Late Roman Empire: 53*Diocletian, 54*Maximian: Galerius’ Sassanid War (297-298), [5/9]

Galerius’ Sassanid War (297-298), [5/9]

In 297 Galerius crossed the Euphrates with an army and north of the river, between the city of Callinicum (=Raqqa) and the town of Carrhae, he met the king in battle. Narseh’s forces were the greater number and Romans were badly defeated.

The next year, Galerius assembled a second army and initiated a campaign into Armenia. There, at Satala (=Sadak), the Romans defeated the Persian army. Galerius captured the king’s harem and seized the Persian capital of Ctesiphon as well as the strategic fortress of Nisibis. Here he was joined by Diocletian for the final peace negotiations with Narseh.

For the return of his wives and children Narseh agreed to surrender Mesopotamia, which now extended to the west bank of the Tigris, acknowledged Greater Armenia and the kingdom of Iberia south of the Caucasus as Roman protectorates, and agreed that trade between the Roman and Persian empires must pass through the Roman customs centre at Nisibis. Galerius’ victory ensured that the Persians did risk war with Rome for another fifty years.