Siege of Dara (573)

The siege of Dara was raised by the Sasanian king Khosrow I in 573 during the Byzantine–Sasanian War of 572–591. The fortified city fell after 4 months.

Siege of Dara (573)
Part of Byzantine–Sasanian War of 572–591
Ruins of the fortifications of Dara
Date 573 Location Dara (modern-day Oğuz, Mardin, Turkey) Result Sasanian victory
Belligerents
Sasanian Empire	Byzantine Empire
Commanders and leaders
Khosrow I Izadgushasp Fariburz Bahram Chobin	Sergius † Ioannes (POW)
Strength
23,000 cavalry 40,000 infantry

The Sasanians cut through a hill to divert the city's water supply, and used captured Roman ballistae from the abandoned Roman Siege of Nisibis (573).

The news of the fall of Dara, long a major Byzantine stronghold in Upper Mesopotamia, drove Emperor Justin II insane. Bahram Chobin was commander of the cavalry force in the siege, and was promoted to the spahbed of the North after this victory.

Sources

• http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/dara-the-name-of-a-parthian-city-and-of-a-byzantine-garrison-town-of-the-sasanian-period
• Greatrex, Geoffrey; Lieu, Samuel N. C. (2002). The Roman Eastern Frontier and the Persian Wars (Part II, 363–630 AD). New York and London: Routledge (Taylor & Francis). pp. 142–153. ISBN 0-415-14687-9.
• Martindale, John R., ed. (1992). The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire: Volume III, AD 527–641. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-20160-8.
• Nicholson, Oliver; Canepa, Matthew; Daryaee, Touraj (2018). "Khosrow I Anoshirvan". In Nicholson, Oliver (ed.). The Oxford Dictionary of Late Antiquity. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-866277-8.
• Shahbazi, A. Sh. (1988). "Bahrām VI Čōbīn". Encyclopaedia Iranica, Vol. III, Fasc. 5. London et al. pp. 514–522.{{cite encyclopedia}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
• Whitby, Michael; Whitby, Mary (1986). The History of Theophylact Simocatta. Oxford, United Kingdom: Clarendon Press. ISBN 978-0-19-822799-1.