Battle of Blarathon
| date | Summer 591 |
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| place | near Ganzak , today's Iran |
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Ostrom , |
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The Battle of Blarathon was fought near Ganzak in late summer 591 between an allied Eastern Roman - Sassanid army and another Persian army led by the usurper Bahram Chobin .
Basically it was an Eastern Roman intervention in an intra-Persian conflict. The combined forces were led by Johannes Mystakon , Narses and the Sassanid king Chosrau II, who fled Persia in 590 . The Roman-Persian army was victorious. They drove Bahram Chobin, who was later murdered, from power and reinstated Chosrau as ruler of the Sassanid Empire on behalf of Emperor Maurikios . After the battle, the Eastern Roman troops withdrew again. The main source for the events is the fifth book of the histories of Theophylactus Simokates ; Additional information can be found at Pseudo- Sebeos and Tabari .
The Romans and Sassanids had been at war with one another since 572; the successful intervention now led to the conclusion of a peace favorable to the emperor: The Eastern Roman reward for the reinstatement of Chosraus on the throne was the return of the fortresses Dara and Martyropolis . In addition, Chosrau agreed to a new division of the Caucasus , according to which the Persians gave the Eastern Romans many important cities in Persarmia , such as B. Tigranokerta , Manzikert , Baguana , Valarsakert , Bagaran , Vardkesavan , Yerevan , Ani , Kars , and Zarisat . Almost the entire kingdom of Iberia , included the cities of Ardahan , Lori , Dmanisi , Akhaltsikhe , Mtskheta and Tontio was also a Roman protectorate. In addition, the city of Cytaea was given to Lasika , another Eastern Roman clientele kingdom.
The Battle of Blarathon and the ensuing peace, concluded in late 591, changed Eastern Roman-Sassanid relations, with the former becoming a dominant position for the following decade. But when Maurikios was overthrown and killed in 602, Chosrau II should seize the opportunity and try to revise the peace of 591 (see Roman-Persian Wars ).
literature
- Geoffrey B. Greatrex , Samuel Lieu: The Roman Eastern Frontier and the Persian Wars, Vol. 2: AD 363-630 . Routledge, London 2002, pp. 172ff. ISBN 0-415-14687-9 .
- Michael Whitby : The Emperor Maurice and his Historian. Theophylact Simocatta on Persian and Balkan Warfare . Oxford University Press, Oxford 1988, ISBN 0-19-822945-3 , pp. 302 f.