Battle of Mesiche

date	244
place	Mesiche (Misiche) on the central Euphrates , west of Ctesiphon
output	Sassanid victory

Parties to the conflict
Romans	Sassanids
Commander
Gordian III.	Shapur I.
Troop strength
unknown	unknown
losses
unknown	unknown

The Battle of Mesiche (or Misiche ) in 244 was a decisive victory of the Persian Sassanids over a Roman army under the command of the Emperor Gordian III.

After the Sassanids under Ardaschir I had repeatedly advanced into Roman territory, Gordian advanced to Mesopotamia with a strong army in 243 (for the background, see Roman-Persian Wars ). At Resaina (today's Ras al-Ain ), between Karrhai and Nisibis , the Romans succeeded in defeating the Persians, who were meanwhile ruled by Ardaschir's son Shapur I.

What followed is presented differently in the sources and is also controversial in modern research. According to several Western (Latin / Greek) sources, the emperor was intrigued and finally murdered; they contradict each other insofar as some sources speak of a murder of Gordian at Ctesiphon , the main Persian residence, while according to other sources there was a mutiny on the march of the Roman army from Persia. According to other sources, Gordian even died before the Roman invasion of the Persian Empire. All sources that speak of an intrigue against Gordian are late antique or Byzantine works, so they are not contemporary; practically unanimously they accuse the Praetorian prefect of Gordians, Philip Arabs , of complicity in the plot. These reports are evidently based on a common model, the Latin probably the so-called Enmann Imperial History . In some of the aforementioned works from the 5th to 13th centuries, which are written in Greek, information from another source tradition can also be recognized.

There is, however, another, much more recent source tradition based on a victory inscription from Shapur I, a trilingual inscription near Naqsch-e Rostam , the so-called res gestae divi Saporis . According to this, Gordian, who had advanced with a large army, suffered a crushing defeat near Mesiche in February of the year 244 and was killed, whereupon the Romans had to make peace. Gordian is also shown on a Sassanid rock relief on the ground, at the feet of Shapur on his horse. After his victory, Shapur named Mesiche in Peroz-Shapur ("Victorious is Shapur").

The report of Schapur's deeds - which is also a propaganda script, but hardly reproduces a grossly falsifying representation - was sometimes given less credence in the past than the Western sources. However, statements by several Byzantine historians (including Georgios Kedrenos [who does not speak of an assassination] and Johannes Zonaras ) who could fall back on older models may well cover Schapur's report, even though Zonara's about the death of Gordian II in the Battle reported (instead of Gordian III, which may be due to a mix up). The death of Gordian in the battle of Mesiche or possibly due to injuries sustained in the battle is accepted in modern research by several researchers. In addition, the sources that blame Philip Arabs for the death of the emperor are hardly less problematic than the account of Shapur's deeds, since they largely endeavor to portray Gordian in a good light and Philip in a bad light.

The fact that the Battle of Mesiche is concealed in Western sources is understandable, since it was a defeat, especially since the Roman victory at Resaina (even if only mentioned by Ammianus Marcellinus ) is not mentioned in the inscription of Schapur. It is possible that the contradicting statements can also be reconciled in such a way that Gordian was defeated by Mesiche and was only then murdered by angry soldiers. However, a clear answer cannot be formulated.

literature

Erich Kettenhofen : The Roman-Persian Wars of the 3rd century AD According to the inscription Sāhpuhrs I on the Ka'be-ye Zartošt (ŠKZ). Supplements to the Tübingen Atlas of the Middle East B 55 . Wiesbaden 1982.
Christian Körner: Philippus Arabs. A soldier emperor in the tradition of the Antonine-Severan principate (Studies on Ancient Literature and History 61) . Berlin u. a. 2002.
David MacDonald: The death of Gordian III - another tradition . In: Historia 30 (1981), pp. 502-508.

