The Battle of Carrhae, also known as the Battle of Callinicum, took place in 296 or 297,[1] after the invasion of Mesopotamia and Armenia by the Sasanian king Narseh. The battle took place between Carrhae (Harran) and Callinicum (al-Raqqah) and was a victory for the Sasanians. Narseh attacked with forces recruited from the Euphrates frontier. He managed to defeat his opponent by good timing.[5]
Diocletian later sent reinforcements for Galerius, and the latter managed to defeat the Sassanids two years later at the Battle of Satala.
Roman Campaign
During 296, a war ignited between Sasanian Persia and the Roman Empire. Shah Narseh who led the Sasanian’s invaded Rome’s state in west Armenia. This conquest leads on to Mesopotamia and Orhoene. However, despite the countless victories over the Romans, Narseh halted further conquest.
297 Egypt, Domitius self-appointed himself as emperor of Egypt. He received support from Achilleus which lead him to becoming emperor. This event made Diocletian leave his campaign with his commander Galerius and march to Egypt where he then swiftly took out Domitianus. This left Galerius commanding during the second battle of Carrhae which ended in defeat for the Romans. After his quick victory Diocletian then executed every traitor against his empire and slaughtered people in the city.[5]
Peace
Narseh wanted peace, so he sent his envoy to Galerius with a message. Galerius was furious, he ignored the envoy and didn’t give an answer as to whether he wanted to accept the peace agreements. Galerius then spoke with Diocletian pertaining to a peace agreement. Diocletian convinced Galerius to speak about the terms of peace to the Sasanians. The treaty was accepted and ratified by both empires.[citation needed]
The message sent by Narseh went as follows:
"The whole human race knows that the Roman and Persian kingdoms resemble two great luminaries, and that, like a man's two eyes, they ought mutually to adorn and illustrate each other, and not in the extremity of their wrath to seek rather each other's destruction. So to act is not to act manfully, but is indicative rather of levity and weakness; for it is to suppose that our inferiors can never be of any service to us, and that therefore we had better get rid of them. Narseh, moreover, ought not to be accounted a weaker prince than other Persian kings; thou hast indeed conquered him, but then thou surpassed all other monarchs; and thus Narseh has of course been worsted by thee, though he is no whit inferior in merit to the best of his ancestors. The orders which my master has given me are to entrust all the rights of Persia to the clemency of Rome; and I therefore do not even bring with me any conditions of peace, since it is for the emperor to determine everything. I have only to pray, on my master's behalf, for the restoration of his wives and male children; if he receives them at your hands, he will be forever beholden to you, and will be better pleased than if he recovered them by force of arms. Even now my master cannot sufficiently thank you for the kind treatment which he hears you have vouchsafed them, in that you have offered them no insult, but have behaved towards them as though on the point of giving them back to their kith and kin. He sees herein that you bear in mind the changes of fortune and the instability of all human affairs"[citation needed]
Narseh the leader of the Sasanian’s was the youngest child of Shapur I. He led as governor of three provinces, Sakastan, Turan, and Hind. Narseh later went on to become the ruling king of Sasania after the nobles didn’t support Bahram III who was the current king. The nobles instead, asked Narseh to rule which led to him becoming the king.[6]
Galerius was the Roman commander. He first gained notoriety when he married Diocletian’s daughter Valeria. With marrying his daughter, he was given the Illyrian provinces. He then went on to fight the Goths, Danube, and Sarmatians and took control of the legions on the east.[7]
Related Research Articles
Diocletian, nicknamed Jovius, was Roman emperor from 284 until his abdication in 305. He was born Diocles to a family of low status in the Roman province of Dalmatia. Diocles rose through the ranks of the military early in his career, eventually becoming a cavalry commander for the army of Emperor Carus. After the deaths of Carus and his son Numerian on a campaign in Persia, Diocles was proclaimed emperor by the troops, taking the name Diocletianus. The title was also claimed by Carus's surviving son, Carinus, but Diocletian defeated him in the Battle of the Margus.
The Tetrarchy was the system instituted by Roman emperor Diocletian in 293 AD to govern the ancient Roman Empire by dividing it between two emperors, the augusti, and their junior colleagues and designated successors, the caesares.
The 300s decade ran from January 1, 300, to December 31, 309.
The 240s decade ran from January 1, 240, to December 31, 249.
The 290s decade ran from January 1, 290, to December 31, 299.
Year 299 (CCXCIX) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Julian calendar. In the Roman Empire, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Diocletian and Maximian. The denomination 299 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.
Year 297 (CCXCVII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Valerius and Valerius. The denomination 297 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.
Year 296 (CCXCVI) was a leap year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar. In the Roman Empire, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Diocletian and Constantius. The denomination 296 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.
Galerius Valerius Maximianus was Roman emperor from 305 to 311. During his reign he campaigned, aided by Diocletian, against the Sasanian Empire, sacking their capital Ctesiphon in 299. He also campaigned across the Danube against the Carpi, defeating them in 297 and 300. Although he was a staunch opponent of Christianity, Galerius ended the Diocletianic Persecution when he issued the Edict of Toleration in Serdica (Sofia) in 311.
