by Hughes, Ian
The First Year: 540
In the spring of 540, Khusrow invaded the Empire. Moving along the west bank of the Euphrates, he bypassed the fortress of Circesium, which was situated on the opposite side, in the angle formed by the junction of the Euphrates and the River Aborras, before arriving at the city of Zenobia. The city refused to surrender, so Khusrow bypassed this city as well and travelled onwards before setting up his camp opposite the city of Sura. Khusrow decided to take the city by storm and in the ensuing attack Arsaces, the commander of the defenders, was killed. As a result, the defenders lost heart and the local bishop was sent to negotiate a surrender. Khusrow decided to appear to be considering the proposal but ordered his troops to follow the bishop as he returned to the fortress and, as he entered, to rush forwards and prevent any closure of the gate. The plan worked, the gate was forced and the city carried by storm. The embassy from Justinian was still accompanying the king as he attacked. They were now released and travelled to Justinian to inform him of the defeat.
Moving forwards, Khusrow sold the captives he had taken to Candidus, the bishop of Sergiopolis, receiving 2 centenaria (a centenaria was 100 pounds of gold, possibly equal to 100,000 sesterces - a vast sum of money) for the 12,000 captives. Furthermore, if Candidus did not pay the money by a set date he would then be liable to pay double the amount.
Buzes was in the city of Hieropolis when he learned of the loss of Sura and was told the size of the Persian forces. Therefore, possibly having heard of Belisarius’ strategy in the siege of Rome, he proposed to leave part of the army in the city and take the rest out to the hills around it in order to harass the enemy when they arrived. Selecting the best troops, he left the city, but no-one was sure of where he went.
With the citizens of Hieropolis waiting for the expected attack, Justinian also learned of the Persian invasion. Believing that Antioch was Khusrow’s target, he sent his nephew Germanus to the city along with 300 men to augment the garrison. Fearing that Khusrow would attack the city simply because the Emperor’s nephew was present, Germanus refused to stay in the city and, taking a few men, travelled to Cilicia. In desperation, the citizens decided to offer tribute to Khusrow in the hope that he would then retire to Persia. They sent Megas, the bishop of Beroea, to secure terms, and he arrived in time to see Khusrow launch an attack on Hieropolis. When the citizens of Hieropolis paid Khusrow 2,000 pounds of silver to stop the attack, Megas was forced to offer 2 centenaria of gold for the much larger city of Antioch.
Megas returned to Antioch, followed by Khusrow and the Persian army. Khusrow now stopped at the city of Beroea, entered the city and demanded 4,000 pounds of silver from the citizens to leave. When they only offered him 2,000 pounds, claiming that they could not raise any more money, he set fire to the city and launched an attack upon the citadel, where the inhabitants were sheltering.
In the meantime, Justinian had sent two ambassadors to negotiate with Khusrow and they arrived at Antioch shortly before Megas returned with Khusrow’s demand. They flatly refused to allow the citizens to pay Khusrow not to attack and Megas was forced to return to Khusrow empty-handed.
Once back with the king, Megas was able to act as a mediator between Khusrow and the Beroeans, of whom he was bishop. The citizens were allowed to leave the city whilst the majority of the garrison joined the Persian army, claiming that they had not been paid for a long time and so renouncing any loyalty to the empire.
With his line of advance secured, Khusrow finally marched towards Antioch. Many of the inhabitants fled upon his approach but the two duces of Phoenice Libanensis, Theoctistus and Molatzes, arrived with 6,000 men to help defend the city.
When he arrived, Khusrow immediately demanded 10 centenaria of gold, with the suggestion that he might be willing to accept less. The ambassadors in Antioch went to see Khusrow and began negotiations, but the envoy that Khusrow sent to the city was insulted and shot at outside the city walls. Enraged, Khusrow ordered an all-out assault on the following day. The city was taken by storm, sacked and looted. Khusrow retired towards Persia with a vast quantity of captives and booty.
