Battle of Barbalissos

Battle of Barbalissos
Part of the Roman–Persian Wars
Date252 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]

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.

  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."