The Battle of Maranga occurred in 363, shortly after the Battle of Ctesiphon. The

Romans Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

repelled a

Sasanian The Sasanian () or Sassanid Empire, officially known as the Empire of Iranians (, ) and also referred to by historians as the Neo-Persian Empire, was the last Iranian empire before the early Muslim conquests of the 7th-8th centuries AD. Named ...

attack while sustaining minimal losses. However, the army's lack of supplies continued to threaten the army, and soon afterwards the emperor Julian was killed at the

Battle of Samarra The Battle of Samarra took place in June 363, during the invasion of the Sasanian Empire by the Roman Emperor Julian. After marching his army to the gates of Ctesiphon and failing to take the city, Julian, realizing his army was low on provisio ...

Background

After defeating the Persians in battle on the banks of the

Tigris The Tigris () is the easternmost of the two great rivers that define Mesopotamia, the other being the Euphrates. The river flows south from the mountains of the Armenian Highlands through the Syrian and Arabian Deserts, and empties into the ...

and surrounding the capital,

Ctesiphon Ctesiphon ( ; Middle Persian: 𐭲𐭩𐭮𐭯𐭥𐭭 ''tyspwn'' or ''tysfwn''; fa, تیسفون; grc-gre, Κτησιφῶν, ; syr, ܩܛܝܣܦܘܢThomas A. Carlson et al., “Ctesiphon — ܩܛܝܣܦܘܢ ” in The Syriac Gazetteer last modi ...

, Julian soon became convinced of his inability to take the city. The apparent impregnability of Ctesiphon, along with his desire to defeat

Shapur Shahpur, Shapur, Shahpoor, or Shahapur ( fa, شاه پور) may refer to: People * Shapur (name), Persian given name and a list of people with the name Places India Bihar * Shahpur, Bihar, a city in Bhojpur district ** Shahpur, Bihar A ...

the Persian king in battle, resolved Julian to abandon the siege. The river fleet which had accompanied the march of the army was abandoned to the flames, and Julian, relying on the fertility of the country for provisions for the troops, ordered the baggage train to be burnt, only 20 days' supplies being preserved. The army then proceeded inland, guided by native captives, who however took care to supply the emperor with misinformation and faulty councils, while Shapur fired the country, harassed the enemies' scouts, and dexterously eluded his main army. Incapable of forcing a battle, Julian fell back on the Tigris, resolved on a retreat north-westwards to the Roman province of

Corduene Corduene hy, Կորճայք, translit=Korchayk; ; romanized: ''Kartigini'') was an ancient historical region, located south of Lake Van, present-day eastern Turkey. Many believe that the Kardouchoi—mentioned in Xenophon’s Anabasis as havin ...

, before his scanty and rotting provisions should run out.

The battle

The Persians, who had assembled a very numerous army, now closed upon the rear of the Romans. Julian's march was continually harassed, and the fighting at Maranga reached the proportions of a battle. Although the Persians were rebuffed and Julian's retreat was enabled to proceed, the losses were considerable on his side as well, and the retardation of his march contributed to weakening the army whose provisions were on the verge of giving out.

Aftermath

The subsequent death of Julian in the action of

Samarra Samarra ( ar, سَامَرَّاء, ') is a city in Iraq. It stands on the east bank of the Tigris in the Saladin Governorate, north of Baghdad. The city of Samarra was founded by Abbasid Caliph Al-Mutasim for his Turkish professional army ...

, which was similarly a tactical success for the Romans, contributed to lower the morale of the troops, and the emperor

Jovian Jovian is the adjectival form of Jupiter and may refer to: * Jovian (emperor) (Flavius Iovianus Augustus), Roman emperor (363–364 AD) * Jovians and Herculians, Roman imperial guard corps * Jovian (lemur), a Coquerel's sifaka known for ''Zoboomafo ...

, whom they elected in the camp as Julian's successor, was brought by the threat of famine and the Persian army to conclude a disgraceful peace with

Shapur II Shapur II ( pal, 𐭱𐭧𐭯𐭥𐭧𐭥𐭩 ; New Persian: , ''Šāpur'', 309 – 379), also known as Shapur the Great, was the tenth Sasanian King of Kings (Shahanshah) of Iran. The longest-reigning monarch in Iranian history, he reigned fo ...

, conceding all the gains of the treaty of

Diocletian Diocletian (; la, Gaius Aurelius Valerius Diocletianus, grc, Διοκλητιανός, Diokletianós; c. 242/245 – 311/312), nicknamed ''Iovius'', was Roman emperor from 284 until his abdication in 305. He was born Gaius Valerius Diocles ...

(298), and important border fortresses such as

Nisibis Nusaybin (; '; ar, نُصَيْبِيْن, translit=Nuṣaybīn; syr, ܢܨܝܒܝܢ, translit=Nṣībīn), historically known as Nisibis () or Nesbin, is a city in Mardin Province, Turkey. The population of the city is 83,832 as of 2009 and is ...

and

Singara Singara (, ''tà Síngara'') was a strongly fortified post at the northern extremity of Mesopotamia, which for a while, as it appears from coins minted there, was occupied by the Romans as an advanced colony against the Persians. It was the camp o ...

, as well.Gibbon, p. 833

References

Maranga 360s in the Roman Empire Maranga 4th century in Iran Julian (emperor) Julian's Persian expedition {{AncientRome-battle-stub