The siege of Petra took place in 549 when the

Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

, under Emperor

Justinian I Justinian I (; la, Iustinianus, ; grc-gre, Ἰουστινιανός ; 48214 November 565), also known as Justinian the Great, was the Byzantine emperor from 527 to 565. His reign is marked by the ambitious but only partly realized '' renov ...

, besieged the strategic fortress of

Petra Petra ( ar, ٱلْبَتْرَاء, Al-Batrāʾ; grc, Πέτρα, "Rock", Nabataean: ), originally known to its inhabitants as Raqmu or Raqēmō, is an historic and archaeological city in southern Jordan. It is adjacent to the mountain of Ja ...

Lazica Lazica ( ka, ეგრისი, ; lzz, ლაზიკა, ; grc-gre, Λαζική, ; fa, لازستان, ; hy, Եգեր, ) was the Latin name given to the territory of Colchis during the Roman/Byzantine period, from about the 1st centur ...

, held by the Sasanians. Petra's garrison took heavy casualties, but it stood firm until the arrival of a strong army under

Mihr-Mihroe Mihr-Mihroe (died 555), in Middle Persian either ''Mihr-Mihrōē''Encyclopaedia Iranica, edited by Ehsan Yar-Shater, Routledge & Kegan Paul Volume 6, Parts 1-3, page 281a or ''Mihrmāh-rōy''; in Byzantine sources Mermeroes ( el, Μερμερόη� ...

relieved the siege.

The siege

The Roman army was consisted of 7,000 regulars and 1,000 Tzani, and were under command of the '' magister militum per Armeniam'' Dagisthaeus. The Roman archery was very efficient during the siege; as they suppressed the defenders of the town, the

sapper A sapper, also called a pioneer or combat engineer, is a combatant or soldier who performs a variety of military engineering duties, such as breaching fortifications, demolitions, bridge-building, laying or clearing minefields, preparin ...

s were able to approach the walls of Petra. However, mining operations were unsuccessful. According to

Procopius Procopius of Caesarea ( grc-gre, Προκόπιος ὁ Καισαρεύς ''Prokópios ho Kaisareús''; la, Procopius Caesariensis; – after 565) was a prominent late antique Greek scholar from Caesarea Maritima. Accompanying the Roman gen ...

, the small Sasanian garrison under " Mirranes" made a "display of valour such as no others known to us have made". At the end of the siege, 1,000 men of the 1,500-strong garrison had been killed and 350 men were wounded. The defenders had kept all of the corpses inside the fortification in order not to inform the attackers of their losses.

, ''History of the Wars'', Book II, XXIX Dagisthaeus quickly withdrew before

's army of cavalry and infantry arrived from Iberia. The latter reportedly taunted the Byzantine state because of its inability to defeat 150 men "without a wall", referring to the partially destroyed city wall. The Byzantines had destroyed a part of the wall, only to find that a building was behind it.

Subsequent conflicts

Lacking enough supplies for his army,

hastily repaired the fallen portion of Petra's wall with linen bags filled with sands, garrisoned the fortress with 3,000 men, left 5,000 men under Fariburz in Colchis to supply the garrison, and himself headed for Persarmenia with the rest of the army. The combined Byzantine-Lazi force, numbering 14,000, defeated Fariburz in a surprise attack, capturing the supplies brought from Iberia by Mihr-Mihroe for Petra. Another force under Chorianes was also defeated after the latter was killed in action. However, in the meantime, the Sasanians somehow managed to resupply the garrison at Petra. Dagisthaeus was later stripped of his commands due to his alleged poor leadership of the Byzantines in Petra, and was replaced by Bessas. A year later, in 550, the Byzantines finally managed to retake the town from the Sasanians after a lengthy siege.

References

Sources

* * 540s conflicts Petra 549 Petra 549 Petra 549 6th century in the Byzantine Empire Lazic War 6th century in Iran 540s in the Byzantine Empire Sieges of Petra, Lazica {{siege-stub