Sack of Apamea

Battle of Apamea
Part of Byzantine–Sasanian War of 572–591

Ruins of Apamea
Date573
Location
Result Sasanian victory[1][2][3]
Belligerents
Sasanian Empire Byzantine Empire
Commanders and leaders
Adarmahan
Casualties and losses
Unknown 292,000 civilian captured [4]
Destruction of Apamea[5]

The sack of Apamea was a sack in 573 during the Byzantine–Sasanian War of 572–591

history

when Khosrow I was besieging Dara he sent Adarmahan at the head of an army with 6,000 soldiers to invade the Roman province of Syria.[5]he burned around the city of Antioch and entered the city of Apamea. Adarmahan thoroughly sacked and burned Apamea, and captured 292,000 civilian.[6] two thousand virgins whom Chos-roes was to send to the king of the Turks, chose self-immolation rather than submit to the humiliation of becoming the harem of the Turkish chagan in central Asia.[3] the figure seems inflated, because the Persians could not have managed or fed so many prisoners[7] and despite the demographic disaster Apamea did survive as a smaller city Apamea's great Cathedral of the East, probably containing a relic of the True Cross, was never restored. Whether this was through lack of will or resources is unclear[8]

References

  1. ^ Greatrex & Lieu 2002, pp. 146–149, 150.
  2. ^ Martindale, Jones & Morris 1992, p. 806.
  3. ^ a b Shahîd 1995, p. 358.
  4. ^ The Cambridge Companion to the Age of Justinian
  5. ^ a b Pirnia, Ashtiani & Babaei 2012, p. 213.
  6. ^ The Cambridge Companion to the Age of Justinian
  7. ^ The Cambridge Companion to the Age of Justinian
  8. ^ Roman Syria and the Near East p 423

Sources

  • Greatrex, Geoffrey; Lieu, Samuel N. C., eds. (2002). The Roman Eastern Frontier and the Persian Wars (Part II, 363–630 AD). New York, New York and London, United Kingdom: Routledge (Taylor & Francis). ISBN 0-415-14687-9.
  • Pirnia, Hasan; Ashtiani, Abbas Iqbal; Babaei, Parviz (2012). History of Persia (in Persian). Negah Publications. ISBN 978-9643513320.
  • Martindale, John Robert; Jones, Arnold Hugh Martin; Morris, J., eds. (1992). The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire, Volume III: A.D. 527–641. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-20160-5.
  • Shahîd, Irfan (1995). Byzantium and the Arabs in the Sixth Century. Washington, District of Columbia: Dumbarton Oaks. ISBN 978-0-88402-214-5.
  • Maas Michael,The Cambridge Companion to the Age of Justinian [1]
  • Butcher, ‪Kevin. ‪Roman Syria and the Near East [2]