Battle of Inakia between the Persians and the Romans

Metawh1

12 Jul, 2025

Introduction

The Battle of Inakia (or Inanka) was one of the decisive battles between the Sassanid Persian Empire and the Eastern Roman Byzantine Empire. This battle occurred within the framework of the long and complex wars between the Persians and the Romans, which were characterized by military, political, and religious competition for influence in the Fertile Crescent, Anatolia, and the Levant.

Place and time of the battle:

The battle took place in 502 AD in an area known as Amanus (near Inakia or Inanka), which is located on the border between Asia Minor and Mesopotamia.

Parties of the battle:

An illustrative image of the Battle of Anakia between the Byzantines and the Persians.

The Sassanian Persians, led by King Qubadh I (Qubadh ibn Firuz). The Byzantine Romans, led by General Ariobindus, during the reign of Emperor Anastasius I.

Political theater at the time

The two great empires in the world at the time of the mission of the Arab Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) were: the Roman Empire, with its capital Constantinople, which was founded by Emperor Constantine, and it is now Istanbul.

The Persian Empire, whose capital was Al-Mada'in, founded by Khosrow I, near Baghdad. Its current name is Salman Pak, meaning Salman the Pure, because it contains the tomb of Salman the Persian. The massive Arch of Khosrow, the grand hall in Khosrow's palace, still stands there.

Khosrau ruled a part of Iraq directly, and there were large Arab tribes in Iraq

Bahrain and its surroundings were also under the direct rule of Khosrow, who appointed a ruler called the Marzban.

Yemen was under the rule of Khosrau, and there was a Persian ruler alongside the king, from the sons of those who had liberated it from Abyssinia with Saif bin Dhi Yazan. There were many powerful Arab tribes in it.

The tribes of the Hijaz were semi-independent, the most prominent of which was the Quraysh because of their guardianship of the Kaaba.

The rule of Khosrau included Persia, Transoxiana, and a part of India. The Levant was an area of conflict between the Persians and the Romans, and the Persians had gained control over it. The Qur’an informed us that the Romans would defeat them after a few years.

The Roman Empire was vast, encompassing most of Western and Eastern Europe. The Caesar of Eastern Rome, based in Constantinople, ruled Turkey, the Levant, Palestine, Egypt, and Ethiopia, extending his influence from there to Africa. He also extended his influence from the Levant to Al-Jawf in the center of the Arabian Peninsula.

As for the rest of the world's countries, the most important were India and China, which were viewed as remote, self-contained countries. There were small kingdoms ruled by dynasties and tribes .

The Byzantine Empire had a wide extension from the Euphrates to Alexandria, which became part of the Islamic lands, in addition to what was in the lands of the Romans, which was in their hands up to this point.

Their greatest cities were: Edessa in Land of the Arabian Peninsula, which is part of the land of Mudar, then Antioch, which contains the seat of Peter and the hand of John the Baptist, in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. It is the fourth seat and the great patriarch.

What was in the Roman Empire and became Islam: the land of Al-Jazira, including Harran, Edessa and the rest of its districts, Balis, Samosata, Malatya, Adana, Tarsus, the army of Qinnasrin, the capitals and the rest of its districts, the army of Homs, and the city of Homs, one of the counted cities in the Roman Empire, then Latakia, which is also from Homs, the army of Damascus, and the workers of the Roman king there were the Al-Jafna family of Ghassan, the army of Jordan, which was also theirs, and its workers on behalf of the Roman king were the Al-Jafna family of Ghassanids, the army of Palestine, Tanis, Damietta, and Alexandria

Battle Background:

King Kavadh I had initially sought support from the Roman emperor due to internal problems in Persia, but the emperor refused. After Kavadh had established himself in power, he decided to launch a campaign against the Romans to restore the prestige of the Sassanid state and expand its borders, particularly in areas of Roman influence in northeastern Syria and Asia Minor.

Battle course:

The Persians were able to achieve a great victory over the Byzantine forces, and several cities were captured, including the city of Amed (present-day Diyarbakir) and the city of Nisibis.

The Persians showed superiority in organization and supply, which enabled them to gain new lands.

With the Persian victory, Khosrow II (590-628) took advantage of a power struggle in the Byzantine Empire and launched a comprehensive occupation of Byzantine lands against the Byzantine king, Phocas. Khosrow II's dream was to restore the former borders of the Achaemenid Empire. The war began in 602 AD. In 608 AD, the Persian armies in Asia Minor reached Chrysopolis, opposite Constantinople, the capital of the Byzantine Empire (i.e., on the Asian side). At the same time, the Avar and Slav tribes allied with the Persians advanced in the Balkans to surround Constantinople from the other (European) side.

The armies of these tribes also invaded the entire Balkans and reached Athens. The Persians expanded their possessions in the Levant and Armenia. In 613, their armies reached Damascus. The Persians won several battles, including a decisive battle in the Hauran Plain between the cities of Bosra and Adhraat (present-day Daraa), and another at the Dead Sea. Then, in the following year, 614, the army of the Persian commander Shahrbaraz advanced to Aelia (Jerusalem). The Persians besieged it for about 20 days, then entered it by force and set it ablaze. The Jews (the traditional allies of the Persians) killed a large number of Christians, estimated by some historians at 57,000. The Persians destroyed the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and seized the Holy Cross,(The one Christians believe their god was crucified on) and transferred him to their capital, Mada'in. The fall of Jerusalem into the hands of the Persians was a great shock to Christians. This was the first time the holy city had fallen into non-Christian hands. They then advanced into Egypt, and Alexandria fell into their hands in 619.

This resulted in the interruption of wheat supplies to Constantinople and worsening economic conditions. By 622 AD, the Byzantine Empire was on the verge of collapse, and the borders of the former Achaemenid Empire were occupied on all fronts by the Sassanids, except for parts of Anatolia.

The expansion of Persian influence in the border regions, weakening Roman control over some strategic areas, paved the way for subsequent wars between the two empires, and the conflict continued until the advent of the Islamic conquest in the seventh century.