Battle of Misiche

The initial war began when the Roman Emperor Gordian III invaded the Sasanian Empire in 243 AD. His troops advanced as far as Misiche. The location of that city (or maybe a district) is conjectural,Ernst Herzfeld counters Rostovtzeff's view that it was in Assyria, writing "But Sas[anian] Asuristan is Babylonia..., and Mesiche is Pliny's Masice, the point on the Euphrates in the measurements of the Bematists." Herzfeld, The Persian Empire: Studies in Geography and Ethnography of the Ancient Near East (F. Steiner, 1968), p. 219. but is placed at modern Anbar.{{Sfn|Frye|1983|p=125}}

The Battle is mentioned on the trilingual inscription king Shapur I made at Naqsh-e Rustam:

When at first we had become established in the empire, Gordian Caesar assembled from all of the Roman, Goth and German lands a military force and marched on Asorestan (Mesopotamia) against the Ērānšahr (Sasanian Empire) and against us. On the border of Asorestan at Misiche, a great frontal battle occurred. Gordian Caesar was killed and the Roman force was destroyed. And the Romans made Philip Caesar. Then Philip Caesar came to us for terms, and to ransom their lives, gave us 500,000 denars, and became tributary to us. And for this reason we have renamed Misiche Peroz-Shapur [literally "Victorious Shapur"].Res Gestae Divi Saporis, 3-4 (translation of Shapur's inscription at Naqsh-e Rustam).

The Roman sources never admitted the defeat.{{cite book|last1=Potter|first1=David S.|title=The Roman Empire at Bay, AD 180–395|date=2014|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9781134694846|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hGuGAgAAQBAJ&pg=PT232|language=en}} The contemporary and later Roman sources claim that the Roman expedition was entirely or partially successful, but the emperor was murdered after a plot by Philip the Arab.This version of the events is accepted by Christian Körner, Philippus Arabs, Ein Soldatenkaiser in der Tradition des antoninisch-severischen Prinzipats, Walter de Gruyter, Berlin 2002. However, some recent sources speculate that the Sasanian victory must not be invented and reject Philip's plot as the ultimate reason of Gordian's death. While some sources claim that it isn't likely that Gordian died during the battle, as Shapur's inscription claims,{{sfn|Potter|2004|pp=234-235}}Michael I. Rostovtzeff, p.23 others state he died on the battlefield.{{cite book| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=MG2hqcRDvJgC&dq=siege+of+nisibis+252+sassanian+victory%2F&pg=PA22| title = Rome and Persia in Late Antiquity: Neighbours and Rivals| isbn = 9780521849258| last1 = Dignas| first1 = Beate| last2 = Winter| first2 = Engelbert| date = 13 September 2007}}, "They probably intended to get as far as the Sasanian capital Ktesiphon but at the beginning of the year 244, Shapur I scored a decisive victory against the Roman army at Misik. Gordian III died in battle"{{cite web| url = http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/shapur-i/| title = Encyclopaedia Iranica}} "It is understandable that Roman national pride transferred the responsibility of the defeat, in which Gordian III became the first Roman emperor to lose his life on enemy battlefield, to Philip. On the other hand, the feeling of the Sasanian triumph was immortalized in several rock-reliefs of Šāpur I, and the victory at Misiḵē was mentioned by a boastful Šāpur as the single military event within this first campaign."{{sfn|Brosius|2006|p=144}}{{Cite news |title=The Campaigns of Sassanian Emperor Shapur I |url=https://www.kavehfarrokh.com/news/the-campaigns-of-sassanian-emperor-shapur-i/ |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20241213150549/https://www.kavehfarrokh.com/news/the-campaigns-of-sassanian-emperor-shapur-i/ |archive-date=2024-12-13 |access-date=2025-04-03 |work=Dr. Kaveh Farrokh |language=en-US|quote=The Oracula Sibyllina (XIII, 13-20) and Zosimus (III, 32.4) clearly state that Gordian lost the final battle and his life fighting Shapur.}} The confusion of the sources about the expedition and the death of the emperor makes it possible that, after the defeat, Roman army was frustrated enough to get rid of the teenage emperor.{{sfn|Potter|2004|pp=234,236}}

The third tradition, reported in 6th century by John Malalas and three more eastern historians in 9th to 12th century, specifies that Gordianus crushed his thigh falling off his horse in battle and died of his injury, Malalas further specifying that he died on the way back. Roman sources claim that the soldiers proclaimed Philip emperor, that he made peace with Shapur on "shameful" terms, and that Gordian died as the Roman forces departed for the west.{{sfn|Shahbazi|2017}} Zonaras says that Gordian died after falling from his horse during a battle.{{sfn|Shahbazi|2017}} Scholarly analyses suggest the Sasanian version, "while defective[,] is superior" to the Roman one, which provides no explanation for why the victorious Roman army had to make peace on disadvantageous terms.{{sfn|Shahbazi|2017}} some other source states that Gordian III died under uncertain circumstances.{{sfn|Southern|2001|p=70}}

