Battle of Barbalissos

The Battle of Barbalissos was fought between the Sasanians and Romans at Barbalissos. Shapur I used Roman incursions into Armenia as pretext and resumed hostilities with the Romans. The Sassanids attacked a Roman force of 60,000 strong at Barbalissos and the Roman army was destroyed. The defeat of this large Roman force left the Roman east open to attack and led to the eventual capture of Antioch and Dura Europos three years later. This battle is only known through Shapur I's inscription at Naqsh-e Rostam.

Battle of Barbalissos
Part of the Roman–Persian Wars
Date 252 AD Location Barbalissos, Syria modern Qalʿat al-Bālis, Syria)[1] Result Sasanian victory[2][3]
Belligerents
Sasanian Empire	Roman Empire
Commanders and leaders
Shapur I
Strength
Unknown	60,000[4]
Casualties and losses
Unknown	Roman forces annihilated[5][6]

Overview

The battle was fought between the Sasanian Persians and Romans at Barbalissos, an old Roman town near Aleppo in modern-day Syria and close to the Euphrates River. The battle was fought in 252 when Shapur I (239-270 AD), King of the Sasanian Empire led his army from the Euphrates River and met with a Roman army 60,000 strong of legionaries, archers, and Roman cavalry. Although the number of forces of the Sasanian army are unclear, through tactics and use of strategy Shapur I managed to win the battle and open a way through the Syrian cities and castles.^[7][8] The defeat was very costly for Valerian who appointed many more armies to stop Shapur I from quick advance into Roman soil and later decided to lead an army of 70,000 legionaries himself in what became known as the Battle of Edessa.^[9]

References

1. "ŠĀPUR I: History – Encyclopaedia Iranica". www.iranicaonline.org. Retrieved 24 February 2020.
2. The Cambridge Ancient History: Volume 12, The Crisis of Empire, AD 193-337, "He captured several tomns and then destroyed a Roman army of 60000 men at Barbalissus (Balis) on the large bend of the Euphrates to the north."
3. Maria Brosius, The Persians, (Routledge, 2006), 145.
4. Maria Brosius, The Persians, 145.
5. Encyclopaedia Iranica "And we annihilated a Roman force of 60,000 at Barbalissus [modern Qalʿat al-Bālis, on the left bank of the Euphrates in Syria] and we burned and ravaged the province of Syria and all its dependencies; and in that one campaign we conquered from the Roman empire the following forts and cities (some thirty-six of them are named)"
6. The Cambridge Ancient History: Volume 12, The Crisis of Empire, AD 193-337, "He captured several towns and then destroyed a Roman army of 60000 men at Barbalissus (Balis) on the large bend of the Euphrates to the north."
7. Brosius, Lecturer in Ancient History Maria; Brosius, Maria (2006-04-18). The Persians. Routledge. ISBN 9781134359844.
8. Millar, Fergus (1993). The Roman Near East, 31 B.C.-A.D. 337. Harvard University Press. ISBN 9780674778863.
9. Kia, Mehrdad (2016-06-27). The Persian Empire: A Historical Encyclopedia [2 volumes]: A Historical Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 9781610693912.

Sources

• Kaveh Farroukh, Sassanian Elite Cavalry AD 224-642
• David S. Potter, The Roman Empire at Bay
• Res Gestae Divi Saporis

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