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| Iberian War | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of theByzantine–Sasanian Wars | |||||||
 The Roman-Persian frontier in the 4th to 7th centuries. Iberia is at the top of the map, between the Black and Caspian seas. | |||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Justin I Justinian I Belisarius Sittas Gregory Hermogenes Pharas John of Lydia Sunicas Tzath I of Lazica Jabalah IV ibn al-Harith † Al-Harith ibn Jabalah Dorotheus Domnentiolus (POW) Al-Harith ofKinda †[4] Aïgan Simmas Ascan | Kavadh I Perozes Xerxes Azarethes Bawi Mihr-Mihroe Chanaranges Baresmanas † Pityaxes Al-Mundhir III ibn al-Nu'man Aratius Khosrow I | ||||||
TheIberian War was fought from 526 to 532 between theByzantine Empire and theSasanian Empire over the easternGeorgian kingdom ofIberia—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 atDara andSatala while their Ghassanid allies defeated the Sasanian-aligned Lakhmids. A Sasanian victory atCallinicum in 531 continued the war for another year until the empires signed the "Perpetual Peace".
After theAnastasian War, a seven-year truce was agreed on, yet it lasted for nearly twenty years. Even during the war in 505, EmperorAnastasius I had already started fortifyingDara as a counter to the Persian fortress city ofNisibis for a looming conflict. During the reign of Justin I, investment in fortification efforts were increased in Dara.[5]
Fearing the security of his succession, the elderlyKavadh I (r. 488–531) proposed the adoption of his favoured sonKhosrow I by the EmperorJustin I.[6] Whilst initially optimistic of the proposal, Procopius writes that Justin'squaestor Proklos advised against an adoption out of a fear that Khosrow could use it as pretext to claim the Roman Empire. Justin would instead request a barbarian adoption, by an attire of arms, which would offend Khosrow.[7]
Tensions in the region were compounded by religious affiliations.Lazica, a Christian Kingdom typically allied with the Persians, converted to Christianity and shifted allegiances to the Romans. Their king symbolically adopted Emperor Justin as his godfather.[8] This shift motivated other Christian kingdoms in the Caucasus, such asIberia, to defect from Persia.
According to Procopius, Kavadh I tried to force the Christian Iberians to becomeZoroastrians, and in 523, under the leadership of Gourgen, they rose in revolt against Persia,[9] following the example of the neighboring Christian kingdom ofLazica. Gourgen received pledges by Justin I that he would defend Iberia.[10]Procopius consistently uses religious motifs, contrasting the Zoroastrian Persian's barbarism with the Christian Roman's civility.[11]
As part of his strategic consolidation of power in the East, Justinian further solidified border defences, incorporating Armenian provinces into the empire and stationing Roman garrisons in the area.[12] Additionally, he aligned pro-Roman Arab clans under the ChristianJafnid Clan, whose leader was appointed king, providing a buffer zone between Rome and Persia.[13]
Violence escalated at various points where the power of the two empires met: in 525 a Roman fleet transported anAksumite army to conquerHimyariteYemen and in 525–526, Persia's Arab allies, theLakhmids, raided Roman territories on the edge of the desert. The Romans were interested in gaining influence in Yemen to protect Christian interests there(seeChristian community of Najran) as well as to dominate thespice andsilk trade routes to India which were under Persian control.[14]
By 526–527, overt fighting between the two empires had broken out in theTranscaucasus region and upperMesopotamia.[15] Following the emperor Justin I's death in 527,Justinian I acceded to the imperial throne. The early years of war favored the Persians, by 527 the Iberian revolt had been crushed, a Roman offensive againstNisibis and Thebetha in that year failed and forces attempting to fortifyThannuris and Melabasa were prevented from doing so by Persian attacks.[16]
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 themagister militum of the East in two and appointing a separatemagister militum ofArmenia over the northern portion.[17]Belisarius's forces were defeated byXerxes during thebattle of Thannuris and he had to retreat to Dara.[18]
In response to damaging raids onSyria by the Lakhmids from 528 to 529, Justinian reorganised the loose network of Arab rulers employed by the Romans under the sole leadership ofGhassanid leaderAl-Harith ibn Jabalah, who was raised to the rank ofVir gloriosus.[19] Such reform mirrored the more centralised approach of Persia, whose own Arabic clients had been organised under Lakhmid leaderAl-Mundhir III ibn al-Nu'man.
In 530, Belisarius led the Romans to victory over a much larger Persian force under Perozes at theBattle of Dara, while Sittas and Dorotheus defeated a Persian army under Mihr-Mihroe at theBattle of Satala. In 531, Belisarius was defeated by Persian and Lakhmid forces at theBattle of Callinicum but during the summer, the Romans captured some forts in Armenia and repulsed a Persian offensive.[20] The Roman failure at Callinicum was followed by a commission of inquiry; Belisarius was dismissed from his post.[21]Azarethes, the Persians' commander at Callinicum, was also stripped of his ranks due to his failure to capture any significant fortification.
Justinian's envoy, Hermogenes, visited Kavadh to re-open negotiations but without success.[21] Justinian tried to form an alliance with theAxumites of Ethiopia and theHimyarites of Yemen against the Persians but his alliance proposal failed.[22] The Persians conducted theSiege of Martyropolis but abandoned it as Kavadh died shortly afterwards.
In spring 532 negotiations progressed after the succession of King Khosrow I, who needed to devote attention to domestic threats.[23] Justinian too favoured an early end to the war, potentially viewing dynastic instability in Vandalic Africa and Ostrogothic Italy as encouragement to reallocate Roman forces in the east towards the western Mediterranean.[24] Negotiations concluded with the agreement of Eternal Peace, whereby all territories seized during the war by either side were returned and the Dux of eastern forces moved from Dara to Constantia.[25] However, theByzantines paid a tribute of 11,000 lbs (5000 kg) gold to the Sasanian Empire.[3]
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