The
Battle of Callinicum took place between the armies of the Eastern Roman Empire under the command of General
BelisariusFlavius Belisarius was one of the greatest generals of the Byzantine Empire. He was instrumental to Emperor Justinian I's ambitious project of reconquering much of the old Western Roman Empire, which had been lost just under a century previously.One of the defining features of Belisarius' career...
and
Sassanid PersiansThe Sassanid Empire or Sasanian Empire, known to its inhabitants as Ērānshahr, was the last pre-Islamic Persian Empire, ruled by the Sasanian Dynasty who reigned from 224 to 651 CE...
under
Sepahbod AzarethesAzarethes was an Eran spahbod of the Sassanid dynasty of Persia. After skirmishing with the Byzantine general Belisarius following his victory in the Battle of Dara, he gathered Persian forces and in 531 CE defeated Belisarius in the Battle of Callinicum....
on 19 April AD
531-Byzantine Empire:* April 19—Belisarius is defeated at the Battle of Callinicum; Mundus briefly takes command of the army.* Some members of the Blue and Green chariot racing factions in Constantinople are imprisoned for murder, precipitating the Nika riots the next year.* The building of St...
during the
Iberian WarThe Iberian War was fought from 526 to 532 between the Eastern Roman Empire and Sassanid Empire over the eastern Georgian kingdom of Iberia.-Origin:After the Anastasian War, a seven-year truce was agreed on, yet it lasted for nearly twenty years...
. Belisarius had been skirmishing with the Persian forces after the
Battle of DaraThe Battle of Dara was fought between the Sassanids and the Byzantine Empire in 530. It was one of the battles of the Iberian War.The Byzantine Empire was at war with the Sassanids from 527, supposedly because Kavadh I had tried to force the Iberians to become Zoroastrians...
in an attempt to incite a rout, but the Persians were generally successful at Callinicum and both sides withdrew.
Belisarius' forces consisted of about 20,000 men and another 5,000 Ghassanid Arab allies, who had been marching down the road leading into the heart of Persian territory along the right bank of the
EuphratesThe Euphrates is the longest and historically one of the most important rivers of Southwest Asia. Together with the Tigris, the Euphrates is one of the two defining rivers of Mesopotamia...
in what today would be northern
IraqIraq , officially the Republic of Iraq , also known as Mesopotamia, is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert.Iraq shares borders with Jordan to the west, Syria...
, then the eastern borders between the Roman Empire and Persia.
The
Battle of Callinicum took place between the armies of the Eastern Roman Empire under the command of General
BelisariusFlavius Belisarius was one of the greatest generals of the Byzantine Empire. He was instrumental to Emperor Justinian I's ambitious project of reconquering much of the old Western Roman Empire, which had been lost just under a century previously.One of the defining features of Belisarius' career...
and
Sassanid PersiansThe Sassanid Empire or Sasanian Empire, known to its inhabitants as Ērānshahr, was the last pre-Islamic Persian Empire, ruled by the Sasanian Dynasty who reigned from 224 to 651 CE...
under
Sepahbod AzarethesAzarethes was an Eran spahbod of the Sassanid dynasty of Persia. After skirmishing with the Byzantine general Belisarius following his victory in the Battle of Dara, he gathered Persian forces and in 531 CE defeated Belisarius in the Battle of Callinicum....
on 19 April AD
531-Byzantine Empire:* April 19—Belisarius is defeated at the Battle of Callinicum; Mundus briefly takes command of the army.* Some members of the Blue and Green chariot racing factions in Constantinople are imprisoned for murder, precipitating the Nika riots the next year.* The building of St...
during the
Iberian WarThe Iberian War was fought from 526 to 532 between the Eastern Roman Empire and Sassanid Empire over the eastern Georgian kingdom of Iberia.-Origin:After the Anastasian War, a seven-year truce was agreed on, yet it lasted for nearly twenty years...
. Belisarius had been skirmishing with the Persian forces after the
Battle of DaraThe Battle of Dara was fought between the Sassanids and the Byzantine Empire in 530. It was one of the battles of the Iberian War.The Byzantine Empire was at war with the Sassanids from 527, supposedly because Kavadh I had tried to force the Iberians to become Zoroastrians...
in an attempt to incite a rout, but the Persians were generally successful at Callinicum and both sides withdrew.
Battle
Belisarius' forces consisted of about 20,000 men and another 5,000 Ghassanid Arab allies, who had been marching down the road leading into the heart of Persian territory along the right bank of the
EuphratesThe Euphrates is the longest and historically one of the most important rivers of Southwest Asia. Together with the Tigris, the Euphrates is one of the two defining rivers of Mesopotamia...
in what today would be northern
IraqIraq , officially the Republic of Iraq , also known as Mesopotamia, is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert.Iraq shares borders with Jordan to the west, Syria...
, then the eastern borders between the Roman Empire and Persia. The retreating Persian forces numbered about 10,000 with an additional group of 5,000 Lakhmid Arabs. After several days of forced march, the Persians turned and deployed for battle.
Both groups formed up differently, Belisarius again choosing an "odd" formation that confused his opposing general. In this case he anchored his left flank on the bank of the river with infantry, put the Ghassanid Arab allies on the right flank, and placed several ranks of heavy cavalry, the
cataphractA cataphract was a form of heavy cavalry utilised in ancient warfare by a number of peoples in Western Eurasia and the Eurasian Steppe.The word in English is derived from the Kataphraktos , literally meaning "armored" or "completely enclosed"...
s, in the center of the front line. In more standard formation the Persians split their forces into two roughly equal groups, with infantry in front of cavalry.
The Persians broke through the Roman right flank, forcing Belisarius to retreat in an effort to re-form his line, but the retreat was followed and soon the Romans found themselves pressed against the river. Here, the Romans were able to resist the Persians and withdraw much of their army across the river. The Persians chose not to follow up this victory, and returned to their withdrawal from Roman territory.
Zachariah says of this battle:
"
[The Romans] turned and fled before the Persian attack. Many fell into the Euphrates and were drowned, and others were killed."
However, it is unknown what stage of the battle Zachariah was referring to.
Outcome
This defeat was the first of Belisarius' series of unsuccessful wars against Sassanids, which led Byzantine to pay heavy tributes in exchange for a peace treaty.
Callinicum ended the first of Belisarius' Persian campaigns, returning all of the land lost to them to Roman rule under
Justinian IFlavius Petrus Sabbatius Iustinianus ; AD 483 – 13 or 14 November 565, known in English as Justinian I or Justinian the Great, was the second member of the Justinian Dynasty and Eastern Roman Emperor from 527 until his death...
in the
Perpetual Peace agreement signed in September of 532.