Arbayistan

Arbāyistān
Province of the Sassanian Empire
363–638 →
Capital Nisibis
Historical era Late Antiquity
 - Established 363
 - Peace of Acilisene 387
 - Annexed by the Rashidun Caliphate 638
Today part of

Arbāyistān (Syriac: Bēṯ ʿArbāyē) was a Sassanian province in Late Antiquity, that bordered the Roman Empire, and later the Byzantine Empire, and was a constant area of contention between the Romans and the Sassanians.

The province reached across Upper Mesopotamia toward the Khabur and north to the lower districts of Armenia; it bordered Adiabene in the east, Armenia in the north and Assuristan in the south.

History

The province was formed in 363 after the 2nd Peace of Nisibis, composed of the concessions made by Roman Emperor Jovian, which encompassed all Roman territory east of the Tigris that had been ceded by the Sasanians in the 1st Peace of Nisibis in 299.[1] This included the former Armenian provinces of Corduene, Zabdicene, Arzanene and Moxoene as well as Nisibis and Singara. As part of the treaty, the Romans were allowed to evacuate the inhabitants of the cities of Nisibis and Singara,[2] and this led to the mass exodus of the entire populations of both cities to Roman territories to avoid imprisonment and deportation by the Sasanians.[3][4] This also caused the Christian School of Nisibis to move to Edessa. As a result of the Peace of Acilisene of 387, Armenia was divided between the Eastern Roman and Sassanian Empires and the majority of Arzanene was given to the Romans, aside from the canton of Arzan itself. In the fourth century, 12,000 Persians from Staxr, Spāhān and other regions were settled in Nisibis to act as mainly military garrisons.[5] At the close of the fourth century, in 395, the Huns breached the Caspian Gates and swarmed through the east, plundering Armenia and Eastern Roman Cappadocia, Cilicia and Syria undisturbed until moving to raid Sasanian Arbayistan in 398.[6]

During the Roman–Sasanian War of 421–422, the magister militum per Orientem, Ardaburius, invaded and plundered Arzanene in 421. Ardaburius defeated the Sassanian grand vizier, Mihr Narseh, and with reinforcements besieged Nisibis. However, a large joint Sassanian-Arab force led by the new Shah, Bahram V, was dispatched to relieve Nisibis causing the Romans to abandon the siege.[7] From 464 to 471, a famine struck Mesopotamia which devastated the crops and ruined the country. Sources say that the wells became dry and that there was not a trickle of water either in the Tigris or the Euphrates. Eventually the crops failed and thousands perished. In 483, a severe drought affected the region and lasted for two years, during which time tensions between the Romans and Persians heightened as Arab nomads allied to the Persians raided Roman territory, causing the Romans to assemble an army on the frontier to counter such raids. The situation was defused, however, by the marzban of Nisbis and Nestorian metropolitan bishop of Nisibis, Barsauma.[8] Three years into the reign of Kavadh I, in 491, an uprising in Armenia encouraged the Qadishaye tribesmen south of Singara, to revolt and besiege Nisibis.[9]

At the time of the Anastasian War, in 504, the Roman general Celer invaded Arbayistan and conducted raids against fortified settlements, seizing several forts throughout the province and plundered Arzanane, killing farmers and livestock alike.[10]

In 531, during the Iberian War, the Byzantines, led by Belisarius, won a battle at the fortress of Sisauranon and managed to capture its commander, Bleschames. As part of the Byzantine persecution of non-Chalcedonians, in late 536, the Patriarch of Antioch, Ephraim of Antioch, bribed the marzban of Nisibis, Mihrdaden, to arrest John of Tella who had been residing on Mount Singara. John was arrested and held in Nisibis for 30 days under the accusation of living in Sassanian territory illegally and was handed over to the Byzantines at the border fortress of Dara. Upon the invasion of Byzantine Syria in 540 by Khosrau I, Belisarius was recalled from Italy to respond to the Sassanian threat. He arrived in Mesopotamia in 541 and besieged Nisibis, however Belisarius could not take the city and subsequently plundered the surrounding countryside. The following year, Khosrau returned from Lazica and invaded Byzantine Syria; during his invasion Khosrau sacked Callinicum and resettled prisoners in Arbayistan.

