Iberian War

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For the conflict between Napoleon's empire and Portugal, Spain and Britain, see Peninsular War.
Iberian War
Part of the
Transcaucasus, Upper Mesopotamia
Result Inconclusive
Eternal Peace
Byzantines paid tribute of 11,000 lbs (5000 kg) gold[2]
Territorial
changes		 Sasanians retained Iberia
Byzantines retained Lazica[2]
Belligerents
Iberia
Ghassanids
Huns
Heruli
Aksumites
Kinda
Lakhmids
Sabirs
Commanders and leaders
Aïgan
Simmas
Ascan
Pityaxes
Al-Mundhir III ibn al-Nu'man
Aratius

The Iberian War was fought from 526 to 532 between the Byzantine Empire and the Sasanian Empire over the eastern Georgian kingdom of Iberia—a Sasanian client state that defected to the Byzantines. Conflict erupted among tensions over tribute and the spice trade.

The Sasanians maintained the upper hand until 530 but the Byzantines recovered their position in battles at Dara and Satala while their Ghassanid allies defeated the Sasanian-aligned Lakhmids. A Sasanian victory at Callinicum in 531 continued the war for another year until the empires signed the "Perpetual Peace".

Origin

After the

Justinian but Justin's quaestor, Proculus, opposed the move. Despite the breakdown of the negotiations, it was not until 530 that war on the main eastern frontier began. In the intervening years, the two sides preferred to wage war by proxy, through Arab allies in the south and Huns in the north.[4]

Tensions between the two powers were further heightened by the defection of the

Zoroastrians, and in 523, under the leadership of Gourgen, they rose in revolt against Persia,[5] following the example of the neighboring Christian kingdom of Lazica. Gourgen received pledges by Justin I that he would defend Iberia; the Romans then recruited Huns from the north of the Caucasus to assist the Iberians.[6]

War

Violence escalated at various points where the power of the two empires met: in 525 a Roman fleet transported an

Lakhmids, raided Roman territories on the edge of the desert. The Romans were interested in gaining influence in Yemen to protect Christian interests there (see Christian community of Najran) as well as to dominate the spice and silk trade routes to India which were under Persian control.[7]

By 526–527, overt fighting between the two empires had broken out in the

Nisibis and Thebetha in that year failed and forces attempting to fortify Thannuris and Melabasa were prevented from doing so by Persian attacks.[9]

In 528, the Persians pressed on from Iberia to capture forts in eastern Lazica. Attempting to remedy the deficiencies revealed by these Persian successes, Justinian reorganised the eastern armies by dividing the command of the magister militum of the East in two and appointing a separate magister militum of Armenia over the northern portion.[10] The most important Roman initiative on the southern front in 528 was Belisarius's expeditions to Thannuris, where he tried to protect Roman workers undertaking the construction of a fort right on the frontier.[11] His forces were defeated by Xerxes during the battle of Thannuris and he had to retreat to Dara.[12]

Damaging raids on

Battle of Dara, while Sittas and Dorotheus defeated a Persian army under Mihr-Mihroe at the Battle of Satala. In 531, Belisarius was defeated by Persian and Lakhmid forces at the Battle of Callinicum but during the summer, the Romans captured some forts in Armenia and repulsed a Persian offensive.[13] The Roman failure at Callinicum was followed by a commission of inquiry, the result of which was the dismissal of Belisarius from his post.[14] Azarethes
, the Persians' commander at Callinicum, was also stripped of his ranks due to his failure to capture any significant fortification.

Truce

Justinian's envoy, Hermogenes, visited Kavadh immediately after the Battle of Callinicum to re-open negotiations but without success.

Eternal Peace, which lasted less than eight years, was signed in September 532. Both sides agreed to return all occupied territories and the Romans to make a one-off payment of 110 centenaria (11,000 pounds of gold). The Romans recovered the Lazic forts, Iberia remained in Persian hands but the Iberians who had left their country were allowed to remain in Roman territory or to return to their native land.[16]

See also

References

  1. ^ Neusner 1970, p. 76–77.
  2. ^ a b Barker 1966, p. 118.
  3. ^ "SASANIAN DYNASTY – Encyclopaedia Iranica". www.iranicaonline.org. Retrieved 25 February 2020.
  4. ^ Greatrex & Lieu 2002, pp. 81–82.
  5. ^ Borgeraze, A. (2012). "Revolt of Gourgen". Georgia (in Georgian). Vol. II. Tbilisi. pp. 211–212.{{cite encyclopedia}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  6. ^ Greatrex & Lieu 2002, p. 82.
  7. ISBN 9781136593130
    .
  8. ^ Greatrex & Lieu 2002, p. 84.
  9. ^ Greatrex & Lieu 2002, p. 85.
  10. ^ Greatrex & Lieu 2002, p. 83.
  11. ^ Greatrex & Lieu 2002, p. 86
  12. ^ Conor Whately, Battles and Generals: Combat, Culture, and Didacticism in Procopius, 2006, Netherlands, p.238
  13. ^ Greatrex & Lieu 2002, pp. 92–96.
  14. ^ a b Greatrex & Lieu 2002, p. 93.
  15. S2CID 163004552
    .
  16. ^ Greatrex & Lieu 2002, pp. 96–97.

Sources

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