Remarks

↑ However, the battle is only mentioned directly in a Persian inscription, see the explanations in the article.
↑ References in Körner, Philippus Arabs , pp. 75f.
^ Evidence in Körner, p. 79ff.
↑ In later sources, such as Ammianus Marcellinus , this important city is referred to as Pirisabora , the Arabs called the city al-Anbar; see. on this Philological and historical commentary on Ammianus Marcellinus XXIV . Edited by J. den Boeft u. a. Brill, Leiden u. a. 2002, p. 48f.
↑ See also Engelbert Winter, Beate Dignas: Rom und das Perserreich. Two world powers between confrontation and coexistence . Berlin 2001, p. 96f.
↑ Evidence in Körner, pp. 84f., Who attaches no historical value to these notes. But see Thomas Banchich (translator): The History of Zonaras: From Alexander Severus to the Death of Theodosius the Great . Routledge, London-New York 2009, p. 89, note 25.
↑ Overview in Körner, pp. 87f., Although he himself does not agree. From Gordian's death in battle, however, various newer specialist publications and manuals are based, see, among others: John Drinkwater: Maximinus to Diocletian and the "Crisis" . In: The Cambridge Ancient History . Edited by Averil Cameron et al. a. Vol. 12, Cambridge 2005, pp. 35f .; Kettenhofen, Kriege , p. 31ff .; Santo Mazzarino : Antico, tardoantico ed èra costantiniana . Vol. 2, Bari 1980, pp. 53ff .; Michael Sommer : Roman History II. Rome and its empire in the imperial era (= Kröner's pocket edition . Volume 458). Kröner, Stuttgart 2009, ISBN 978-3-520-45801-8 , pp. 271, 283 (formulated more cautiously there); Karl Strobel : The Roman Empire in the 3rd Century. Model of a historical crisis? . Stuttgart 1993, p. 218.
↑ Ammian 23: 5, 17.
↑ So the attempt at reconstruction by David S. Potter: The Roman Empire at Bay . London u. a. 2004, p. 236.

[1] However, the battle is only mentioned directly in a Persian inscription, see the explanations in the article.

[2] References in Körner, Philippus Arabs , pp. 75f.

[3] Evidence in Körner, p. 79ff.

[4] In later sources, such as Ammianus Marcellinus , this important city is referred to as Pirisabora , the Arabs called the city al-Anbar; see. on this Philological and historical commentary on Ammianus Marcellinus XXIV . Edited by J. den Boeft u. a. Brill, Leiden u. a. 2002, p. 48f.

[5] See also Engelbert Winter, Beate Dignas: Rom und das Perserreich. Two world powers between confrontation and coexistence . Berlin 2001, p. 96f.

[6] Evidence in Körner, pp. 84f., Who attaches no historical value to these notes. But see Thomas Banchich (translator): The History of Zonaras: From Alexander Severus to the Death of Theodosius the Great . Routledge, London-New York 2009, p. 89, note 25.

[7] Overview in Körner, pp. 87f., Although he himself does not agree. From Gordian's death in battle, however, various newer specialist publications and manuals are based, see, among others: John Drinkwater: Maximinus to Diocletian and the "Crisis" . In: The Cambridge Ancient History . Edited by Averil Cameron et al. a. Vol. 12, Cambridge 2005, pp. 35f .; Kettenhofen, Kriege , p. 31ff .; Santo Mazzarino : Antico, tardoantico ed èra costantiniana . Vol. 2, Bari 1980, pp. 53ff .; Michael Sommer : Roman History II. Rome and its empire in the imperial era (= Kröner's pocket edition . Volume 458). Kröner, Stuttgart 2009, ISBN 978-3-520-45801-8 , pp. 271, 283 (formulated more cautiously there); Karl Strobel : The Roman Empire in the 3rd Century. Model of a historical crisis? . Stuttgart 1993, p. 218.

[8] Ammian 23: 5, 17.

[9] So the attempt at reconstruction by David S. Potter: The Roman Empire at Bay . London u. a. 2004, p. 236.