Satala AD298 - a lost battle?

[Nathan Ross]

The battle of Satala in AD298 is mentioned often in secondary and online sources, including this book and this one. It's mentioned on Livius.org, and even has its own Wikipedia page. This is the occasion when Galerius, after being beaten a couple of years before in Mesopotamia, led an army into Armenia and defeated the occupying Persians under Narses, capturing the king's camp together with his treasure and harem.

Clearly it was a decisive and spectacular battle - but unfortunately it didn't exist, or at least it didn't happen at Satala... :wink:

The only reference to location of the battle (which is described in other sources, without being specifically placed) is in the dubious 4th-5th century History of the Armenians by Faustus of Byzantium, aka P'awstos Buzand (Book 3.21.72):

"the emperor of Byzantium [i.e Galerius]... assembled his troops and came to the country of Armenia, against the king of Iran. He left his army near the city of Satagh [or Satal - Satala].

...[The Iranian army] was encamped in the district of Basean, in the village called Osxay... [The Byzantines] came and attacked the army of the king of Iran encamped in that same place, finding them negligently unconcerned and unsuspectingly at rest. Attacking during the daytime, they fell upon the Iranian king, putting everything to the sword and sparing no one. Then they took the banak as loot, the king's women, the bambish [queen of queens] and the women with her their possessions and goods into captivity—their women and treasures, provisions and equippage. Only the king was able to escape by a hairsbreadth and go free as a fugitive, thanks to a swift running pony."

The account ends with Galerius killing all the male prisoners and marching the rest off to 'Byzantium'! In fact, he seems to have pursued Narses into Mesopotamia, liberated Nisibis and marched all the way to Ctesiphon before imposing a peace treaty on Persia that lasted for a generation.

Anyway, the battle obviously wasn't at Satala, which was the Roman mustering point. So where was 'Osxay'? This place is often mentioned by Faustus/Pawstos, and translated as Oxsay, Osxay, Oxsa, Oshka, or Osχai/Oχsa/Toχai...

The district of Basean (or Phasiana) is usually placed between the headwaters of the Araxes and the Euphrates, east of Erzerum in the vicinity of modern Pasinler. But it seems to have been one of those rather mobile geographical entities, shifting about depending on who was in charge and who the neighbours were... Pasinler looks like a pretty good place for a battle, and some historians (like Williams in Diocletian and the Roman Recovery) take a safe bet and site the battle 'near modern Erzerum'.

Others (like Yar-Shater in the Encyclopaedia Iranica) think that the location is actually the modern village of Oskik, which unfortunately doesn't appear on any map I can find... but it seems to be in the far east of Turkey, near the Iranian border, perhaps somewhere around Diyadin. (Does anyone have a detailed map of this area, perhaps?)

Alternatively, there is actually a village called Oskha, again in the mountains of eastern Turkey but closer to the Georgian border... But what would Narses be doing camped all the way up there?

Can the location of this battle be located or guessed at, then, or is it lost? Either way, the only thing we can be pretty certain about is that the 'Battle of Satala' didn't happen at Satala! :-)

[Robert Vermaat]

Thanks nathan! Interesting.

Either way, the only thing we can be pretty certain about is that the 'Battle of Satala' didn't happen at Satala! :-)

Well, that's a fact shared with a lot of battles, some of them quite famous (Battle of Hastings comes to mind).

[Jona Lendering]

Thanks, noted!

One day, when I have time to take up the Livius.org project again, I will improve it. If only I had the money to spend two months on the website again...

[Nathan Ross]

Well, that's a fact shared with a lot of battles, some of them quite famous (Battle of Hastings comes to mind).

But at least that was somewhere near Hastings (I'm guessing), and not around a hundred and fifty miles away!

But this is an interesting battle, wherever it was, and it has a couple of unusual anecdotes attached to it. The first is the story in Ammianus about the soldier who finds a bag of pearls in the loot of the Persian camp; he thinks the pearls are worthless and throws them away, but keeps the nice bag...

The other story is in Pawstos, and would be thought very unlikely if it wasn't also mentioned by three other sources: Galerius himself 'acted the part of a speculator' and went off secretly to the Persian royal camp with only two Armenian nobles, disguised as a cabbage seller, of all things - the ruse worked, the emperor had a good look around and returned to his troops. He then led them on some sort of rapid march, appearing suddenly before the Persian camp at dawn (presumably it was a night march, as Pawstos says he appeared 'in daylight') in an advantageous position...

One day, when I have time to take up the Livius.org project again, I will improve it.

Thanks - I don't think there's too much rush though! I've been reading Parker's The Empire Stops Here recently, and he describes Satala (and mentions the famous battle there, of course! :wink: ). But your site actually shows me what the remains of the fortress look like - an invaluable bonus.

Incidentally, do you have any idea of the direction of the Roman roads in the area? I'm assuming that one led south-ish from Satala towards Erzincan? It would be interesting to know which route Galerius's invasion might have taken towards the Armenian uplands - following the headwaters of the Euphrates up from Erzincan perhaps?

[Robert Vermaat]

Well, that's a fact shared with a lot of battles, some of them quite famous (Battle of Hastings comes to mind).

But at least that was somewhere near Hastings (I'm guessing), and not around a hundred and fifty miles away!

Nothing that dramatic, just a bit over 6 miles. At a place called 'Battle' today.

But this is an interesting battle, wherever it was, and it has a couple of unusual anecdotes attached to it. The first is the story in Ammianus about the soldier who finds a bag of pearls in the loot of the Persian camp; he thinks the pearls are worthless and throws them away, but keeps the nice bag...

Ammianus must have moaned when he first heard that... hock:

One day, when I have time to take up the Livius.org project again, I will improve it.

Thanks - I don't think there's too much rush though! I've been reading Parker's The Empire Stops Here recently, and he describes Satala (and mentions the famous battle there, of course! :wink: ). But your site actually shows me what the remains of the fortress look like - an invaluable bonus.

Agreed! Jona, your website is already brilliant!!