Byzantine-Persian Wars
At a glance:
- Series: Magill’s Guide to Military History
- Categories: Government and Politics, Military History, Land Acquisition and Expansion, Territory Redistribution
- Subcategories: Wars, Battles, Empires, Dynasties, Invasions, Raids, Conquests, Sieges, Byzantine Empire
- Curriculum: Medieval History/Middle Ages, Eastern European History, Middle Eastern History
- Geographical Location: Armenia, Iraq, Syria, Persia
- Date: August, 502-spring, 591
Article abstract: At issue: Control of Asia between the Bosporus and beyond the Euphrates. Result: Byzantine victory; expansion of the Byzantine Empire to the east, in Armenia.
Background
For centuries, Persia was the only civilized power in contact with Rome. Intermittent warfare intensified when the Sāsānid Dynasty took control of Persia in 225. When the Western Roman Empire fell in 476, the surviving Eastern Empire, known as the Byzantine Empire after its capital, found that security on its eastern frontier was essential to its survival. When the...
[The entire page is 641 words long]