During the Byzantine–Sasanian War of 572–591, in 578, Maurice mounted raids throughout Arbayistan, sacking Singara, and according to historian Theophylact Simocatta, liberated 10,090 Armenian prisoners in Arzanene,[11] of whom about 3,350 were relocated to Cyprus.[12] He also captured the fortress of Aphumon. The Byzantine general, Philippicus, invaded Arzanene and besieged the fortress of Chlomaron in spring of 586. However, the approach of a Persian relief army panicked the Byzantines, who fled in disorder back into Roman territory.[13] In autumn of 589, a Byzantine army under Comentiolus won a battle at the fortress of Sisauranon.[14] At the end of the war, Corduene, Aghdzen canton and Zabdicene was annexed by the Byzantine Empire in return for assisting Khosrau II regain the throne from the usurper, Bahram VI. A joint Byzantine-Sassanian campaign defeated an army of Bahram near Nisibis in early 591.

Not long after the end of the Byzantine–Sasanian War of 572–591, a locust plague ravaged the countryside of the province from 591 to 595, in which locusts are said to have destroyed crops and fouled water supplies. The ensuing food shortages and famine caused many to migrate to neighbouring regions, whilst those less able were forced to resort to begging in nearby cities. This led to the abandonment of many villages and hamlets throughout Arbayistan.[15] Some survived the plague by collecting and eating the locusts or by planting "small vegetables" such as summer peas and cucumbers.

Upon the end of the Byzantine–Sasanian War of 602–628, Heraclius travelled through Arbayistan as part of the agreed withdrawal from Sasanian territory. After the Muslim victory at the Battle of Jalula in April 637, Muslim forces marched north and established control over Sasanian Upper Mesopotamia, and annexed Arbayistan in 638.

Commerce and Trade

Arbayistan's position on the Silk Road provided the province with a large income derived from custom-houses along the roads as well as from traffic on the rivers. The goods that came with it:silks and spices from the Indian and Arabian sea-trade assembled at Nisibis before it was sold to Roman merchants. The silk trade, which supplied the weaving industry of Syria, was especially lucrative and continued to thrive despite the threat of Arab raids along the roads.[16]

Also, the Sassanian control of the two major East-West highways and excellent road system made the province easily accessible for trade.

Population

The population of Arbayistan was primarily composed of Arameans, who spoke the Aramaic language, and shared the province with Jews, Arabs, Armenians and Iranians. Many Arabs lived as nomads throughout the province, however they are known to have also thrived in the city of Hatra. Armenians could be found largely in the north of Arbayistan, in the districts of Arzanene, whilst Iranian tribes lived in the north-eastern districts of Corduene.[17]

References

  1. ↑ "Peace of Nisibis." Encyclopædia Britannica. 2009. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 17 April 2009
  2. ↑ R.C. Blockley. The Romano-Persian Peace Treaties of A.D. 299 and 363. p. 35.
  3. ↑ Beate Dignas. Rome and Persia in Late Antiquity: Neighbours and Rivals. p. 132.
  4. ↑ J. B. Bury. A History of the Later Roman Empire From Arcadius to Irene Vol. 1. p. 304.
  5. ↑ Encyclopædia Iranica: IRAQ i. IN THE LATE SASANID AND EARLY ISLAMIC ERAS
  6. ↑ Geoffrey Greatrex. The Hunnic Invasion of the East of 395 and the Fortress of Ziatha. p. 67.
  7. ↑ Geoffrey Greatrex. The Two Fifth-Century Wars between Rome and Persia. p. 2.
  8. ↑ Geoffrey Greatrex. Roman Frontiers and Foreign Policy in the East. p. 120.
  9. ↑ Joshua the Stylite. A History of the Time of Affliction at Edessa and Amida and throughout all Mesopotamia. p. 22.
  10. ↑ Joshua the Stylite. The Chronicle of Pseudo-Joshua the Stylite. p. 34.
  11. ↑ George Frederick Young,East and West Through Fifteen Centuries: Being a General History from B.C. 44 to A.D. 1453, Vol.II, 674 pp., Longman, Green and Co. Publishers, 1916, p.336
  12. ↑ Cohen, Robin (2008). Global diasporas: an introduction. p. 49.
  13. ↑ Martindale, Jones & Morris 1992, p. 1023.
  14. ↑ Whitby 1988, p. 232.
  15. ↑ Joshua the Stylite. The Chronicle of Pseudo-Joshua the Stylite. p. 37.
  16. ↑ Ehsan Yarshater. The Cambridge History of Iran, Volume 3: The Seleucid, Parthian and Sasanid Periods. p. 761-762.
  17. ↑ Encyclopædia Iranica: ARBĀYISTĀN

Sources