Iranians History on This Day

Sep 23






The war between Iran and Rome in Abkhazia and driving out the Romans from Caucasia
This piece of history will be completely edited later On 23 September 542 AD, during the reign of Khosrow Anushirvan, the Iranian army took back the coastal city of Sukhumi (Tsukhumi) in Abkharia, from the Romans. The Romans, who had changed the name of the city (the present capital of Abkhazia) to Sebestopol, destroyed many buildings before leaving the city, among them the city’s citadel. The destroyed citadel, which later, due to the progress of the sea into land, went under water, has been discovered by archeologists recently. After driving out the Romans, instead of repairing the damaged buildings, which were threatened by sea storms, the Iranians built new parts and added them to the city. Less than 5% of the present population of the city is Georgian and the rest are Abkhazian, Russian, Armenian, and… The Iranian army, composed of armored cavalry regiments, (soldiers with metal uniforms and iron helmets) drove out the Romans also from the port of Batum (Petra), to such an extent that not a single Roman remained in Caucasia. Some Roman historians claim that it was due to prevalence of a communicable disease among the Roman soldiers that Polizarius was forced to withdraw his army. This was the second war between Iran and Rome in Caucasia, during the reign of Khosrow Anushirvan, and eventually the Romans had to pay penalty in gold to Iran, in order to accept peace. Until a hundred years after the fall of the Sassanian dynasty, Sukhumi was ruled by the successors of an Iranian governor who had been appointed by the Sassanians, and in 736 AD it was captured by the Arabs. Translation by Rowshan Lohrasbpour

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