Tamkhosrau

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Tamkhosrau
Marzban of Persian Armenia
In office
577–579
Monarch Khosrau I, Hormizd IV
Preceded by Vardan III Mamikonian
Succeeded by Varaz Vzur
Personal details
BornUnknown
DiedJune 582
Constantina

Tamkhosrau or Tamkhusro ("strong Khosrau", in Greek sources rendered as Ταμχοσρώ or Ταμχοσρόης, Tamchosroes), was a Sassanid Persian general active in the Roman–Persian Wars of the late 6th century. As his honorific name indicates, he was a highly regarded man among the Persians, and one of the chief generals of the shah Khosrau I (r. 531–579). [1]

Greek language language spoken in Greece, Cyprus and Southern Albania

Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages, native to Greece, Cyprus and other parts of the Eastern Mediterranean and the Black Sea. It has the longest documented history of any living Indo-European language, spanning more than 3000 years of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the major part of its history; other systems, such as Linear B and the Cypriot syllabary, were used previously. The alphabet arose from the Phoenician script and was in turn the basis of the Latin, Cyrillic, Armenian, Coptic, Gothic, and many other writing systems.

The Roman–Persian 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 66 BC; wars began under the late Republic, and continued through the Roman and Sasanian empires. Various vassal kingdoms and allied nomadic nations in the form of buffer states and proxies also played a role. The wars were ended by the Arab 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.

Contents

Biography

Tamkhosrau first appears in early 575. A one-year truce had been negotiated in 574, interrupting the ongoing war (since 572) between Persia and the East Roman (Byzantine) Empire, while negotiations were taking place to conclude an even longer truce. While the Persians insisted on a five-year truce, the Roman emissaries refused to accept it and insisted on a three-year duration. In order to apply pressure on the Byzantines, the Persian general Mahbodh ordered Tamkhosrau to launch an attack. Tamkhosrau led a major raid that plundered the territory around Dara in northern Mesopotamia. A three-year truce was concluded soon after, in exchange for an annual payment of 30,000 gold solidi from the Byzantines. [1] [2]

Byzantine Empire Roman Empire during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages

The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire and Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinople. It survived the fragmentation and fall of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD and continued to exist for an additional thousand years until it fell to the Ottoman Turks in 1453. During most of its existence, the empire was the most powerful economic, cultural, and military force in Europe. Both the terms "Byzantine Empire" and "Eastern Roman Empire" are historiographical exonyms; its citizens continued to refer to their empire simply as the Roman Empire, or Romania (Ῥωμανία), and to themselves as "Romans".

Byzantine Greeks

The Byzantine Greeks were the Greek-speaking Christian Romans of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages. They were the main inhabitants of the lands of the Byzantine Empire, of Constantinople and Asia Minor, the Greek islands, Cyprus, and portions of the southern Balkans, and formed large minorities, or pluralities, in the coastal urban centres of the Levant and northern Egypt. Throughout their history, the Byzantine Greeks self-identified as Romans, but are referred to as "Byzantine Greeks" in modern historiography.

Dara (Mesopotamia) köy in Mardin Province, Turkey

Dara or Daras was an important East Roman fortress city in northern Mesopotamia on the border with the Sassanid Empire. Because of its great strategic importance, it featured prominently in the Roman-Persian conflicts of the 6th century, with the famous Battle of Dara taking place before its walls in 530. The former (arch)bishopric remains a multiple Catholic titular see. Today the Turkish village of Oğuz, Mardin Province, occupies its location.

Map of the Byzantine-Persian frontier. Roman-Persian Frontier, 565 AD.png
Map of the Byzantine–Persian frontier.

As a result of the truce, fighting was refocused to Persian Armenia; there, the Byzantines had considerable success, driving off a large Persian invasion led by Khosrau himself, and securing much of the country. [3] Negotiations for peace resumed, and seemed about to be concluded on terms slightly favoring the Byzantines in 577, when Tamkhosrau led a series of expeditions into Armenia and defeated the East Roman general Justinian. Thereafter, the Persians abandoned the negotiations. [1] [4] Tamkhosrau remained in Armenia as the senior Persian commander in 578. As his forces were numerically inferior to those of the Roman magister militum Armeniae Maurice, after feinting in the direction of Theodosiopolis, he led a surprise raid south and plundered the regions around Martyropolis and Amida. His decision, however, was criticized by the Persians as the result of inexperience, and he was recalled and replaced in his Armenian command by Varaz Vzur. [1] [5]

Armenia Republic in South Caucasus in West Asia

Armenia, officially the Republic of Armenia, is a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located in Western Asia on the Armenian Highlands, it is bordered by Turkey to the west, Georgia to the north, the de facto independent Republic of Artsakh and Azerbaijan to the east, and Iran and Azerbaijan's exclave of Nakhchivan to the south.

Justinian was an East Roman (Byzantine) aristocrat and general, and a member of the ruling Justinian dynasty. As a soldier, he had a distinguished career in the Balkans and in the East against Sassanid Persia. In his later years, he plotted unsuccessfully against regent and later emperor Tiberius II.

Maurice (emperor) Byzantine Emperor

Maurice was Byzantine Emperor from 582 to 602. A prominent general, Maurice fought with success against the Sasanian Empire. After he became Emperor, he brought the war with Sasanian Persia to a victorious conclusion. Under him the Empire's eastern border in the South Caucasus was vastly expanded and, for the first time in nearly two centuries, the Romans were no longer obliged to pay the Persians thousands of pounds of gold annually for peace.

By 581, however, he had risen to the post of marzban , and commanded the Persian army in northern Mesopotamia. After another round of peace talks broke down, Tamkhosrau, along with Adarmahan, invaded Roman territory and headed for the town of Constantina. Maurice, who had been expecting and preparing for such an attack, met the Persians in battle outside the city in June 582. The Persian army suffered a heavy defeat, and Tamkhosrau was killed. [1] [6]

Marzbān, or Marzpān were a class of margraves, warden of the marches, and by extension military commanders, in charge of border provinces of the Parthian Empire and mostly Sasanian Empire of Iran.

Adarmahān was a Persian general active in the western frontier of the Sassanid Empire against the East Roman (Byzantine) forces, during the Byzantine–Sassanid War of 572–591.

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Martindale, Jones & Morris 1992 , pp. 1215–1216.
  2. ↑ Greatrex & Lieu 2002 , p. 152.
  3. ↑ Greatrex & Lieu 2002 , pp. 152–158.
  4. ↑ Greatrex & Lieu 2002 , pp. 159–160.
  5. ↑ Greatrex & Lieu 2002 , pp. 160–162.
  6. ↑ Greatrex & Lieu 2002 , p. 166.

Sources

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Preceded by
Vardan III Mamikonian 		Marzban of Persian Armenia
577–579		Succeeded by
Varaz Vzur
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