ROMSO Cyprus Knowledge Base

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The Byzantine-Roman War of 572-591 was a war fought between the Sassanian Empire of Persia and the Byzantine Empire. It was triggered by pro-Roman revolts in the Caucasus areas under Persian influence, although other events contributed to its outbreak. The war was fought in the southern Caucasus and Mesopotamia, also extending to eastern Anatolia, Syria and northern Iran.

The first decade of war
Less than a decade after the peace treaty of fifty years of 562, tensions grew in all points of intersection between the spheres of influence of the two empires, as had already happened before the war broke out in the 520s. In 568-9 the Romans were engaged in unsuccessful negotiations with the Göktürk to convince them to ally with them against Persia; in 570 the Sasanians invaded Yemen, expelling the Axumites, allies of the Romans, and restoring as a client state the Kingdom Himyarita; in 570 and 571 the Lakhmidi, the Arab customers of the Sasanians were defeated in Roman territory.

At the beginning of 572 the Armenians under the guidance of Vardan Mamikonian defeated the Persian governor of Armenia and occupied his general districts in Dvin; the Persians soon regained the city but shortly after it was again conquered by the Romans and the Armenians; another war began between Romans and Persians. Despite frequent revolts in the 5th century, in the first wars of the 6th century the Armenians were largely faithful to the Sasanians, unlike their Christian neighbors in Iberia and Lazica. Joining the Iberians, the Lazi and the Romans in a coalition of Christian peoples in the region, the Armenians were very useful to the Romans, helping them to penetrate deeper into Persian territory.

However, in Mesopotamia war began disastrously for the Romans. After a victory in Sargathon in 573 they took siege to Nisibis and were apparently on the verge of conquering it when the sudden dismissal of their general led to a disorderly retreat. Taking advantage of Roman confusion, the Sassanians led by Cosroe I (531-579) counterattacked and bowed to siege Dara, conquering the city after a six-month siege. At the same time, a smaller sasanian army led by Adarmahan plundered Syria, plundering Apamea and many other cities.

To make things worse, Emperor Justin II (565-578) ordered the assassination of the ghassanid king al-Mundhir III in 572; but the attack failed and consequently al-Mundhir broke the alliance with the Romans, leaving their desert border exposed. Taken from despair (it is said that Justin became mad because of the loss of Dara), in 574 the Roma