The Battle of Dara was fought between the
Eastern Roman Empire and the
Sasanians in 530 AD. It was one of the battles of the
Iberian War.
Procopius's account of this engagement is among the most detailed descriptions of a late Roman battle.
Background
![DaraFortifications](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3b/DaraFortifications.JPG)
The Byzantine Empire was at war with the Sassanids from
527
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Year 527 ( DXXVII) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Mavortius without colleague (or, less frequently, year ...
, supposedly because
Kavadh I had tried to force the
Iberians to become
Zoroastrians. The Iberian king fled from Kavadh, but Kavadh tried to make peace with the Byzantines, and attempted to have
Justin I adopt his son
Khosrau. Justin agreed, but on the terms that he would do so only in a rite reserved for barbarians. This failed to satisfy Kavadh, who attacked Byzantine allies, so Justin sent his generals
Sittas and
Belisarius into Persia, where they were initially defeated.
In
529
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Year 529 ( DXXIX) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Decius without colleague (or, less frequently, year 1282 ' ...
, the failed negotiations of Justin's successor
Justinian prompted a Sassanian expedition of 40,000 men towards
Dara
Dara is a given name used for both males and females, with more than one origin. Dara is found in the Bible's Old Testament Books of Chronicles. Dara רעwas a descendant of Judah (son of Jacob). (The Bible. 1 Chronicles 2:6). Dara (also known ...
.
The next year, Belisarius was sent back to the region alongside
Hermogenes
Hermogenes is a Greek name (), meaning "born of Hermes". It may refer to:
* Hermogenes (potter) (fl. c. 550 BC), Attic Greek potter
* Hermogenes (philosopher) (fl. c. 400 BC), Greek
* Hermogenes of Priene (fl. c. 200 BC), Greek architect
* Hermog ...
and an army; Kavadh answered with another 10,000 troops under the general
Perozes
Perozes ( el, Περόζης, from Middle Persian ''Pērōz'') was the Sassanid Persian general opposing the Byzantines under Belisarius at the Battle of Dara (530).
According to the description of the Byzantine historian Procopius of Caesarea, h ...
, who set up camp about five kilometers away at Ammodius, in the near vicinity of Dara.
Deployment
The Persians, outnumbering the Romans by 15,000 men, deployed around 20
stades away from the town of Daras and drew up their battle lines.
Despite being outnumbered, Belisarius decided to give battle. He dug a number of ditches to block the Persian cavalry, leaving gaps between them to allow a counterattack.
According to
Irfan Shahid
In Islam, ‘Irfan (Arabic/Persian/Urdu: ; tr, İrfan), literally ‘knowledge, awareness, wisdom’, is gnosis. Islamic mysticism can be considered as a vast range that engulfs theoretical and practical and conventional mysticism, but the c ...
, the tactic was adopted from the Persians at the
Battle of Thannuris two years earlier. These were pushed forward on either flank of his position, while his center was refused back. Here he placed his unreliable infantry behind the center ditch, being placed close enough to the walls of the fortress to provide supporting fire from the city
battlements. On the left and right flanks were the Byzantine cavalry, of questionable quality. Supporting them on their interior flanks were small bodies of Huns: 300
Hun
The Huns were a nomadic people who lived in Central Asia, the Caucasus, and Eastern Europe between the 4th and 6th century AD. According to European tradition, they were first reported living east of the Volga River, in an area that was part ...
cavalry under
Sunicas and Aigan supporting the left; and as many more Huns on the right under
Simmas
Simmas () was a Hunnic general in the service of the Byzantine Empire, serving as ''dux'' (regional military commander). Active in the early 6th century, he fought at the Battle of Dara, commanding six hundred horseman along with fellow Hun comma ...
and
Ascan. Belisarius also placed a body of
Heruli cavalry under
Pharas in ambush position off his left flank. A reserve composed of his own ''
bucellarii'' household cavalry was held behind his center and commanded by John the Armenian, his trusted lieutenant and boyhood friend.
