Battle of Edessa

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Battle of Edessa

The Battle of Edessa took place between the armies of the Roman Empire

Roman Empire

The Roman Empire was the Roman Republic phase of the Ancient Rome, characterised by an autocracy form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
under the command of Emperor Valerian

Valerian (emperor)

Publius Licinius Valerianus , commonly known in English language as Valerian or Valerian I, was the Roman Emperor from 253 to 260....
and Sassanid

Sassanid Empire

The Sassanid Empire or Sassanian Dynasty is the name of the last pre-Islamic Iranian empire. It was one of the two main powers in Western Asia for a period of more than 400 years....
forces under King Shapur I

Shapur I

Shapur I was the second Sassanid King of the Sassanid Empire. The dates of his reign are commonly given as 241 - 272, but it is likely that he also reigned as co-regent prior to his father's death in 241....
in 259

259

Events...
. In this battle, the Sassanids crushed the entire Roman army, while suffering minimal losses.

r to the battle, Shapur I had penetrated several times deeply into Roman territory conquering and plundering Antiochia

Antioch

Antioch on the Orontes was an ancient city on the eastern side of the Orontes River. It is near the modern city of Antakya, Turkey.Founded near the end of the 4th century BC by Seleucus I Nicator, one of Alexander the Great's generals, Antioch eventually rivaled Alexandria as the chief city of the nearer East and was a cradle of gentile hi...
in Syria

Syria (Roman province)

Syria was a Roman province, annexed in 64 BC by Pompey, as a consequence of his military presence after pursuing victory in the Third Mithridatic War....
in 253 or 256.

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Encyclopedia

The Battle of Edessa took place between the armies of the Roman Empire

Roman Empire

Valerian (emperor)

Publius Licinius Valerianus , commonly known in English language as Valerian or Valerian I, was the Roman Emperor from 253 to 260....
and Sassanid

Sassanid Empire

Shapur I

259

Events...
. In this battle, the Sassanids crushed the entire Roman army, while suffering minimal losses.

Prelude

Prior to the battle, Shapur I had penetrated several times deeply into Roman territory conquering and plundering Antiochia

Antioch

Syria (Roman province)

Syria was a Roman province, annexed in 64 BC by Pompey, as a consequence of his military presence after pursuing victory in the Third Mithridatic War....
in 253 or 256. In order to halt these advances and retaliate, Emperor Valerian gathered an army, which included the Roman Praetorian Guard

Praetorian Guard

The Praetorian Guard was a special force of guards used by Roman empire List of Roman Emperorss. Before being appropriated for the use of the Emperors' personal guards, the title was used for the guards of Roman generals, at least since the rise to prominence of the Scipio family around 275 BC....
, and marched eastward to the Sassanid borders. He succeeded initially and recaptured Syrian provinces. He then marched to Carrhae and Edessa

Edessa, Mesopotamia

Edessa is the historical name of a Assyrian/Chaldean/Syriac people town in northern Mesopotamia, refounded on an ancient site by Seleucus I Nicator....
where he met the main Persian army

Sassanid army

The birth of the Sassanid army dates back to the rise of Ardashir I , the founder of the Sassanid dynasty, to the throne. Ardashir aimed at the revival of the Persian Empire, and to further this aim, he reformed the military by forming a standing army which was under his personal command and whose officers were separate from satraps, local p...
under command of the King Shapur I. After minor skirmishing with the Persian forces, the main battle commenced.

Battle

Shapur I defeated and captured Emperor Valerian, along with many other high ranking officials, though not much is known about the battle itself. The outcome of the battle was an overwhelming Persian victory, with the entire 70,000-strong Roman force being slain or captured. This compared starkly to the minimal number of Persian casualties.

Aftermath

Some scholars claim Shapur sent Valerian and some of his army to the city of Bishapur

Bishapur

Bishapur is an ancient city situated south of modern Faliyan, Iran on the ancient road between Persis and Elam. The road linked the Sassanid capitals Istakhr and Ctesiphon....
, where they lived in relatively good condition. Shapur used the remaining soldiers in engineering and development plans. Band-e Kaisar (Caesar's dam) is one of the remnants of Roman engineering located near the ancient city of Susa

Susa

Susa was an ancient city of the Elamite, Persian Empire and Parthian empires of Iran, located about 250 km east of the Tigris River.The modern town of Shush, Iran is located at the site of ancient Susa....
.

Other sources say Valerian was captured with most of his army, by treachery, while negotiating a peace (Zosimus). According to Lactantius, Shapur humiliated Valerian, using the former emperor as a human stepping-stool while mounting his horse. Valerian's body was later skinned and stuffed with manure to produce a trophy of Roman submission preserved in a Persian temple.

External links

on De Imperatoribus Romanis.