Siege of Sergiopolis (542)

Siege of Sergiopolis
Part of Lazic War
Ruins of Sergiopolis
Date Spring 542 Location Sergiopolis, Byzantine Empire (now Resafa, Syria) Result Byzantine victory
Belligerents
Byzantine Empire	Sasanian Empire
Commanders and leaders
unknown	Khosrow I
Strength
200	6,000 to 60,000
Casualties and losses
unknown	unknown

The Siege of Sergipolis is a siege of Byzantine fortress by Sasanian army under Khosrow I commamd, during Lazic War. Retreating from the city, headed to Euphratia for further invasion of Palestine.

Background

Sasanian cavalrymen

While Belisarius troops were concentrated in Mesopotamia, Khosrow decided to take advantage of this, invaded the Caucasus and captured the Byzantine fortress of Petra. From here he headed towards Sergiopolis, in order to receive the tribute promised by the local patriarch.

Siege

After the siege of the fortress, Khosrow tried to take it by cunning, but a Saracen named Ambros, who served in the Persian army, warned the garrison about the impending trap. Upon learning of the failure of the first plan, the king of the Sassanians sent his entire army to storm, but the garrison withstood, despite thoughts of surrendering the fortress. Ambros again informed the Byzantines of important information: there was very little food in the Sassanian camp. The next day, the Persian troops, having failed under the walls of the city, left their camp and continued their raid into the territory of Byzantium.

Reference

Bibliography

• Dmitriev, V. (2008). Борьба Римской (Византийской) империи и Сасанидского Ирана за преобладание в Передней Азии [The struggle between the Roman (Byzantine) Empire and Sassanid Iran for dominance in Western Asia] (in Russian). Pskov. ISBN 978-5-87854-429-0.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
• Greatrex, Geoffrey (1991). The Roman Eastern Frontier and the Persian wars.Part II.363-630AD. Routledge. ISBN 0-415-14687-9.
• Decker, Michael J. (2022). The Sasanian empire at War. Persia, Rome and the rise od Islam. Westholme Publishing, LLC. ISBN 978-1-59416-692-1.