Roman–Persian Wars
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;[1] wars began under the late Republic, and continued through the Roman (later Eastern Roman (Byzantine)) 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.
Although warfare between the Romans and Persians continued over seven centuries, the frontier, aside from shifts in the north, remained largely stable. A game of tug of war ensued: towns, fortifications, and provinces were continually sacked, captured, destroyed, and traded. Neither side had the logistical strength or manpower to maintain such lengthy campaigns far from their borders, and thus neither could advance too far without risking stretching its frontiers too thin. Both sides did make conquests beyond the border, but in time the balance was almost always restored. Although initially different in military tactics, the armies of both sides gradually adopted from each other and by the second half of the 6th century, they were similar and evenly matched.[2]
The expense of resources during the Roman–Persian Wars ultimately proved catastrophic for both empires. The prolonged and escalating warfare of the 6th and 7th centuries left them exhausted and vulnerable in the face of the sudden emergence and expansion of the Rashidun Caliphate, whose forces invaded both empires only a few years after the end of the last Roman–Persian war. Benefiting from their weakened condition, the Rashidun armies swiftly conquered the entire Sasanian Empire, and deprived the Eastern Roman Empire of its territories in the Levant, the Caucasus, Egypt, and the rest of North Africa. Over the following centuries, more of the Eastern Roman Empire came under Muslim rule.
Timeline of the
Roman–Persian Wars
First Roman-Parthian contacts, when Lucullus invades southern Armenia.
Dispute between Pompey and Phraates III over Euphrates boundary.
Roman defeat at the Battle of Carrhae.
A great Pompeian–Parthian invasion of the Levant and Anatolia is defeated.
Mark Antony's unsuccessful campaign against Parthia. Subsequent campaign in Armenia successful, but followed by withdrawal. Parthians take control of whole region.
Settlement with the Parthians by Augustus and Tiberius; return of the captured Roman standards.
Defeated by the Romans, Artabanus II renounces his claims to Armenia.
Roman invasion of Armenia; arrangements made with Parthians over its kingship.
Major campaign of Trajan against Parthia. Trajan's conquests later abandoned by Hadrian.
After initial Parthian successes, war over Armenia (161–163) ended by a Roman victory. Avidius Cassius sacks Ctesiphon in 165.
An offensive under the emperor Septimius Severus leads to the Roman acquisition of northern Mesopotamia.
Ardashir's invasion of Mesopotamia and Persian defeat at the Battle of Resaena. Gordian III advances along the Euphrates but is repelled near Ctesiphon at the Battle of Misiche in 244.
Roman defeat at the Battle of Barbalissos.
Carus sacks Ctesiphon.
Roman defeat at Carrhae in 296 or 297. Galerius defeats the Persians in 298.
After an initial victory outside Ctesiphon, Julian is killed at the Battle of Samarra.
Shapur III and Theodosius I divide Armenia between them.
Roman retaliation against Bahram's persecution of Christian Persians.
Yazdegerd II raids Roman Armenia.
Anastasius I refuses to support the Persians financially, triggering the Anastasian War. Ends with a seven-year peace treaty.
Iberian War. Romans victorious at Dara and Satala but defeated at Callinicum. Ends with the treaty of "Perpetual Peace".
Lazic War begins after Persians break the "Eternal Peace" by invading Syria. Ends with the Roman acquisition of Lazica and the signing of a fifty-year peace treaty.
War for the Caucasus breaks out when Armenians revolt against Sasanian rule.
In 589, the Persian general Bahram Chobin raises a rebellion against Hormizd IV.
Restoration of Khosrow II, Hormizd's son, by Roman and Persian forces and restoration of Roman rule in northern Mesopotamia (Dara, Martyropolis) followed by expansion into Iberia and Armenia.
Khosrow II conquers Mesopotamia after Maurice is assassinated.
Unsuccessful Avar–Persian–Slav siege of Constantinople
Persian defeat at Nineveh.
The Persians assassinate Khosrow II and agree to withdraw from all occupied territories. Heraclius restores the True Cross to Jerusalem.