
took over all Byzantium’s eastern provinces,
penetrating as far as Constantinople in 626,
and annexing Egypt. Only in the 620s was
Herakleios (610–41) able to muster a force
capable of outmaneuvering the Persians in
the Caucasus and striking to the heart of
the Persian kingdom. He thus caused
Chosroes’ downfall in 628 and the withdrawal
of Persian forces from the Roman Empire. The
Byzantine victory in this final, paroxysmic
conflict was overshadowed by the Islamic conquest of the whole Near East in the following
decades.
ALSO: Constantine I (Flavius Valerius
Constantinus Augustus); Constantinople, history
and monuments; Ghassanids; Herakleios, emperor;
Iberia (Kartli); Julian, emperor; Kavad, of Persia;
Maurice, emperor; Mesopotamia; Sasanians.
SEE
REFERENCES AND SUGGESTED READINGS
Dignas, B. and Winter, E. (2007) Rome and Persia in
late antiquity. Cambridge.
Dodgeon, M. and Lieu, S. N. C. (1991) The Roman
eastern frontier and the Persian Wars, A.D. 226–363.
London.
Greatrex, G. and Lieu, S. N. C. (2002) The Roman
eastern frontier and the Persian Wars, A.D. 363–630.
London.
Howard-Johnston, J. D. (2006) East Rome, Sasanian
Persia and the end of antiquity: historiographical
and historical studies. Aldershot.