In the war against the Sasanids there was a soldier who had come to Asia Minor, who with his heroic efforts in the war distinguished himself among the Armenians. Later this soldier settled down in Armenia and founded the famous house of Mamikonian.
But in year 293 Narseh sat on the Sasanid throne and in year 296 he declared war against Rome in order to recapture Armenia and Mesopotamia. The Sasanids attacked Armenia, but the country, under the leadership of its king Tirdat III, was able to defend itself successfully. Nevertheless, the Sasanids managed to conquer a part of Mesopotamia.
However, during this period the Roman Empire and the "Union of the Mediterranean countries" was founded, which was the result of the efforts of the extremely competent Emperor Diocletianus. Renan noted: "If there is something that can be proof that the Roman Empire ever existed because of its nature, then it is exactly that nature which did not allow if to disintegrate during the chaotic years of 236-284. It had enough breaths left to once again to be revived by the shakings of Diocletianus." 18
Emperor Diocletianus came to the east with his army and went to war against the Sasanids. He sent an army of 25,000 warriors (special troops and the infamous Illyrian legions) under the command of the famous Galerius to Armenia, where they were joined by the Armenian troops with king Tirdat III at their head. The units which attacked Mesopotamia were led by the emperor personally, but it was in Armenia where the decisive battle took place: the Sasanids suffered a definitive defeat in 297 and Nasesh's harem and assets fell into the hands of the Roman-Armenian army. Thereafter the Persian king requested peace and according to the peace treaty Mesopotamia was returned to the Romans.
This war was one of the most glorious wars in the history of Armenia and the important role which king Tirdat III and the Armenian army played during the successful Roman attack on Persia has been chronicled by the historians. Gibbon wrote: "After the war, the triumphant King Tirdat III received great respect and brought peace and tranquillity to his country by his evident courage and loyalty towards Rome." 21
And Diocletianus, as we already know, has gone down in history as one of the great administrators and builders of Rome. He accomplished great works in Rome, which can be regarded as among the greatest until then. These accomplishments were among others the separation of the different professions and services within the government and the army, the creation of an active and competent government, the division of the states under Roman rule into smaller provinces (something that decreased the power of the local governments), the foundations of a governorship on a provincial level and border guards at the limits of the empire.
The importance of the role of Armenia in the defence of the eastern borders of Rome did not pass Diocletianus', eye unnoticed. Not only did he leave an independent Armenia outside the borders of Rome, but did everything in his power to strengthen the country. When he pushed out the borders of the Roman Empire toward the western shores of the Lake Van, which meant that Armenia lost its territory in the west, the country was granted new territory in the southeast as a reward. This meant that Armenia, after the peace treaty with the Sasanids, was given the whole of presentday Iranian Azerbaijan.
|
