Battle of Callinicum

Battle of Callinicum
	Part of the Iberian War
Date	19 April 531 AD
Location	Callinicum, Syria, Byzantine Empire (modern Raqqa, northern Syria)
Result	Sasanian victory
Territorial; changes	No immediate change in territorial possessions
Belligerents
Byzantine Empire; Ghassanids	Sasanian Empire; Lakhmids
Commanders and leaders
Belisarius; Hermogenes; Sunicas & Simmas; Ascan †; Peter; Longinus †; Stephanacius †; Al-Harith ibn Jabalah; Domnentiolus (POW)	Azarethes; Al-Mundhir III ibn al-Nu'man
Strength
20,000 or 25,000 13,000 Byzantine infantry & cavalry; 5,000 Ghassanid cavalry; 2,000 Lycaonian infantry;	15,000 or 20,000 10,000 or 15,000 Persian cavalry; 5,000 Lakhmid cavalry;
Casualties and losses
Heavy	Heavy

The Battle of Callinicum took place on Easter Saturday, 19 April 531 AD, between an army of the Byzantine Empire under Belisarius and a Sasanian cavalry force commanded by Azarethes. After being defeated at the Battle of Dara, the Sasanians moved to invade Roman Syria in an attempt to turn the tide of the war. Belisarius' rapid response foiled the plan, and his troops pushed the Persians to the Syrian border through maneuvering before forcing a battle in which the Sasanians won a Pyrrhic victory.

^ The Empire at War, A.D. Lee, The Cambridge Companion to the Age of Justinian, ed. Michael Maas, (Cambridge University Press, 2005), 122.
^ Cite error: The named reference GreatrexLieu2002 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ Quraysh and the Roman Army: Making Sense of the Meccan Leather Trade, Patricia Crone, Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London Vol. 70, No. 1 (2007), 73.
^ ^a ^b Hughes, Ian (Historian). Belisarius : the last Roman general. Barnsley. ISBN 9781473822979. OCLC 903161296.
^ Geoffrey Greatrex and Samuel N.C. Lieu, The Roman Eastern Frontier and the Persian Wars AD 363–628, Part 2, (Routledge, 2002), 92.
^ According to Zacharias, just before the battle begins, the Romans found the Sasanians like a "little flock".

[1] The Empire at War, A.D. Lee, The Cambridge Companion to the Age of Justinian, ed. Michael Maas, (Cambridge University Press, 2005), 122.

[GreatrexLieu2002-2] Cite error: The named reference GreatrexLieu2002 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[3] Quraysh and the Roman Army: Making Sense of the Meccan Leather Trade, Patricia Crone, Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London Vol. 70, No. 1 (2007), 73.

[Hughes,_Ian_Historian-4] Hughes, Ian (Historian). Belisarius : the last Roman general. Barnsley. ISBN 9781473822979. OCLC 903161296.

[Greatrex-5] Geoffrey Greatrex and Samuel N.C. Lieu, The Roman Eastern Frontier and the Persian Wars AD 363–628, Part 2, (Routledge, 2002), 92.

[6] According to Zacharias, just before the battle begins, the Romans found the Sasanians like a "little flock".

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