Julian’s Persian expedition and the Peace of 363, 363

Julian’s Persian expedition and the Peace of 363

Julian led a large army and a river fleet down the Euphrates to Ctesiphon and defeated the Persians before the city, but could not take it; he burned his fleet, marched inland, was forced to retreat and on 26 June was mortally wounded in a skirmish near Samarra. His successor Jovian saved the army with a thirty-year peace that surrendered Nisibis, Singara and five regions beyond the Tigris and abandoned Armenia to Persia.

Date

5 March 363 – July 363start: exact date; end: month known · duration: ≈ 4 monthsDate in the Julian calendar

Place

Ctesiphontoday: Salman Pak, Baghdad Governorate, Iraq · Middle East and Egypt

Route

Antioch → Carrhae → Callinicum → Circesium → Ctesiphon → Samarra

Participants

Julian the Apostate, Jovian, Shapur II, Roman Empire, Sasanian Empire, Kingdom of Armenia, Ammianus Marcellinus

Threads

Middle East and Egypt (1st–5th c.)

Also known as

Julian's Persian War; Treaty of 363; Peace of Jovian; Персидский поход Юлиана Отступника; Мир Иовиана; Нисибисский мирный договор 363 года

Julian set out from Antioch on 5 March 363, determined to avenge the losses of the previous years and — in the view of some modern historians — to prove the favour of the old gods whose worship he was trying to restore. A detachment under Procopius and Sebastianus was sent towards the Tigris to join King Arshak II of Armenia, while Julian with the main army and a fleet of some 1,100 ships — by Ammianus, 1,000 supply ships, 50 warships and 50 for bridging — marched down the Euphrates, taking and destroying Pirisabora and Maiozamalcha. The fleet was brought through a canal into the Tigris; the army forced a crossing and routed a Persian force before Ctesiphon — by Ammianus’s figures, 2,500 Persians fell against 70 Romans. But the northern army never arrived, the capital was too strong to besiege, and Shapur’s main army was approaching. Julian burned the fleet and most of the provisions and marched into the interior, where the Persians laid waste the land and avoided battle; short of food, the army turned north under constant attack. On 26 June, rushing without his armour to a threatened part of the column, Julian was struck by a javelin and died that night; whether the blow came from a Persian or from one of his own soldiers was already disputed in antiquity.

The officers chose Jovian, a commander of the imperial guard. Trapped at Dura on the Tigris with food for four days, he accepted Shapur’s terms: a thirty-year truce, the return of the five regions beyond the Tigris ceded in 298/299, the surrender of Nisibis, Singara and Castra Maurorum, and the renunciation of Rome’s alliance with Armenia. The people of Nisibis had to leave their city, which was resettled with Persians. Ammianus Marcellinus, who marched with the army, left the fullest account. The death of Julian, the last pagan emperor, ended his attempt to restore the old religion; the Christian Jovian revoked his measures against the Christians and died in February 364.

Connections

Part of

Reign of Shapur II309–379 · Middle East and Egypt

Related events

Peace of Nisibisbetween 298 and 299 · Middle East and Egyptthe treaty of 363 undid the settlement of 298/299 and returned the regions beyond the Tigris to Persia

Siege of Amida359 · Middle East and EgyptJulian set out to avenge the losses of 359–360, beginning with Amida

Same participants

Same place

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Mani begins his mission240 · Middle East and Egypt

Siege of Baghdad29 January – 10 February 1258 · Middle East and Egypt

Capture of Baghdad by Suleiman Ibetween November and December 1534 · Middle East and Egypt

Adjacent events in the thread

Julian’s Persian expedition and the Peace of 363

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