Battle of Ctesiphon (363)
Encyclopedia
The Battle of Ctesiphon took place on May 29, 363 between the armies of Roman Emperor
Julian
and the Sassanid King
Shapur II outside the walls of the Persian capital Ctesiphon
. The battle was a Roman tactical victory, although Julian was killed following the subsequent Battle of Samarra
and the Roman forces found themselves unable to continue their campaign as they were too far from their supply lines.
died in the city of Mobsucrenae, leaving his cousin Flavius Claudius Julianus, known to history as Julian the Apostate
, as sole Emperor of Rome. Arriving at Constantinople
to oversee Constantius' burial, Julian immediately focused on domestic policy and began to greatly reform the Roman Imperial government by reorganizing, streamlining and reducing the bureaucracy.
Turning next to foreign policy, Julian saw the previously unchecked military incursions of Shapur II of Persia against the Eastern Roman provinces as posing the greatest external threat. After many failed earlier attempts, the Persian king launched a more successful second campaign against the Romans and captured Amida
in 359, controlling the headwaters of the Tigris
and the entrance to Asia Minor
from the east. A Roman offensive was desperately needed to halt Shapur.
With Julian's reputation and exploits during his years as Caesar and general of Gaul preceding him, Shapur preferred to negotiate a peace treaty with the intrepid young Julian. Believing it to be incumbent on himself to produce a more permanent settlement in the East, Julian responded to Shapur's calls for peace by saying that the Persian king would be seeing him very soon and began preparing for an expedition against the Sassanid dynasty, collecting all his legions and marching east from Constantinople. Carefully planning and crafting his Persian campaign for over a year, Julian transferred his capital and forward base for the coming war to Antioch, Syria in the summer of 362 and on March 5, 363, set out with 90,000 men while Shapur, along with the main Persian army, spah, was away from Ctesiphon. Per his devised plan of attack, Julian sent 30,000 soldiers under the command of his maternal cousin Procopius
to Armenia, with the aim of obtaining support from the King of Armenia for a clever and not looked-for double pincers movement against Shapur.
successfully march into his dominions, Shapur ordered his governors to undertake a scorched earth
policy until he reached the Sassanid capital, Ctesiphon, with the main Persian army. However after a few minor skirmishes and sieges Julian arrived with his undefeated army before Shapur II to the walls of Ctesiphon on May 29. Outside the walls a Persian army under Spahbod
Merena
was formed up for battle across the Tigris
.
Julian's subordinate commanders were nervous, as the Persian army featured cataphract
s in the centre and the formidable clibanarii
on the wings. There were also war elephant
s and masses of infantry
to the rear. However, Julian had already shown himself to be both a competent and confident general and did not share his subordinates’ worries. Instead, he drew up his army in a crescent
formation, designed to achieve envelopment of Shapur's forces, and crossed the river to engage the enemy.
The wings of the Romans advanced swiftly and battle was joined. Contrary to expectations, the battle was a stunning tactical victory for the Romans, losing only 70 men to the Persians' 2,500 men . One of the Christian sources and not one friendly to the pagan Julian, Socrates Scholasticus
, even states that Julian's victories up to this point in the campaign had been so great that they caused Shapur to offer Julian a large portion of the Persian domains if he and his legions would withdraw from Ctesiphon. But Julian rejected this offer out of desire for the glory of taking the Persian capital and defeating Shapur in battle which would earn him the honorific of Parthicus. However, Julian lacked the equipment to lay siege
to the strongly fortified Ctesiphon, and the main Sassanid army, commanded by Shapur and far larger than the one just defeated, was closing in quickly. Also critical was the failure of Procopius to arrive with the 30,000 detachment of the Roman army that could have aided Julian in crushing Shapur's approaching force as he had intended. For as previously captured Satraps had testified after being fairly treated by Julian, the capture or death of Shapur would have compelled the Persian city to open its gates to the new Roman conqueror. While Julian was in favor of advancing further into Persian territory, he was overruled by his officers. Roman morale was low, disease was spreading, and there was very little forage
around.
agreed to retreat back along the Tigris and look for Procopius and the other half of his army that had failed to coordinate the double-pincers movement with him outside of Ctesiphon as had been planned. On June 16, 363, the retreat began and ten days later, outside Samarra
, the army’s rearguard came under heavy attack. Not even pausing to put on his armour, Julian plunged into the fray shouting encouragement to his men. Just as the Persians were beginning to pull out with heavy losses, Julian was struck in the side by a flying spear. His liver fatally pierced, Julian died before midnight, on June 26, 363. Considered apocryphal is the report that his dying words were "Vicisti, Galilæe" ("Thou hast conquered, Galilean"), supposedly expressing his recognition that, with his death, Christianity
would become the Empire's state religion.
