Battle of Edessa

The Battle of Edessa took place between the armies of the Roman Empire under the command of Emperor Valerian and the Sasanian Empire (an Iranian imperial dynasty) under Shahanshah (King of the Kings) Shapur I, in Edessa (now the Turkish city of Urfa) in 260. The Roman army was defeated and captured in its entirety by the Iranian forces; for the first time, a Roman emperor was taken prisoner. Prior to the battle, Shapur I had penetrated several times deeply into Roman territory, conquering and plundering Antioch in Syria in 253 or 256. After defeating the usurper Aemilianus and assuming imperial power for himself, Valerian arrived in the eastern provinces as soon as he could (254 or 255) and gradually restored order. Soon he had to confront a naval Gothic invasion in northern Asia Minor. The Goths ravaged Pontus and moved south into Cappadocia. An attempt by Valerian and his army in Antiocheia to intercept them failed because of the plague. While Valerian's army was in that weakened state, Shapur invaded northern Mesopotamia in 260, probably in early spring. In his sixties, the aged Valerian marched eastward to the Sasanian borders. According to Shapur I's inscription at the Ka'ba-ye Zartosht, Valerian met the main Persian army, under the command of Shapur I, between Carrhae and Edessa (in Middle from almost every part of the Roman Empire, together with Germanic allies, and was thoroughly defeated and captured with his entire army. According to Roman sources, which are not very clear, the Roman army was defeated and besieged by the Persian forces. Valerian subsequently tried to negotiate, but he was captured; it is possible that his army surrendered after that. The prisoners included, according to Shapur's claims, many other high-ranking officials, including a praetorian prefect, possibly Successianus. It has also been claimed that Shapur went back on his word by having the emperor seized after agreeing to truce negotiations. There are varying accounts as to Valerian's fate following his capture at the hands of Shapur.