The Ecclesiastical History of Evagrius Scholasticus - Coptic ...

266
EVAGRIUS
troubles, and at the outset of the war we saw a newly-born calf on which
two heads sprang from its neck.
9 Chosroes, after he had made himself su⁄ciently ready for the war,
conducted Adarmaanes for a certain distance, sent him across the
Euphrates in his own land, and released him into the Roman domain
through the place called Circesium. Circesium is a town that is most strategic
for the Romans, being situated at the extremities of the state; not
only do its walls, which are raised up to an immeasurable height, make
it strong, but also the rivers Euphrates and Aboras which encircle and,
as it were, make the city an island. But Chosroes himself with his men
crossed the river Tigris and marched towards Nisibis. 33 These events
escaped Roman notice for a long time, with the result that Justin, trusting
a rumour which said that Chosroes was either dead or at his very last
gasp, grew angry at the apparent slowness of the siege of Nisibis, and
sent men to urge on Marcian and bring the keys of the gates as quickly
as possible. 34 But that the a¡air was making absolutely no progress at
all ^ or rather, indeed, that he incurred great disgrace in seeking the
impossible at such a great city as this, and with so inconsequential an
army ^ was reported ¢rst to Gregory, the bishop of Theopolis. For the
bishop of Nisibis was a particular friend [205] of Gregory, since he had
been honoured by him with great gifts, quite apart from his annoyance
33 This account of the opening of Khusro’s 573 campaign is rendered almost unintelligible
by geographical inaccuracies; were it not for the survival of a clearer account in John of
Epiphania (4^5; followed by Theophylact iii.10.6^7), it would be very di⁄cult to reconstruct
the sequence of events. In order to surprise the Roman army outside Nisibis, and at the same
time out£ank the Roman defenders and slip a raiding party into Syria, Khusro chose to
march up the east bank of the Euphrates rather than the more normal invasion route
which led up the Tigris to a crossing point near Fechkhabour and then west through northern
Mesopotamia (on these, see Whitby, Maurice 199^200).
The Roman frontier fortress of Circesium was located at the con£uence of the Euphrates
and Khabour (on its strong site and Justinian’s constructions, see Procopius, Buildings
ii.6.1^11); a few days’ journey to the south of the fort, Khusro dispatched 6,000 troops
under Adarmahan across the Euphrates to attack Syria, while the main part of the army
accompanied Khusro up the Khabour towards Nisibis. See further, Whitby, Maurice 256^
7.
34 The recovery of Nisibis, which the Romans had surrendered to the Persians after Julian’s
death in 363, seems to have been a particular objective for Justin since he revived
Roman claims to the city (Chron. 1234 65): after Marcian had abandoned the siege of Thebothon
and returned to Roman territory for Easter 573, Justin sent messengers to instruct
him to attack Nisibis; he presumably kept in regular touch with the progress of the siege.