When Justinian’s ambassadors now asked for peace terms, Khusrow demanded 50 centenaria immediately, followed by 5 centenaria per annum to maintain the peace. The envoys agreed to the terms and sent news of the agreement to Justinian. However, on his return journey to Persia, Khusrow broke the contract, arriving at the cities of Apamea, Chalcis and Edessa and demanding large sums of money to leave them unharmed. After paying their ransoms, the citizens of Edessa also offered to buy the freedom of the captives from Antioch, but Buzes forbade the exchange. It was the citizens of the city of Constantina who paid the ransom demanded by Khusrow for the citizens of Antioch.
Whilst Khusrow had been raiding the empire, the peace agreement in Italy had been reached, bringing to an end the first bout of the Gothic War. The troops and commanders thus freed from service in the west now began to arrive in the east. Martinus was sent to Dara, which in the event of continued conflict was an obvious target as it was the headquarters of the magister militum per Orientem. He reached his destination shortly before Khusrow and the Persian army arrived and laid siege to the fortress. Martinus and his troops put up a stout resistance to Khusrow, who gave up and finally returned to Persian soil.
Hearing of the demands for ransom and of the Persian attack at Dara, Justinian cancelled the agreement and did not pay any money to Khusrow. As summer was at an end and the campaigning season had now finished, both sides remained quiet and waited for the following year to resume operations.
The Second Year: 541
The Byzantines now made their dispositions for the second year of the war. Valerian was sent to take command of the forces in Armenia and, once winter was fading, Belisarius travelled in haste to the east, anticipating a second invasion by Khusrow. On this occasion Antonina did not accompany her husband, instead remaining in Constantinople in the service of the empress.
The Byzantines had miscalculated; Khusrow was not planning an invasion of Mesopotamia. After the conclusion of the earlier war, the Byzantines had stationed troops in Lazica, quartering them in the traditional manner on the natives of the area. The Byzantine general, Peter, treated the Lazicans badly. Furthermore, the commander at Petra on the Black Sea coast, John Tzibus, described by Procopius (Wars, II.xv.9) as ‘a man of obscure and ignoble descent’, formed a monopoly on imports in the area and began selling the goods at a very high price. As a result, the Lazicans decided to switch allegiances and invited Khusrow to take the country. Spreading the rumour that he was going to the north to fight a Hunnic invasion, Khusrow gathered his troops and moved into Lazica. According to the Anekdota, Khusrow also arranged for an army of Huns to invade Armenia and occupy the Byzantine forces in the area (Anekdota, 2.29–31).
When Belisarius arrived in Mesopotamia to assume command, one of his first actions was to send spies into enemy territory to find out what the Persians were planning. He also began to organise his forces. Finding that the troops were terrified of the Persians, badly organised and poorly armed, he distributed equipment and began to train them.
When his spies returned and informed him that the Persians were away fighting the Huns, Belisarius decided that he could invade Persia in relative safety. Joined by Arethas, the leader of the Ghassanids, he called a council of his officers and asked for advice. Most declared a willingness to invade Persia, but the two duces of Phoenice Libanensis, Theoctistus and Rhecithancus (who had replaced Molatzes), warned that Phoenicia and Syria would be open to attack by the Lakhmids, so wanted to stay and protect their province. Belisarius pointed out that it was the season of the vernal equinox and that the Lakhmids would be dedicating the next two months to their god and so be unable to attack. (Arethas, although a fellow Arab of the Lakhmids, was a Monophysite Christian, probably along with the majority of his people, and did not, therefore, follow the Lakhmid religious observances.) Belisarius promised that the troops he took with him would be released before
the passage of sixty days and allowed to return to their province to defend it from the ‘Saracens’. With these reassurances, the generals agreed to his plans. Belisarius decided to attack the city of Nisibis, reasoning that he could not go further than this without taking the city as he would be leaving a strong force to his rear. He now made preparations to attack.