The two historians, Ilkka Syvänne, and Katarzyna Maksymiuk have stated in their book:

{{blockquote| Gordian appears to have only fallen off from his horse during the battle as a result of which his thigh was broken, but it is also possible that this was just one of the versions later spread by Philip to cover up his role in the murder of Gordian. Strictly speaking, Gordian was therefore not killed in action as claimed by the Persians. The Roman sources make it quite clear that Gordian died later at Zaitha between January and mid-March either as a result of his broken hip or at the hands of the supporters of Philip – in other words, he did not die at Misiche|author= Syvanne & Maksymiuk 2018, The military history of the Third Century Iran, p. 81{{sfn|Syvänne|Maksymiuk|2018|p=81}}

}}

Gordian's successor, Philip the Arab, was proclaimed emperor of Rome and made peace with Shapur. The next major clash between the two empires took place in 252, when Shapur defeated a large Roman force at the Battle of Barbalissos and successfully invaded Syria and part of Anatolia.

After Phillip signed the "shameful" treaty between him and Shapur I, giving off armenia and mesopotamia. He later broke the treaty and Seized Both of Mesopotamia and Armenia back under the Roman domain.{{Cite web|title=Welcome to Encyclopaedia Iranica |url=https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/shapur-i/|website=Encyclopædia Iranica|access-date=2025-06-14|quote=All say that Philip then swore friendship or made “a most shameful treaty” with Šāpur and ended the war. He even ceded Armenia and Mesopotamia but later broke the treaty and seized them.}}{{sfn|Martindale|1971|p=802}}

{{notes}}

{{reflist|2}}

• {{cite book | last = Frye | first = R. N. | chapter = The political history of Iran under the Sasanians | pages = 116–180 | title = The Cambridge History of Iran, Volume 3(1): The Seleucid, Parthian and Sasanian Periods | year = 1983 | publisher = Cambridge University Press | location=Cambridge | chapter-url= {{Google Books|Ko_RafMSGLkC|page=116|plainurl=y}} | editor-first = Ehsan | editor-last = Yarshater | isbn = 0-521-20092-X }}
• Rostovtzeff, Michael I. "[https://web.archive.org/web/20110610011837/http://ddc.aub.edu.lb/projects/archaeology/berytus-back/berytus08/17.html Res Gestae Divi Saporis and Dura]." Berytus 8:1 (1943): 17–60.
• Farrokh, Kaveh. Sassanian Elite Cavalry AD 224–642. Osprey, 2005. {{ISBN|978-1-84176-713-0}}
• {{cite book |date=1971 |first=J. R. |last=Martindale |author-link=John Robert Martindale |chapter=Shapur I |editor-first1=A. H. M. |editor-last1=Jones |editor-link1=A. H. M. Jones |editor-first2=J. R. |editor-last2=Martindale |editor-first3=J. |editor-last3=Morris |title=The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire: Volume 1, AD 260-395 |location=Cambridge, UK |publisher=Cambridge University |isbn=978-0-521-07233-5 |url=https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=uOHw4idqAeYC&pg=PA802 }}
• {{ cite book | last=Southern | first=Pat. | title=The Roman Empire from Severus to Constantine | publisher=Routledge | date=2001 | isbn=978-0-415-23943-1 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DWiyzw91atgC }}
• {{cite book |title=The Persians |first=Maria |last=Brosius |publisher=Routledge |year=2006 }}
• {{cite encyclopedia |last1=Shahbazi |first1=Shapur |author-link1=Shapur Shahbazi |title=ŠĀPUR I |encyclopedia=Encyclopaedia Iranica |url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/shapur-i |access-date=24 February 2020 |year= 2017}}
• {{cite book |date=2018 |first1=Ilkka |last1=Syvänne |first2=Katarzyna |last2=Maksymiuk |title=The Military History of the Third Century Iran |location=Siedlce, Poland |publisher=Siedlce University |isbn=978-83-7051-894-3 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/327416085_Ilkka_Syvanne_Katarzyna_Maksymiuk_The_Military_History_of_the_Third_Century_Iran_Siedlce_Scientific_Publishing_House_of_Siedlce_University_of_Natural_Sciences_and_Humanities_2018 }}
• {{ cite book | last=Potter | first=David S. | author-link=David S. Potter | title=The Roman Empire at Bay AD 180–395 | date=2004 | publisher=Routledge | isbn=0-415-10058-5 }}

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Misiche

Mische

Misiche

Misiche

Category:244

Category:240s in the Roman Empire

Category:History of Al Anbar Governorate

Category:3rd century in Iran

Misiche

Misiche

Category:Battles of Shapur I