Libanius
in his orations commemorating the life and deeds of the last legitimate pagan Roman Emperor, initially stated that Julian
was assassinated by a Christian who was one of his own soldiers, but later stated that the assassin was a Saracen, or Persian mercenary. Ammianus Marcellinus
, Julian's chief biographer and highly valued and praised historian of 354–378, also sheds doubt that a Christian was the guilty party and echoes Libanius' later thoughts that an unknown Persian committed the deed that cost Rome dearly. As a result, the truth of who killed Julian
may never be known with certainty.
was succeeded by the short-lived emperor Jovian, who lacked the martial vigor and strong will of his honored predecessor. As the Roman army was deep inside Sassanid territory, the inexperienced Jovian chose to make peace with Shapur, a peace received on unfavorable terms, in order to be allowed to safely lead his troops back to Roman territory. The humiliating peace terms required that the districts on the Tigris
and Nisibis
(a total of five Roman provinces) be ceded to the Persians, and the Romans promised to no longer interfere in the political affairs of Armenia
. The death of Julian brought about the demise of formerly unchallenged Roman military supremacy in the East as the campaign of 363 would be the last great offensive campaign that consisted of legions and auxiliaries nearing 95,000 strong. Rome not only lost an effective and competent emperor and general in Julian
, but its military policy after his death shifted permanently to a defensive posture.
Roman Emperor
The Roman emperor was the ruler of the Roman State during the imperial period . The Romans had no single term for the office although at any given time, a given title was associated with the emperor...
Julian
Julian the Apostate
Julian "the Apostate" , commonly known as Julian, or also Julian the Philosopher, was Roman Emperor from 361 to 363 and a noted philosopher and Greek writer....
and the Sassanid King
Sassanid Empire
The Sassanid Empire , known to its inhabitants as Ērānshahr and Ērān in Middle Persian and resulting in the New Persian terms Iranshahr and Iran , was the last pre-Islamic Persian Empire, ruled by the Sasanian Dynasty from 224 to 651...
Shapur II outside the walls of the Persian capital Ctesiphon
Ctesiphon
Ctesiphon, the imperial capital of the Parthian Arsacids and of the Persian Sassanids, was one of the great cities of ancient Mesopotamia.The ruins of the city are located on the east bank of the Tigris, across the river from the Hellenistic city of Seleucia...
. The battle was a Roman tactical victory, although Julian was killed following the subsequent Battle of Samarra
Battle of Samarra
The Battle of Samarra took place 26 June 363, after the invasion of Sassanid Persia by the Roman Emperor Julian. A major skirmish, the fighting was indecisive but Julian was killed in the battle...
and the Roman forces found themselves unable to continue their campaign as they were too far from their supply lines.
Background
On November 3, 361, Constantius IIConstantius II
Constantius II , was Roman Emperor from 337 to 361. The second son of Constantine I and Fausta, he ascended to the throne with his brothers Constantine II and Constans upon their father's death....
died in the city of Mobsucrenae, leaving his cousin Flavius Claudius Julianus, known to history as Julian the Apostate
Julian the Apostate
Julian "the Apostate" , commonly known as Julian, or also Julian the Philosopher, was Roman Emperor from 361 to 363 and a noted philosopher and Greek writer....
, as sole Emperor of Rome. Arriving at Constantinople
Constantinople
Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...
to oversee Constantius' burial, Julian immediately focused on domestic policy and began to greatly reform the Roman Imperial government by reorganizing, streamlining and reducing the bureaucracy.
Turning next to foreign policy, Julian saw the previously unchecked military incursions of Shapur II of Persia against the Eastern Roman provinces as posing the greatest external threat. After many failed earlier attempts, the Persian king launched a more successful second campaign against the Romans and captured Amida
Diyarbakır
Diyarbakır is one of the largest cities in southeastern Turkey...
in 359, controlling the headwaters of the Tigris
Tigris
The Tigris River is the eastern member of the two great rivers that define Mesopotamia, the other being the Euphrates. The river flows south from the mountains of southeastern Turkey through Iraq.-Geography:...
and the entrance to Asia Minor
Asia Minor
Asia Minor is a geographical location at the westernmost protrusion of Asia, also called Anatolia, and corresponds to the western two thirds of the Asian part of Turkey...
from the east. A Roman offensive was desperately needed to halt Shapur.
