Lazic War
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The Lazic War, or Egrisi Great War as it is known in Georgian historiography, refers to the twenty-year war between Byzantium and Iran Sassanid Empire for controlling the western Georgian Kingdom of Egrisi/ Lazica in 542-562.
The Sassanids recognized Lazica (Egrisi) as the Byzantine sphere of influence by the Eternal Peace Treaty of 532. However, Byzantine encroachment and efforts to establish its own administration resulted in Egrisian uprising in 541. Lazic King Gubazes II appealed to Persian Shah Chosroes I (Khosro Anushirvan) for help. In 542, Persians invaded Egrisi (Lazica) thus beginning the Lazic war. Persian and Lazic troops defeated the Byzantines and their main stronghold took Petra. However, the Shah’s attempt to establish a direct Persian control over the country and the missionary zeal of the Zoroastrian priests soon caused discontent in Christian Lazica and King Gubazes revolted, now against the Persians in 548. Gubazes II requested aid from Caesar Justinian I and brought Alans and Sabirs to an alliance. Justinian sent 7,000 Roman and 1,000 auxiliaries of the Zani (Sanni, relatives of the Lazi) under Dagisthaeus to assist Gubazes and invested Petra fortress. Persian reinforcements under Mermeroes (Mihr-Mihroe) routed the Byzantine corps and released the besieged city of Petra. In 550, the Lazic-Byzantine forces under Dagisthaeus defeated the Persians in the battle of Phasis River (the modern Rioni River). In response, a large Sassanian army led by Farroxan attacked Lazica, but was routed near the river C‘xenis-c‘qali. Farroxan himself was killed in the battle. Bessas, who replaced Dagisthaeus as the commander of the allies, succeeded in taking Petra and defeated Mermeroes at Archaeopolis in 551. However, the latter counterattacked and took the city of Kutatisi (now Kutaisi) and the fortress of Uchimerion. In the summer of 553, Mermeroes defeated the allies at Telephis and forced the Byzantines to retreat from to Nesos.
After the death of Mermeroes, Nachoragan was appointed the Persian commander in 554. Following an abortive attack on the Persians at Onoguris, the defeated Byzantines were forced to abandon Archaeopolis, a city which Mermeroes had twice tried and failed to take. These defeats caused a bitter feud between the Egrisians and Byzantines. Lazican king Gubazes quarreled with Byzantine commanders Bessas, Martin, and Rusticus, complaining to Justinian. Bessas was recalled, but Rusticus and his brother John murdered Gubazes. The Lazi people got the Emperor to nominate Tzathes, the younger brother of Gubazes as their new king, and Senator Athanasius investigated the assassination. Rusticus and John were arrested, tried, and executed. In 555, the allies retook Archaeopolis and routed the Persian general Nachorgan in his unsuccessful attack on Phasis (now Poti). In the years that followed, the Persians were finally expelled from Egrisi.
The 557 truce ended the hostilities between Byzantium and Persia. In 562, the Persian ruler Chosroes I made the Fifty Years Peace with the Byzantine Empire and recognized Lazica as the Byzantine vassal state for an annual payment of gold. The Lazic war is narrated in details through many pages of Procopius of Caesarea and Agathias Scholastikos.
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