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Year 541 (DXLI) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Julian calendar. In the Roman Empire, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Basilius without colleague. Basilius was the last person to be officially appointed Roman consul, since after this year, the office was permanently merged with the office of Roman/Byzantine emperor. Thus, from the next year forward, the consular year dating was abandoned. The denomination 541 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.
Khosrow I, traditionally known by his epithet of Anushirvan, was the Sasanian King of Kings of Iran from 531 to 579. He was the son and successor of Kavad I.
The Lazic War, also known as the Colchidian War or in Georgian historiography as the Great War of Egrisi was fought between the Byzantine Empire and the Sasanian Empire for control of the ancient Georgian region of Lazica. The Lazic War lasted for twenty years, from 541 to 562, with varying success and ended with the Fifty-Year Peace Treaty which obligated the Byzantine Empire to pay tribute to Persia each year for the recognition of Lazica as a Byzantine vassal state by Persians. The Lazic War is narrated in detail in the works of Procopius of Caesarea and Agathias.
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.
The Iberian War was fought from 526 to 532 between the Byzantine Empire and the Sasanian Empire over the eastern Georgian kingdom of Iberia—a Sasanian client state that defected to the Byzantines. Conflict erupted among tensions over tribute and the spice trade.
The Byzantine–Sasanian War of 602–628 was the final and most devastating of the series of wars fought between the Byzantine / Roman Empire and the Sasanian Empire of Iran. The previous war between the two powers had ended in 591 after Emperor Maurice helped the Sasanian king Khosrow II regain his throne. In 602 Maurice was murdered by his political rival Phocas. Khosrow declared war, ostensibly to avenge the death of the deposed emperor Maurice. This became a decades-long conflict, the longest war in the series, and was fought throughout the Middle East: in Egypt, the Levant, Mesopotamia, the Caucasus, Anatolia, Armenia, the Aegean Sea and before the walls of Constantinople itself.
Gubazes II was king of Lazica from circa 541 until his assassination in 555. He was one of the central personalities of the Lazic War (541–562). He originally ascended the throne as a vassal of the Byzantine Empire, but the heavy-handed actions of the Byzantine authorities led him to seek the assistance of Byzantium's main rival, Sassanid Persia. The Byzantines were evicted from Lazica with the aid of a Persian army in 541, but the Persian occupation of the country turned out to be worse, and by 548, Gubazes was requesting assistance from Byzantium. Gubazes remained a Byzantine ally during the next few years, as the two empires fought for control of Lazica, with the fortress of Petra as the focal point of the struggle. Gubazes eventually quarrelled with the Byzantine generals over the fruitless continuation of the war, and was assassinated by them.
Mihr-Mihroe, in Middle Persian either Mihr-Mihrōē or Mihrmāh-rōy; in Byzantine sources Mermeroes, was a 6th-century Sasanian general, and one of the leading commanders of the Byzantine–Sassanid Wars of the time.
The siege of Phasis took place in 555–556 during the Lazic War between the Byzantine and Sasanian Empires. Expecting an easy victory, the Persians besieged the town of Phasis in Lazica, held by the Byzantines, but were defeated in the ensuing irregular battle. The main source for the siege is the 6th-century historian Agathias.
Bessas was an Eastern Roman general of Gothic origin from Thrace, primarily known for his career in the wars of Justinian I. He distinguished himself against the Sassanid Persians in the Iberian War and under the command of Belisarius in the Gothic War, but after Belisarius' departure from Italy he failed to confront the resurgent Goths and was largely responsible for the loss of Rome in 546. Returning east in disgrace, despite his advanced age he was appointed as commander in the Lazic War. There he redeemed himself with the recapture of Petra, but his subsequent idleness led Justinian to dismiss him and exile him to Abasgia.
Izadgushasp, known in Byzantine sources as Isdigousnas Zikh, was an Iranian nobleman from the House of Mihran, who served as one of Khosrow I's viziers.
Fariburz, known in Byzantine sources as Phabrizus, was a 6th-century Iranian military officer from the Mihran family, who served under the Sasanian king Khosrau I.
Petra was a fortified town on the eastern Black Sea coast, in Lazica in what is now western Georgia. In the 6th century, under the Byzantine emperor Justinian I, it served as an important Eastern Roman outpost in the Caucasus and, due to its strategic location, became a battleground of the 541–562 Lazic War between Rome and Sasanian Persia (Iran). Mainstream scholarly opinion identifies Petra with a ruined settlement of Late Antiquity at the village of Tsikhisdziri in Adjara, southwestern Georgia.
The siege of Nisibis took place in 573 when the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire, under Emperor Justin II, besieged the Sasanian city of Nisibis. The Sasanians successfully defended the city and defeated the Roman force.
The siege of Petra took place in 549 when the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire, under Emperor Justinian I, besieged the strategic fortress of Petra in Lazica, held by the Sasanians. Petra's garrison took heavy casualties, but it stood firm until the arrival of a strong army under Mihr-Mihroe relieved the siege.
The Battle of Anglon took place in 543 AD, during the Byzantine invasion of Sasanian-ruled Armenia ("Persarmenia").
The siege of Petra was fought in 550 AD, between the Byzantines under general Bessas, and the Sasanian Persian garrison of Petra in the buffer state of Lazica. The strategic fortress had previously been held by the Byzantines before it was seized in 541 by the Sasanian king Khosrow I, and his Lazi allies. This conquest gave the Sassanian Empire access to the Black Sea and marked the beginning of the Lazic War. After a failed attempt to recapture Petra in 549, the Byzantine emperor Justinian I sent an army under Bessas to retake the fortress. The Byzantine historian Procopius described the resulting siege in vivid detail.
The siege of Onoguris occurred in 554 or 555 AD during the Lazic War between the Byzantine Empire and the Sasanian Empire.
John Tzibus or Joannes Tzibus was a general of the Byzantine emperor Justinian I. He served as the magister militum per Armeniam, replacing the unpopular Peter by 535 at the latest. He founded the port city of Petra, Lazica, through which he monopolized the trade in Lazica, acting as a middleman. This triggered the Lazic king Gubazes II to switch sides. John Tzibus was killed by an arrow in the neck in 541 AD during the siege of his fortress by the Sasanians, who were now allied with the Lazic king. This marked the beginning of the Lazic War between the Sasanians and the Byzantines.
Rufinus was a Byzantine military officer and emissary of the 6th century, active during the reigns of emperors Anastasius I Dicorus, Justin I, and Justinian I. Of Greek origin, he was the son and brother, respectively, of the officers Silvanus and Timostratus. He first appeared in 502, when he was sent by Anastasius to the court of the Sasanian shah Kavad I with large amounts of money to prevent attacks on the Byzantine Empire. When Rufinus learned of the Persian attacks, he left the money in Caesarea and met in Amida Kavad I, who imprisoned him until January 503, when he was released and sent to the emperor.
References
- 1 2 3 4 5 Greatrex & Lieu 2002, p. 115.
- 1 2 3 Tucker 2010, p. 187.
- ↑ Evans 1996, p. 158.
- ↑ Bury 1958, pp. 101–103.
- ↑ Prokopios 2014, pp. 109–110.
- ↑ Prokopios; Kaldellis, Anthony (2010). The Secret History: with Related Texts. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing. p. 13. ISBN 9781603841801.
- ↑ Petersen 2013, p. 271.