With Julian's reputation and exploits during his years as Caesar and general of Gaul preceding him, Shapur preferred to negotiate a peace treaty with the intrepid young Julian. Believing it to be incumbent on himself to produce a more permanent settlement in the East, Julian responded to Shapur's calls for peace by saying that the Persian king would be seeing him very soon and began preparing for an expedition against the Sassanid dynasty, collecting all his legions and marching east from Constantinople. Carefully planning and crafting his Persian campaign for over a year, Julian transferred his capital and forward base for the coming war to Antioch, Syria in the summer of 362 and on March 5, 363, set out with 90,000 men while Shapur, along with the main Persian army, spah, was away from Ctesiphon. Per his devised plan of attack, Julian sent 30,000 soldiers under the command of his maternal cousin Procopius
Procopius (usurper)
Procopius was a Roman usurper against Valens, and member of the Constantinian dynasty.- Life :According to Ammianus Marcellinus, Procopius was a native and spent his youth in Cilicia, probably in Corycus. On his mother's side, Procopius was related, a maternal cousin, to Emperor Julian, since...
to Armenia, with the aim of obtaining support from the King of Armenia for a clever and not looked-for double pincers movement against Shapur.
The battle
Seeing JulianJulian
Julian is a common male given name in Britain, United States, Ireland, Germany, Poland, the Netherlands, France , Spain, Latin America and elsewhere....
successfully march into his dominions, Shapur ordered his governors to undertake a scorched earth
Scorched earth
A scorched earth policy is a military strategy or operational method which involves destroying anything that might be useful to the enemy while advancing through or withdrawing from an area...
policy until he reached the Sassanid capital, Ctesiphon, with the main Persian army. However after a few minor skirmishes and sieges Julian arrived with his undefeated army before Shapur II to the walls of Ctesiphon on May 29. Outside the walls a Persian army under Spahbod
Spahbod
Spahbod or Spahbed , is derived from the words Spah and bod ; or "Aspah'Paeity" , and means commander of cavaliers/ knights; alternatively Spah Salar was a rank used in the Parthian empire and more widely in the Sassanid Empire of Persia...
Merena
Merena
Spahbod Merena was a commander of the Sassanid Empire during the reign of Shapur II during the 4th century's Roman-Persian Wars. He is noted for commanding the Sassanid army at the Battle of Ctesiphon in 363, which took place across the River Tigris, outside the Sassanid capital Ctesiphon in what...
was formed up for battle across the Tigris
Tigris
The Tigris River is the eastern member of the two great rivers that define Mesopotamia, the other being the Euphrates. The river flows south from the mountains of southeastern Turkey through Iraq.-Geography:...
.
Julian's subordinate commanders were nervous, as the Persian army featured cataphract
Cataphract
A cataphract was a form of armored heavy cavalry utilised in ancient warfare by a number of peoples in Western Eurasia and the Eurasian Steppe....
s in the centre and the formidable clibanarii
Clibanarii
The Clibanarii or Klibanophoroi were a Sassanid Persian, late Roman and Byzantine military unit of heavy armored horsemen. Similar to the cataphracti, the horsemen themselves and their horses were fully armoured...
on the wings. There were also war elephant
War elephant
A war elephant was an elephant trained and guided by humans for combat. Their main use was to charge the enemy, trampling them and breaking their ranks. A division of war elephants is known as elephantry....
s and masses of infantry
Infantry
Infantrymen are soldiers who are specifically trained for the role of fighting on foot to engage the enemy face to face and have historically borne the brunt of the casualties of combat in wars. As the oldest branch of combat arms, they are the backbone of armies...
to the rear. However, Julian had already shown himself to be both a competent and confident general and did not share his subordinates’ worries. Instead, he drew up his army in a crescent
Crescent
In art and symbolism, a crescent is generally the shape produced when a circular disk has a segment of another circle removed from its edge, so that what remains is a shape enclosed by two circular arcs of different diameters which intersect at two points .In astronomy, a crescent...
formation, designed to achieve envelopment of Shapur's forces, and crossed the river to engage the enemy.
The wings of the Romans advanced swiftly and battle was joined. Contrary to expectations, the battle was a stunning tactical victory for the Romans, losing only 70 men to the Persians' 2,500 men . One of the Christian sources and not one friendly to the pagan Julian, Socrates Scholasticus
Socrates Scholasticus
Socrates of Constantinople, also known as Socrates Scholasticus, not to be confused with the Greek philosopher Socrates, was a Greek Christian church historian, a contemporary of Sozomen and Theodoret, who used his work; he was born at Constantinople c. 380: the date of his death is unknown...
