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Battle of Misiche

 

 
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The Battle of Misiche (dated between Jan. 13 and March 14, 244AD) was fought between the Sassanid Persians
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....
 and the Romans
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....
 somewhere in ancient Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia

Mesopotamia is the area of the Tigris-Euphrates river system, along the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, largely corresponding to modern Iraq, as well as some parts of northeastern Syria, some parts of southeastern Turkey, and some parts of the Khuzestan Province of southwestern Iran....
. The result was a Roman defeat.

initial war began when the Roman Emperor Gordian III
Gordian III

Marcus Antonius Gordianus Pius , known in English language as Gordian III, was Roman Emperor from 238 to 244. Gordian was the son of Antonia Gordiana and his father was an unnamed Roman Senator who died before 238....
 invaded Persia (Iran
Iran

Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran and formerly known internationally as Persian Empire until 1935, is a country in Central Eurasia, located on the northeastern shore of the Persian Gulf and the southern shore of the Caspian Sea....
) in 243. His troops advanced as far as Misiche. The location of that city (or maybe a district) is conjectural. It is usually placed roughly 64 km west of Baghdad
Baghdad

Baghdad is the Capital of Iraq and of Baghdad Governorate, with which it is also coterminous. With a municipal population estimated at 6.5 million, it is the largest city in Iraq, and the second largest city in the Arab World....
 in Iraq
Iraq

Iraq , officially the Republic of Iraq , is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros Mountains, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
, near the modern city of Fallujah
Fallujah

Fallujah is a city in the Iraqi province of Al Anbar, located roughly 69 kilometers west of Baghdad on the Euphrates. Fallujah dates from Babylonian times and was host to important Jewish academies for many centuries....
.






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The Battle of Misiche (dated between Jan. 13 and March 14, 244AD) was fought between the Sassanid Persians
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....
 and the Romans
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....
 somewhere in ancient Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia

Mesopotamia is the area of the Tigris-Euphrates river system, along the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, largely corresponding to modern Iraq, as well as some parts of northeastern Syria, some parts of southeastern Turkey, and some parts of the Khuzestan Province of southwestern Iran....
. The result was a Roman defeat.

Background and the Battle

The initial war began when the Roman Emperor Gordian III
Gordian III

Marcus Antonius Gordianus Pius , known in English language as Gordian III, was Roman Emperor from 238 to 244. Gordian was the son of Antonia Gordiana and his father was an unnamed Roman Senator who died before 238....
 invaded Persia (Iran
Iran

Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran and formerly known internationally as Persian Empire until 1935, is a country in Central Eurasia, located on the northeastern shore of the Persian Gulf and the southern shore of the Caspian Sea....
) in 243. His troops advanced as far as Misiche. The location of that city (or maybe a district) is conjectural. It is usually placed roughly 64 km west of Baghdad
Baghdad

Baghdad is the Capital of Iraq and of Baghdad Governorate, with which it is also coterminous. With a municipal population estimated at 6.5 million, it is the largest city in Iraq, and the second largest city in the Arab World....
 in Iraq
Iraq

Iraq , officially the Republic of Iraq , is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros Mountains, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
, near the modern city of Fallujah
Fallujah

Fallujah is a city in the Iraqi province of Al Anbar, located roughly 69 kilometers west of Baghdad on the Euphrates. Fallujah dates from Babylonian times and was host to important Jewish academies for many centuries....
. The Romans were defeated and it is unclear whether Gordian died during battle or was assassinated later by his own officers.

Battle is only mentioned on the trilingual inscription king Shapour made at Naqsh-i Rustam :

When at first we had become established in the empire, Gordian Caesar raised in all of the Roman Empire a force from the Goth and German realms and marched on Babylonia against the Empire of Iran and against us. On the border of Babylonia at Misikhe, a great frontal battle occurred. Gordian Caesar was killed and the Roman force was destroyed. And the Romans made Philip Caesar. Then Philip Caesar came to us for terms, and to ransom their lives, gave us 500,000 denars, and became tributary to us. And for this reason we have renamed Misikhe Peroz-Shapur.


On the contrary, the contemporary and later Roman sources claim that the Roman expedition was entirely or partially successful but the emperor was murdered after a plot by Philip the Arab
Philip the Arab

Marcus Julius Philippus or Philippus I Arabs , known in English language as Philip the Arab or formerly in English as Philip the Arabian, was a Roman Emperor from 244 to 249....
. However, some scholars think that the Sassanid victory must not be invented and reject Philip's plot as the ultimate reason of Gordian's murder. Even if that is true, it isn't likely that Gordian died in the battlefield, as Shapur's inscription claims. Even more, some sources mention a cenotaph of the murdered emperor at Zaita, near Circesium of Osroene
Osroene

Osroene , also known by the name of its capital city, Edessa, Mesopotamia , was a historic Assyrian/Chaldean/Syriac people kingdom located in Mesopotamia, which enjoyed semi-autonomy to complete independence from the years of 132 BC to AD 244....
 (some 400 km north of Misiche). The confusion of the sources about the expedition and the assassination of the emperor makes it more possible that, after the defeat, Roman army was frustrated enough to get rid of the teenage emperor.

Aftermath

Gordian's successor, Philip the Arab
Philip the Arab

Marcus Julius Philippus or Philippus I Arabs , known in English language as Philip the Arab or formerly in English as Philip the Arabian, was a Roman Emperor from 244 to 249....
 was proclaimed emperor of Rome and made peace with Shapur. Next major clash between the two empires took place in 252, when Shapur defeated the Romans at the battle of Barbalissos
Battle of Barbalissos

The Battle of Barbalissos was fought between the Sassanid Empire and Roman Empire at Barbalissos. Shapur I used Roman incursions into Armenia as pretext and resumed hostilities with the Romans....
 and successfully invaded Syria
Syria

Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is an Arab-majority country in Southwest Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Israel to the southwest, Jordan to the south, Iraq to the east, and Turkey to the north....
 and part of Anatolia
Anatolia

Anatolia or Asia Minor is a region of Western Asia, comprising most of the modern Republic of Turkey. It is a geographic region bounded by the Black Sea to the north, the Caucasus to the northeast, the Aegean Sea to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and the Iranian plateau to the east and southeast....
.