Military History of Late Rome 361–395 by Ilkka Syvänne

Author:Ilkka Syvänne [Syvänne, Ilkka]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: History, Ancient, General, Military, Rome, Weapons, Strategy
ISBN: 9781473872240
Google: k7TZDwAAQBAJ
Publisher: Pen and Sword Military
Published: 2014-03-30T02:42:45+00:00

Battle of Vagabanta in 371 and the Battle of Bagawan in 371 or 372

According to Ammianus (29.1.1ff.), at the end of the winter of 370/1 Shapur had assembled together a sizable force with which he invaded Roman territory. The inexperienced Valens continued the wise policy of leaving the actual military operations to the better qualified generals, and sent against Shapur Comes Trajanus and Vadomarius, the former king of the Alamanni, with a very powerful army. According to Ammianus, Valens had given them the order to defend the territory and to demonstrate the futility of hostile action rather than attack the Persians. The armies met each other at a place called Vagabanta, which favoured the Roman legions. The location is unknown, but is usually thought to have been in Mesopotamia. However, since Bagawan and Vagabanta are so close to each other, it is possible that we should locate the battle in Armenia. The Roman legions supposedly met the charges of the cataphracts and archers unwillingly by waiting for their attack; then the Romans retreated so that they could not be considered to have violated the treaty, and started to fight back only when there was no other alternative. The Romans emerged victorious after having killed a multitude of Persians. I would suggest that Ammianus’ account is somewhat misleading. The Romans undoubtedly let the Persians start the hostilities so that they would have justice on their side, but at no point did the Romans decline to fight back when attacked. The incidental details make it certain that the Romans were using the hollow square formation and let the Persians make futile charges at it before launching their counter-attack with the cavalry posted inside.

According to Faustus’ version (5.4), Shapur launched a massive invasion against Armenia. The army was assembled at Tabriz, where Shapur stayed to coordinate the campaign while the campaign itself was led by Meruzhan Arcruni, the husband of Shapur’s sister (Faustus 5.4). The army (perhaps 70,000?) also included a sizable contingent of Albanians (c. 20,000–30,000 cav.?) under their king Urnayr. Notably, Urnayr ordered his men to spare the Roman captives because they were very useful as brickmakers, stonecutters, masons and so forth. The Romans under Terentius and Armenians under Mushel were well aware of the approaching invasion and assembled their forces. The armies came face-to-face near Bagawan below Mount Npat. My own educated guess is that the combined strength of the allies would also have been somewhere in the neighbourhood of 60,000–70,000 men (40,000 Romans and 20,000–30,000 Armenians). The overall commander was clearly Terentius who ordered the king to stay away from the fight with Nerseh on the Mount Npat. Moses (3.37) has confused the battles of Bagawan and Jiraw/Dzirav with each other, but his account makes it clear that both the Romans and Armenians employed infantry squares behind the cavalry. The Roman infantry square was placed on the left and the Armenian on the right, and in front of both were arrayed the horsemen. The Persians opposed the Romans and the Albanians the Armenians.

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