Narses (comes)
Narses was an Armenian military commander in service of the Sasanian Empire and later the Byzantine Empire.
Family
Narses was a native of
Persarmenia, a part of Armenia under Sasanian Persian control. He was the brother of Aratius and Isaacius and possibly a member of the Kamsarakan family (a noble Armenian family of Parthian origin).[1]
Career
He is first recorded in 527 in service of the Sasanian military in the Iberian War, where he and his brother Aratius defeated Sittas and Belisarius in Persarmenia.[1]
Both Narses and Aratius, accompanied by their mother, deserted to the Byzantine Empire in summer of 530 and were welcomed with a large sum of money by the imperial
In c. 535, he was the commander of the troops in
Siege of Auximum in 539. In 540, Narses was sent away from Ravenna by Belisarius.[1]
Narses was not given any military command until 543, when he was assigned a force of Armenians and
Sasanians. During the hasty invasion of 543 against Dvin, it was wrongly heard that the Sasanian army had left Anglon. Narses rebuked the other commanders for their slowness. In the Battle of Anglon that followed, there are sources that cite Narses and his forces were the first to engage.[3] In this account, which drew from the records of Procopius, the Sasanian army (or part of it) was driven back or feigned retreat back into the village, but Narses was caught in an ambush by the Sasanians who were hiding in the houses.[1][3] He was hit in the temple in close combat and his and other Byzantine forces were routed. His brother Isaacius carried him away from the battlefield, but he died of his wound soon afterward.[1]
References
- ^ ISBN 0-521-20160-8.
- ^ An Universal History: From the Earliest Accounts to the Present Time. London: C. Bathurst. 1780. p. 455.
- ^ ISBN 978-90-04-31038-4.