Azarethes

Azarethes (also Exarath ) was a Sassanid general in the middle of the 6th century AD.

Little is known about his early life. He was called by his Byzantine (Eastern Roman) opponents Azarethes or Exarath - which, however, presumably denotes not his name, but an office and is derived as Korruptele from the Middle Persian word hazaruft / hazarawūcht .

Azarethes served in the Roman-Persian Wars . The Byzantine historian Prokop describes him as "a very capable soldier". He served the Persian great king Kavadh I as astabath (which roughly corresponded to the Roman magister officiorum ) and in 531 led a Sassanid army against the Byzantine province of Syria ( Commagene region ) together with Arab troops under Alamundarus . The Byzantine general Belisarius attacked his troops in the Battle of Callinicum , but suffered significant losses. Despite the heavy losses of the Eastern Romans, Azarethes also suffered losses in the battle and then withdrew, which put him out of favor at Kavadh.

Azarethes then also served under the Persian great king Chosrau I and took part in the siege of Edessa in 544 - his association was the last to withdraw.

literature

• John Robert Martindale: Azarethes. In: The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire (PLRE). Volume 3A, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1992, ISBN 0-521-20160-8 , p. 160.
• Geoffrey B. Greatrex : Rome and Persia at War, 502-532 . Cairns, Leeds 1998, ISBN 0-905205-93-6 , pp. 196-204.

Remarks

1. ↑ Geoffrey B. Greatrex: Rome and Persia at War, 502-532. Cairns, Leeds 1998, pp. 196-204.
2. ↑ Prokopios of Caesarea , Historien , 1.18.
3. ↑ Zacharias of Mytilene , Church History 9.4.
4. ↑ Geoffrey B. Greatrex: Rome and Persia at War, 502-532. Cairns, Leeds 1998, pp. 196-204; Peter Heather: Rome Resurgent. War and Empire in the Age of Justinian. Oxford 2018, pp. 106f.
5. ↑ Prokopios, Historien , 1.18.
6. ↑ Procopius, histories , 2,27,36-43.