Bahram II was the fifth Sasanian King of Kings (shahanshah) of Iran, from 274 to 293. He was the son and successor of Bahram I. Bahram II, while still in his teens, ascended the throne with the aid of the powerful Zoroastrian priest Kartir, just like his father had done.
Shapur I was the second Sasanian King of Kings of Iran. The precise dating of his reign is disputed, but it is generally agreed that he ruled from 240 to 270, with his father Ardashir I as co-regent until the death of the latter in 242. During his co-regency, he helped his father with the conquest and destruction of the city of Hatra, whose fall was facilitated, according to Islamic tradition, by the actions of his future wife al-Nadirah. Shapur also consolidated and expanded the empire of Ardashir I, waged war against the Roman Empire, and seized its cities of Nisibis and Carrhae while he was advancing as far as Roman Syria. Although he was defeated at the Battle of Resaena in 243 by Roman emperor Gordian III, he was the following year able to win the Battle of Misiche and force the new Roman emperor Philip the Arab to sign a favorable peace treaty that was regarded by the Romans as "a most shameful treaty".
Narseh was the seventh Sasanian King of Kings of Iran from 293 to 303.
The Roman–Persian Wars, also known as the Roman–Iranian Wars, were a series of conflicts between states of the Greco-Roman world and two successive Iranian empires: the Parthian and the Sasanian. Battles between the Parthian Empire and the Roman Republic began in 54 BC; wars began under the late Republic, and continued through the Roman and Sasanian Empires. A plethora of vassal kingdoms and allied nomadic nations in the form of buffer states and proxies also played a role. The wars were ended by the early Muslim conquests, which led to the fall of the Sasanian Empire and huge territorial losses for the Byzantine Empire, shortly after the end of the last war between them.
Assyria was a short-lived Roman province in Mesopotamia that was created by Trajan in 116 during his campaign against the Parthian Empire. After Trajan's death, the newly proclaimed emperor Hadrian ordered the evacuation of Assyria in 118.
The Sasanian Empire or Sassanid Empire, also the Second Persian Empire, and officially known as Ērānšahr, was the last Iranian empire before the early Muslim conquests of the 7th to 8th centuries. Named after the House of Sasan, it endured for over four centuries, from 224 to 651, making it the second longest-lived Persian imperial dynasty after the Arsacids of the Parthian Empire.
The Peace of Nisibis of 299, also known as the First Peace of Nisibis, was a peace treaty signed in 299 by the Roman and Sasanian empires, and concluded the Roman–Sasanian War of 296–299. The border established as a result of the treaty was maintained until the Second Peace of Nisibis of 363.
The Battle of Satala was fought in 298, in Armenia, between the forces of the Roman Empire under the Tetrarch Galerius and the forces of the Sasanian Empire of Persia led by Shah Narseh (Narses). The battle was an overwhelming victory for the Roman army, with the Persian army destroyed as a fighting force. The Romans obtained an enormous amount of plunder from the defeated Persians, and captured Narseh's principal wife. The campaign concluded with a very favourable peace treaty for Rome, with Persia ceding considerable territory.
Romans in Persia is related to the brief invasion and occupation of western and central areas of Parthia by the Romans during their empire. Emperor Trajan was even temporarily able to nominate a king of western parts of Parthia, Parthamaspates, as ruler of a Roman "client state" in Parthia.
The Sassanid Empire or Sassanian Dynasty is the name used for the Persian dynasty which lasted from 224 to 651 AD.
During the siege of Maiozamalcha, 363 CE, the Roman army under Emperor Julian stormed, pillaged, and destroyed the city of Maiozamalcha, before continuing onward to the Sasanian capital of Ctesiphon.
↑ Dictionary of Wars "The Roman Caesar for the east, Galerius (d. 311), and a relatively small army marched against the Persians, won some minor victories in Mesopotamia, but were decisively routed at the battle of Carrhea (Harran) in 296."
1 2 Dupuy, Richard Ernest (1993). The Harper Encyclopedia of Military History: From 3500 BC to the Present. HarperCollins. p.175a. ISBN978-0-06-270056-8.
1 2 Edwards, Iorwerth Eiddon Stephen; Gadd, Cyril John; Hammond, Nicholas Geoffrey Lemprière; Boardman, John; Walbank, Frank William; Lewis, David Malcolm; Bowman, Alan; Astin, A. E.; Garnsey, Peter; Crook, John Anthony; Lintott, Andrew William; Cameron, Averil; Rawson, Elizabeth; Champlin, Edward; Rathbone, Dominic; Ward-Perkins, Bryan; Whitby, Michael (1970). The Cambridge Ancient History: Volume 12, The Crisis of Empire, AD 193-337. Cambridge University Press. p.81. ISBN978-0-521-30199-2.
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