Whilst Belisarius was debating the invasion, Khusrow arrived in the city of Colchis in Lazica and was met by King Goubazes, who made obeisance for his kingdom. Learning that Petra, on the Black Sea coast, was being held in force by the Byzantines under John Tzibus, he dispatched an army under Aniabades to take the city. Warned of the Persian approach, John armed his men and ordered them to remain behind the walls, out of sight and silent. Upon seeing an apparently-empty fortress, Aniabades sent a message to Khusrow informing him of the situation. Khusrow ordered the entire army to advance to the city and ordered an assault, with a ram to break the gate, while he watched from a nearby hill.
Anticipating an easy victory, Khusrow was to be shocked by what happened next: as he watched, the previously-unseen Byzantine defenders made a sudden sally and routed the Persians, many of whom were killed, especially those stationed around the ram. Furious at the unexpected defeat, Khusrow ordered either Aniabades or the officer in charge of the ram to be impaled for their incompetence, though Procopius is unsure about which commander was killed (Wars, II.xvii.ll).
The Persian king then ordered an all-out assault and, luckily for Khusrow, John was killed by a chance arrow as night fell. On the following day, a projecting tower was undermined and fell, which, together with the loss of John, caused the defenders to lose hope. They sued for surrender, agreeing to join the Persian army. The garrison of Beroea had similarly defected the year before and it is possible that the armies in the east had still not yet been paid.
In the south, Belisarius had advanced on the city and fortress of Nisibis, but, much to the dismay of his officers, he ordered them to camp whilst still some distance from the city. When they protested, he informed them that he was setting the camp at such a distance in the belief that the Persians would emerge and fight. If they did, he wanted to allow plenty of room for a pursuit that would kill or capture a large number of them. In this, he was almost certainly drawing upon his experience during the siege of Rome. For the majority of the siege, Belisarius’ own troops had remained near to the city so that any defeat was lessened by their ability to seek sanctuary within the walls very quickly. In contrast, during the Battle of Rome Witigis had deployed the Goths as far as possible from the walls to enable them to pursue the enemy for the greatest distance and so cause the greatest number of casualties.
Belisarius further pointed out to his subordinates that, in the case of a Byzantine attack, Nisibis was the obvious focus point and so he had sent spies here who had informed him that the city was garrisoned by a very large force under Nobades, possibly the spahbad of the west. The man was obviously a capable general and the camp was being set as a lure to tempt him to leave the safety of the city. Upon hearing his reasoning, all of the commanders agreed to his commands except for Peter, who, taking John with him, led their men to within ten stades of the city. As in Italy, the indiscipline of junior officers would lead to heavy losses for their troops.
The following morning, Belisarius sent word to his men to prepare for battle. He also said that the Persians would attack at around midday, since they knew that the Byzantines were accustomed to eating at that time and so would judge them to be vulnerable. He sent the same messages to Peter and John in their advanced camp. Ignoring the warning, at midday the troops under Peter and John broke ranks for food. Simultaneously, Nobades launched an attack against them. Peter immediately sent messages to Belisarius asking for help, before watching as his men were routed and his standard captured, fifty men being killed.
Peter’s messengers were unnecessary. Belisarius had seen the dust being raised near to the enemy city and immediately set the troops in motion. The Goths brought east by Belisarius were the first into the action, followed shortly after by the rest of the Byzantine army. The Persians were routed, yet due to their remaining near to the city walls, they lost only 150 men as they quickly reached safety. They refused to leave their refuge again.
Recognising that the city was too strong to take by storm, Belisarius led the army a day’s march further into Persia until he reached the fortress of Sisauranon. In doing this, he had clearly decided that, despite his earlier reservations about leaving a strong force to his rear, the defeat they had suffered would make Nobades wary of leaving Nisibis.
Sisauranon was held by 800 Persians under Bleschames, and the first assault on the walls was repulsed with heavy loss. Therefore, Belisarius decided to send Arethas and a small group of Byzantine troops across the Tigris and further into Persian territory, to gather plunder and information. If the fortress fell, he proposed to lead the rest of the army across the river. Consequently, the Lakhmid forces, accompanied by 1,200 bucellarii under John the Glutton and Trajan, crossed the Tigris and began to plunder a rich and untouched area of Persia.