Battle
On the first day, according to Procopius, there was no general engagement, but instead a series of challenge fights between champions of both sides. One particular combat involved a Persian knight, who challenged Belisarius to single combat; but was instead met by a Byzantine bath slave named Andreas. Andreas, who had been secretly training with Belisarius' own household troopers, killed not only this Persian champion, but also a second challenger later in the day. The Persians then withdrew to Ammodius for the night. Some authors, however, have expressed doubt as to the pure historicity of Procopius' account and state that while instances of single combat did likely occur during the course of the battle, Procopius' description is intended to be a narrative device rather than a factual account. Another source, believed to be based on official documents, does indeed reference individual combat, but makes no mention of Andreas and, furthermore, places any single combat engagements at a different stage of the battle.
After the first day of skirmishes, Belisarius sent a letter to the Persian commander. Rather than fight a battle, he believed it was best to avoid conflict and instead insisted that their disputes be settled by discussion. The letter read, "The first blessing is peace, as is agreed by all men who have even a small share of reason. ... The best general, therefore, is that one which is able to bring about peace from war." The letter either fell on deaf ears
or Perozes already wanted to negotiate which eventually failed,
the battle resumed. The Persians already thought of the Byzantine army as a second-rate army; this letter, along with his numerical superiority, likely made Perozes even more confident of victory.
In his book on Belisarius Brogna merely says that Belisarius sent the letter because of his good moral character.
Mahon claims in his book that Belisarius doubted his chance of victory and this is why he sent the letter.
On the second day of the battle, 10,000 more Persian troops arrived from
Nisibis. The Sassanid and Byzantine light infantry exchanged fire resulting in minor casualties on each side. As Procopius describes, "At first, then, both sides discharged arrows against each other, and the missiles by their great number made, as it were, a vast cloud; and many men were falling on both sides, but the missiles of the barbarians flew much more thickly. For fresh men were always fighting in turn, affording to their enemy not the slightest opportunity to observe what was being done; but even so the Romans did not have the worst of it. For a steady wind blew from their side against the barbarians, and checked to a considerable degree the force of their arrows." Either the Persians got the best of the Romans,
the fight was fairly equal
or the Persians suffered more. Then the Persians formed two lines: the right flank under Pityaxes and the left under Baresamanes.
At this time of the day the temperature of the region has been estimated to have been particularly hot, probably around .
The first wave of the Persian attack was directed against the Byzantine left flank. The Persians forced a crossing of the ditch, pushing back the Byzantine cavalry. But the intervention of Sunicas' Huns attacking from the interior of the Byzantine line, as well as Pharas' Herulians attacking out of ambush from the opposite side, forced the Persians' wing to retreat.
The Persians then attacked the Byzantine right wing, where Perozes sent the Sassanid
Zhayedan, also known as the Immortals, who were the elite Persian armored lancers. The Byzantine cavalry and infantry defending the ditch were pushed back here as they had been on the right. But Belisarius counterattacked with his reserve Bucellari cavalry, and split the Persian troops in two. Half the Persians pursued the Byzantine cavalry, but the rest were trapped, and Baresmanes was killed along with 5,000 other men. The Byzantine cavalry also recovered and routed their pursuers. Belisarius allowed a pursuit for a few miles, but let the majority of Persian survivors escape.
Aftermath
Following the defeat, the Sasanians under ''
Spahbod''
Azarethes
Azarethes ( el, ), also recorded as Exarath () and Zuraq, was a Sassanid Persian military commander during the Byzantine–Sassanid Wars. His Greek name is possibly a misunderstanding of the honorific title ''hazaraft''.
Biography
According ...
together with their client
Lakhmids started another invasion, this time, unexpectedly, via Commagene. Belisarius foiled their plan by swift maneuvering and forced the Persians, who were retreating, into a
heavy battle at Callinicum in which the Byzantines were defeated, but with heavy casualties on both sides. The Byzantines eventually paid tributes in exchange for a peace treaty.
In
540
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Year 540 ( DXL) was a leap year starting on Sunday of the Julian calendar. In the Roman Empire, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Iustinus without colleague (or, less frequently, year 1293 ''Ab urbe condita''). The deno ...
and
544
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Year 544 ( DXLIV) was a leap year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. The denomination 544 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era be ...
