The Battle of

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 ...

was fought between Byzantine forces under

Belisarius Belisarius (; el, Βελισάριος; The exact date of his birth is unknown. – 565) was a military commander of the Byzantine Empire under the emperor Justinian I. He was instrumental in the reconquest of much of the Mediterranean terri ...

and

Peter Peter may refer to: People * List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Peter (given name) ** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church * Peter (surname), a sur ...

and the

Sassanian 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 ...

garrison of the frontier fortress of

that was under

Nabedes Naved, Nabed, Nahbed, or Nabedes (Greek: ''Nabédēs'') was a Sasanian military commander during the reign of Khosrow I. He is first recorded as the commander of Nisibis, engaging the Romans in a battle during Belisarius invasion of Mesopotamia ...

. It took place while the

king

Khosrow I Khosrow I (also spelled Khosrau, Khusro or Chosroes; pal, 𐭧𐭥𐭮𐭫𐭥𐭣𐭩; New Persian: []), traditionally known by his epithet of Anushirvan ( [] "the Immortal Soul"), was the Sasanian Empire, Sasanian King of Kings of Iran from ...

was Lazic War, invading the Roman base in Lazica. It was part of a Byzantine offensive led by Belisarius into Persian land. Upon arriving in the area, Belisarius stationed his troops a significant distance away from the fortified city. He hoped to drag the Sasanian garrison into a battle far from the city walls, and after defeating them, capture the undefended city, which seemed impregnable otherwise. The Byzantine commander Peter stationed his forces, together with those of

John Troglita John Troglita ( la, Ioannes Troglita, el, ) was a 6th-century Byzantine general. He participated in the Vandalic War and served in North Africa as a regional military governor during the years 533–538, before being sent east to the wars with t ...

who was associated with him, closer to the city. Belisarius warned Peter that since the Byzantines did not normally eat until midday the garrison would sally out then so the Byzantines would have to fight while hungry. Peter ignored this and at midday, his man dispersed to eat. When the Sassanians sallied out his disorganized unit was routed losing 50 men and Peter's standard. He immediately called on Belisarius for help. When the message reached Belisarius he had already seen the dust clouds produced by the Sassanian sally and was well on his way. Despite the garrison being overwhelmed by the larger Byzantine army, they suffered only 150 casualties as they quickly retreated to the city, exactly what Belisarius had sought to avoid.

Aftermath

{{main, Siege of Sisauranon (541) Recognising Nobades would not leave the city again out of fear for another such engagement Belisarius could now bypass the city as its garrison would not attack him in the rear. After an assault of Sisauranon failed he sent troops to raid rich normally safe Persian territory across 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 ...

. After procuring much wealth from the area the Byzantine raiding forces split up and went home as some were afraid Belisarius would take their loot. Belisarius wanted to return home too as to avoid being surprised by the arrival of Persian forces under Khosrow. Procopius later claimed this because of Belisarius wanting to confront his wife Antonina, whose lover his troops had imprisoned, as soon as possible about her affair. Claiming that Belisarius could have reached

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 ...

as the path remained undefended. This argument is flawed however as the same information of the disposition of Persian troops had not been available to Belisarius at that time.

References

Nisibis 541 Nisibis 541 541

540s in the Byzantine Empire Nisibis 541 Nusaybin Byzantine–Sasanian War of 540–562 Battles involving the Goths