, even states that Julian's victories up to this point in the campaign had been so great that they caused Shapur to offer Julian a large portion of the Persian domains if he and his legions would withdraw from Ctesiphon. But Julian rejected this offer out of desire for the glory of taking the Persian capital and defeating Shapur in battle which would earn him the honorific of Parthicus. However, Julian lacked the equipment to lay siege
Siege
A siege is a military blockade of a city or fortress with the intent of conquering by attrition or assault. The term derives from sedere, Latin for "to sit". Generally speaking, siege warfare is a form of constant, low intensity conflict characterized by one party holding a strong, static...
to the strongly fortified Ctesiphon, and the main Sassanid army, commanded by Shapur and far larger than the one just defeated, was closing in quickly. Also critical was the failure of Procopius to arrive with the 30,000 detachment of the Roman army that could have aided Julian in crushing Shapur's approaching force as he had intended. For as previously captured Satraps had testified after being fairly treated by Julian, the capture or death of Shapur would have compelled the Persian city to open its gates to the new Roman conqueror. While Julian was in favor of advancing further into Persian territory, he was overruled by his officers. Roman morale was low, disease was spreading, and there was very little forage
Fodder
Fodder or animal feed is any agricultural foodstuff used specifically to feed domesticated livestock such as cattle, goats, sheep, horses, chickens and pigs. Most animal feed is from plants but some is of animal origin...
around.
Death of Emperor Julian
Reluctantly, JulianJulian
Julian is a common male given name in Britain, United States, Ireland, Germany, Poland, the Netherlands, France , Spain, Latin America and elsewhere....
agreed to retreat back along the Tigris and look for Procopius and the other half of his army that had failed to coordinate the double-pincers movement with him outside of Ctesiphon as had been planned. On June 16, 363, the retreat began and ten days later, outside Samarra
Samarra
Sāmarrā is a city in Iraq. It stands on the east bank of the Tigris in the Salah ad-Din Governorate, north of Baghdad and, in 2003, had an estimated population of 348,700....
, the army’s rearguard came under heavy attack. Not even pausing to put on his armour, Julian plunged into the fray shouting encouragement to his men. Just as the Persians were beginning to pull out with heavy losses, Julian was struck in the side by a flying spear. His liver fatally pierced, Julian died before midnight, on June 26, 363. Considered apocryphal is the report that his dying words were "Vicisti, Galilæe" ("Thou hast conquered, Galilean"), supposedly expressing his recognition that, with his death, Christianity
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
would become the Empire's state religion.
Libanius
Libanius
Libanius was a Greek-speaking teacher of rhetoric of the Sophist school. During the rise of Christian hegemony in the later Roman Empire, he remained unconverted and regarded himself as a Hellene in religious matters.-Life:...
in his orations commemorating the life and deeds of the last legitimate pagan Roman Emperor, initially stated that Julian
Julian
Julian is a common male given name in Britain, United States, Ireland, Germany, Poland, the Netherlands, France , Spain, Latin America and elsewhere....
was assassinated by a Christian who was one of his own soldiers, but later stated that the assassin was a Saracen, or Persian mercenary. Ammianus Marcellinus
Ammianus Marcellinus
Ammianus Marcellinus was a fourth-century Roman historian. He wrote the penultimate major historical account surviving from Antiquity...
, Julian's chief biographer and highly valued and praised historian of 354–378, also sheds doubt that a Christian was the guilty party and echoes Libanius' later thoughts that an unknown Persian committed the deed that cost Rome dearly. As a result, the truth of who killed Julian
Julian
Julian is a common male given name in Britain, United States, Ireland, Germany, Poland, the Netherlands, France , Spain, Latin America and elsewhere....
may never be known with certainty.
Aftermath
JulianJulian the Apostate
Julian "the Apostate" , commonly known as Julian, or also Julian the Philosopher, was Roman Emperor from 361 to 363 and a noted philosopher and Greek writer....
was succeeded by the short-lived emperor Jovian, who lacked the martial vigor and strong will of his honored predecessor. As the Roman army was deep inside Sassanid territory, the inexperienced Jovian chose to make peace with Shapur, a peace received on unfavorable terms, in order to be allowed to safely lead his troops back to Roman territory. The humiliating peace terms required that the districts on the Tigris
Tigris
The Tigris River is the eastern member of the two great rivers that define Mesopotamia, the other being the Euphrates. The river flows south from the mountains of southeastern Turkey through Iraq.-Geography:...
and Nisibis
Nisibis
Nusaybin Nisêbîn) is a city in Mardin Province, Turkey, populated mainly by Kurds. Earlier Arameans, Arabs, and Armenians lived in the city. The population of the city is 83,832 as of 2009.-Ancient Period:...
(a total of five Roman provinces) be ceded to the Persians, and the Romans promised to no longer interfere in the political affairs of Armenia
Armenia
Armenia , officially the Republic of Armenia , is a landlocked mountainous country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia...
. The death of Julian brought about the demise of formerly unchallenged Roman military supremacy in the East as the campaign of 363 would be the last great offensive campaign that consisted of legions and auxiliaries nearing 95,000 strong. Rome not only lost an effective and competent emperor and general in Julian
Julian
Julian is a common male given name in Britain, United States, Ireland, Germany, Poland, the Netherlands, France , Spain, Latin America and elsewhere....
, but its military policy after his death shifted permanently to a defensive posture.