Siege of Petra (550–551) 550
Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Year | 550 | Wikidata P580 (start time) |
|---|---|---|
| Era | Medieval (500–1499) | derived from year |
| Location | Georgia | Natural Earth (modern borders) |
| Continent | Asia | Natural Earth |
| War / conflict | Lazic War | Wikidata P361 |
| Participants | Byzantine Empire, Sabir people, Sasanian Empire | Wikidata P710 |
| Coordinates | 41.7683, 41.7533 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
The siege of Petra was fought in 550 AD, between the Byzantines (East Romans) under general Bessas, and the Sasanian Persian garrison of Petra in the buffer state of Lazica. The strategic fortress had previously been held by the Byzantines before it was seized in 541 by the Sasanian king Khosrow I, and his Lazi allies. This conquest gave the Sassanian Empire access to the Black Sea and marked the beginning of the Lazic War. After a failed attempt to recapture Petra in 549, the Byzantine emperor Justinian I sent an army under Bessas to retake the fortress. The Byzantine historian Procopius described the resulting siege in vivid detail.
The initial mining operations that were undertaken by the besiegers against the fort walls were ineffective. Based on advice from the Sabirs, their nomadic allies, the Byzantines constructed a type of lightweight battering ram that could be deployed on the sloped plain leading to the walls. The defenders responded by throwing incendiary bombs; however, a part of the wall was successfully damaged in the attempt. Bessas and his men attempted to scale the weakened wall twice, resulting in fierce fighting and heavy casualties. A second part of the wall also collapsed, causing both sides to divide their men.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Siege of Petra (550–551) (revision 1381250340), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; shortened by selecting paragraphs and trimming at a sentence boundary; formatting and citations removed. No text added.
Nearby battles
- Siege of Petra (549) 548 · 0 km
- Siege of Petra (541) 541 · 0 km
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Other battles of the Lazic War
- Siege of Petra (541) 541
- Siege of Edessa (544) 544
- Siege of Petra (549) 548
- Siege of Onoguris 555
- Siege of Phasis 555
All 6 battles of the Lazic War →
Browse more: battles in Georgia · Asia · Medieval battles