In the meantime, Belisarius captured some Persian deserters who declared that the fortress was short of provisions and about to fall. He then sent an individual named George, who had a reputation for persuasion, to talk to the defenders. After receiving pledges for their safety, the garrison surrendered. The inhabitants, who were mainly Byzantines captured during Persian raids, were set free and the garrison sent to Justinian: they would later be deployed in Italy.
The forces that had been sent ahead had by now taken a large amount of booty. Afraid that when they returned the Byzantines would take all of the spoil for themselves, Arethas ordered some of his men to ride out of the camp, and then ride back declaring that a large force of Persians was approaching. They followed their orders and in the ensuing panic Arethas counselled that John and Trajan should take their share of the plunder and return directly to Byzantine territory, as in this way they would manage to retain their share of the spoil. He would go directly to his own kingdom. In this way, they should be able to avoid the Persians. John and Trajan agreed, and, without informing Belisarius, departed for home.
Troubled by the lack of news, and due to many of his troops catching a fever – with up to one third being ill – Belisarius needed to decide quickly upon his next move. When Theoctistus and Rhecithancus declared that the sixty days were now almost gone and that they needed to return home to garrison their cities, Belisarius convened a council. At the council all agreed that they should return to Byzantine territory. Sending the ill ahead and using the rest as a rearguard, Belisarius safely led his troops out of Persia. Fortunately for Arethas, he never met Belisarius again. Upon his return, Belisarius was reunited with Antonina, a reunion that was to have dramatic consequences, as we will see in due course.
As he was campaigning in Lazica, Khusrow learned of Belisarius’ invasion. He also learnt that the Huns that had invaded Armenia had been defeated by Valerian, the Byzantine commander in the area (Proc, Anekdota, 2.30). Leaving a garrison in Petra, Khusrow returned to Persia. It was now late in the year and any reprisals against the Byzantines would have to wait for the following spring.
Antonina and Belisarius
The reunion of Belisarius and Antonina was, according to Procopius’ account in the Anekdota, a bitter one. As was seen earlier, Antonina and Theodosius had continued their affair in Constantinople. Before Belisarius had departed for the war, Theodosius began to feel guilty and became uncomfortable with Antonina’s ever-more-outrageous displays of affection. Theodosius againfledto Ephesus, where he became a monk. Antonina managed to persuade Belisarius to request his return, but to no avail. However, when Belisarius left for the war, accompanied by Photius, Theodosius returned and the affair resumed.
At the same time, Antonina took part in ensnaring John the Cappadocian at the request of Theodora. Antonina befriended John’s daughter Euphemia and, completely winning her friendship, persuaded h
er that both herself and Belisarius would join in an attempt to overthrow Justinian. Euphemia told John, who joined the plot, only to have Antonina betray him to Theodora. Narses the eunuch and Marcellus, the captain of the palace guards, arrested him and his property was confiscated, although a small portion was later returned to him by Justinian (Proc, l.xxv.13–36). Having increased her value in the eyes of the empress, Antonina travelled to the east to join Belisarius.
Her reunion would not be as she expected. Photius had learned that Theodosius was staying with his mother and had reported the matter to Belisarius. Belisarius ordered him to travel to Ephesus and kill Theodosius, secure in the knowledge that when Antonina travelled to the east Theodosius would return there. The account given in Wars now differs somewhat from that given in Anekdota. In Wars, Belisarius was troubled by the lack of news from his advanced army and by the fact that many of his troops had caught a fever, and so had convened a council at which it was agreed that the army should return to Byzantine territory (Proc, II.xix.29-46). In Anekdota, Belisarius was influenced by the news of Antonina’s impending arrival and so hastened the withdrawal of the troops from Sisauranon. He was consequently accused by the Byzantines of putting his personal affairs before the needs of the state, having always stayed within a short distance of the frontier in order to be ready to return upon Antonina’s arrival. Procopius even goes on to say that Belisarius could have taken the Persian capital of Ctesiphon and released the Byzantine citizens held there as slaves, since the Persian army was in Lazica, and there was little in the way of defences to stop him (Anekdota, 2.18-26).