Dara was attacked by
Khosrau I, who was unable to take it either time. Khosrau finally captured it in
573
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Year 573 (Roman numerals, DLXXIII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. The denomination 573 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Dom ...
; its fall was said to have caused
Justin II to go insane. Justin's wife Sophia and his friend
Tiberius Constantine
Tiberius II Constantine ( grc-gre, Τιβέριος Κωνσταντῖνος, Tiberios Konstantinos; died 14 August 582) was Eastern Roman emperor from 574 to 582. Tiberius rose to power in 574 when Justin II, prior to a mental breakdown, procl ...
took control of the empire until Justin died in 578. Meanwhile, the Persians were able to march further into the empire, but Khosrau died in
579
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Year 579 ( DLXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. The denomination 579 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era ...
.
Maurice defeated the Persians at Dara in
586
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Year 586 ( DLXXXVI) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. The denomination 586 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar ...
and recaptured the fortress, but the Persians under
Khosrau II defeated the Byzantines in
604. This time Persians destroyed the city, but the Byzantines later rebuilt it in
628
__NOTOC__
Year 628 ( DCXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. The denomination 628 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era ...
. In
639
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Year 639 ( DCXXXIX) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. The denomination 639 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era ...
the
Muslim Arabs
Arab Muslims ( ar, العرب المسلمون) are adherents of Islam who identify linguistically, culturally, and genealogically as Arabs. Arab Muslims greatly outnumber other ethnoreligious groups in the Middle East and North Africa. Arab M ...
captured it, and it remained in their hands until 942 when it was sacked by the Byzantines. It was sacked again by
John I Tzimiskes
John I Tzimiskes (; 925 – 10 January 976) was the senior Byzantine emperor from 969 to 976. An intuitive and successful general, he strengthened the Empire and expanded its borders during his short reign.
Background
John I Tzimiskes ...
in
958, but the Byzantines never recaptured it.
The battle in literature and media
The Battle of Dara is described in detail in, "Archaeological and Ancient Literary Evidence for a Battle near Dara Gap, Turkey, AD 530: Topography, Texts & Trenches" - see sources below. It was depicted in 2005 in the TV series ''
Time Commanders
''Time Commanders'' is a technological game show that originally aired on BBC Two from 4 September 2003 to 13 March 2005 with Eddie Mair hosting the first series and Richard Hammond hosting the second series. It returned for a 3-part special on ...
''.
The battle is described in detail in the 1938 novel "Count Belisarius" by
Robert Graves
Captain Robert von Ranke Graves (24 July 1895 – 7 December 1985) was a British poet, historical novelist and critic. His father was Alfred Perceval Graves, a celebrated Irish poet and figure in the Gaelic revival; they were both Celtic ...
. It is also mentioned in the 2006 novel
Belisarius: The First Shall Be Last'. Dara, as well as Callinicum, are scenes in "Immortal: A Novel of Belisarius" by William Havelock.
The battle is also featured in
Total War: Attila, a strategy game from 2015, as
playable battle in The Roman Expedition DLC pack, alongside the battle of Ad Decimum.
Citation
Sources
*
Procopius, ''History of the Wars'', book I, chapter xiii.
*Warren Treadgold, ''History of the Byzantine State and Society''. Stanford (California): Stanford University Press, 1997.
*John Haldon, ''The Byzantine Wars''. Stroud: The History Press, 2008.
*Christopher Lillington-Martin, "Archaeological and Ancient Literary Evidence for a Battle near Dara Gap, Turkey, AD 530: Topography, Texts & Trenches", British Archaeological Reports (BAR) –S1717, 2007 The Late Roman Army in the Near East from Diocletian to the Arab Conquest Proceedings of a colloquium held at Potenza, Acerenza and Matera, Italy (May 2005) edited by Ariel S. Lewin and Pietrina Pellegrini with the aid of Zbigniew T. Fiema and Sylvain Janniard. . (pages 299–311).
* B.H. Liddell Hart, ''Strategy''. London: G. Bell & Sons, 1929.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Daraa
530
Battles of the Roman–Sasanian Wars
530s conflicts
530s in the Byzantine Empire
6th century in Iran
History of Mardin Province
Iberian War