Geoffrey Greatrex (2005). Byzantium and the East in - Kaveh Farrokh

The Cambridge Companion to the Age of Justinian
against them: wintry conditions confine military campaigning to less
than half of the year through much of the area, and the rugged terrain
tends to benefit small forces rather than large armies. 48 The whole area
formed a patchwork of fiercely independent peoples, some of whom
shared a common culture and language – such as the Armenians –
but who were rarely united under a single ruler. Neat labels such as
“Armenia” and “Iberia” must consequently be treated with caution:
Armenians and Iberians could frequently be found on both sides of
the struggle between the major powers. In the year 530, for instance, a
Persian army, incorporating Armenian and other non-Persian contingents,
invaded Roman Armenia, where it was defeated by the Roman
commanders Sittas (himself an Armenian) and Dorotheus outside the
city of Satala. Shortly afterwards, as a consequence of the Roman victory,
two Armenian leaders, the brothers Narses and Aratius, deserted
the Persians and received a warm welcome from the Romans; their example
was soon followed by their younger brother, who simultaneously
handed over to the Romans an important border fortress. Meanwhile
other Armenians, such as a certain Symeon, preferred to take the opportunity
of the war to assert their independence. Symeon therefore
ceased to supply the Persians with gold from the mine he controlled,
handed over his territory to the Romans, and kept the gold for himself.
The Persian king Kavadh was eager to avenge this loss, but “the
Persians were not able against the will of the Romans to force the inhabitants
of the place to terms because they were baffled by the difficult
country.” 49
Right from the start, Justinian and his uncle had to work out how
best to perserve and extend Roman influence in this region. Success
would allow them to hold more securely the frontier lands already in
their possession, such as the Armenian provinces and the barely pacified
territories of the Tzani, and to stem the westward advance of Sasanian
power, which by 518 extended to the western Caucasus. They would
also be better able to maintain contacts with tribes beyond the Caucasus,
such as the Sabir Huns, who might become useful allies against the
Persians. An opportunity soon presented itself:
During his reign Tzath, the king of the Lazi, grew angry
and departed from Persian territory. (This was) while the
Persians were ruled by Kavadh, a friend of Tzath, king of
the Lazi, who had once been subject to the rule of Kavadh.
Thus whenever a king of the Lazi happened to die, his successor,
though from the race of the Lazi, was appointed and
496
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