Gubazes II of Lazica
Encyclopedia
Gubazes II was king of Lazica from ca. 541 until his assassination in 555. He was one of the central personalities of the Lazic War
, first as a Sassanid Persian vassal and after 548 as an ally of the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire
.
aristocracy, was common among the Lazic royalty: his uncle, the "king" Opsites
(it is unknown when exactly he reigned), was married to a Byzantine lady named Theodora. It is known that Gubazes had a younger brother, Tzath
, who succeeded him on the throne, and an unnamed sister. Gubazes was married and had children, but neither the name of his wife nor of any of his offspring is known. The name of Gubazes' father is not known from the ancient annals. Professor Cyril Toumanoff
of Georgetown University
has hypothesized that Gubazes was a son and direct successor of the king Tzath I
, and Opsites, his uncle, never actually ruled as a king.
The exact date of his accession is unknown, but it must not have been much earlier than 541, when he is attested as king of the Lazi
. However it is very likely that before his accession he had lived for several years at the Byzantine capital, Constantinople
, for he is recorded to have been a silentiarius
, an influential position at the imperial palace
; alternatively, but less likely, he may have been given the title as an honorary appointment after his accession. Lazica had been a Byzantine client state
since 522, when its king, Tzath I
, had rejected Persian hegemony. However, during the rule of Emperor Justinian I
(r. 527–565), a series of heavy-handed Byzantine measures made them unpopular. In particular the establishment of a trade monopoly by the magister militum
John Tzibus, which was regulated from the newly constructed fortress of Petra, drove Gubazes to seek once again the protection of the Persian shah, Khosrau I
(r. 531–579).
At the time, Khosrau was already in war with the Byzantines, having broken the "Eternal Peace
" of 532 in 540, when he had invaded the Byzantine province of Mesopotamia
. In spring 541, Khosrau and his troops, led by Lazi guides, marched over the mountain passes into Lazica, where Gubazes submitted to him. The Byzantines under John Tzibus resisted valiantly from Petra, but he was killed, and the fortress fell soon after. Khosrau left a Persian garrison at Petra and departed the country, but soon, the Lazi grew discontented: as Christians, they resented the Persians' Zoroastrianism
, and they were greatly affected by the cessation of the Black Sea
trade with Byzantium. Procopius
reports that Khosrau, who was aware of Lazica's strategic importance, intended to resettle the entire Lazi people and replace them with native Persians. As a first step, the Persian ruler planned to assassinate Gubazes. Gubazes however was forewarned, and switched his allegiance back to Byzantium.
arrived and raised the siege. The Persians however lacked sufficient supplies, and so, after strengthening the garrison at Petra and leaving further 5,000 men under Phabrizus to secure its supply routes, Mihr-Mihroe left. In the spring of the next year, Gubazes and Dagistheus combined their forces, destroyed Phabrizus' army in a surprise attack, and pursued the survivors into Iberia
. In the same summer, they won another victory against a new Persian army, led by Khorianes. The allies failed however to prevent another Persian army from reinforcing Petra, and Dagistheus was recalled and replaced by Bessas.
In 550, a pro-Persian revolt broke out among the Abasgians. A high-ranking Lazic noble, called Terdetes, who had quarreled with Gubazes, used the opportunity to betray to the Persians an important fort in the land of the Apsili, a tribe under Lazic suzerainty. The Apsili retook the fort, but refused to accept Lazic rule until persuaded to do so by the Byzantine general John Guzes. In 551, the Byzantines finally took and razed Petra, but a new army under Mihr-Mihroe was able to establish Persian control over the eastern part of Lazica. The Byzantine forces in Lazica withdrew west to the mouth of the Phasis, while the Lazi, including Gubazes and his family, sought refuge in the mountains. Despite enduring harsh conditions in the winter of 551/552, Gubazes rejected the peace offers conveyed by envoys from Mihr-Mihroe. In 552, despite substantial reinforcements, the Persian attacks on the fortresses held by the Byzantines and the Lazi were repulsed.
Over the next two years, the Byzantines increased their forces in Lazica, but failed to achieve decisive success; Gubazes quarreled with their generals, and wrote to Justinian accusing them of incompetence following a defeat against the Persians. Bessas was recalled, but the other two, Martin and the sacellarius Rusticus, resolved to get rid of him. They sent a message to Constantinople accusing Gubazes of dealings with the Persians. Justinian, intending to question Gubazes himself, authorized the two generals to arrest him, using force if necessary. The two Byzantine generals then (September/October 555) invited Gubazes to observe the siege of a Persian-held fort, but when they met, John, Rusticus' brother, stabbed the king with his dagger. Gubazes fell from his horse, and one of Rusticus' servants gave him the finishing blow.
After his murder, the Lazi stopped participating in operations against the Persians for a time, leading to the failure of a Byzantine attack against the fort of Onoguris. An assembly of the Lazic people informed Justinian of the events, requested that an investigation be launched, and asked that Gubazes' younger brother Tzath, at the time residing in Constantinople, be confirmed as their new ruler. The emperor complied with their requests: the senator Athanasius was dispatched to investigate Gubazes' murder, and Tzath was sent to assume the Lazic throne. Athanasius' investigation cleared Gubazes of any suspicion of treachery; Rusticus and his brother John were found guilty and executed in autumn 556, but Martin was simply deposed from his post.
Lazic War
The Lazic War or Colchic War, also known as the Great War of Egrisi in Georgian historiography, was fought between the Byzantine Empire and Sassanid Persia for control of the region of Lazica, in what is now western Georgia...
, first as a Sassanid Persian vassal and after 548 as an ally of the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...
.
Early life, turn to the Persians
Gubazes was of Byzantine descent through his mother. The custom of marrying Byzantine women, usually from the senatorialByzantine Senate
The Byzantine Senate or Eastern Roman Senate was the continuation of the Roman Senate, established in the 4th century by Constantine I. It survived for centuries but was increasingly irrelevant until its eventual disappearance in the 13th century....
aristocracy, was common among the Lazic royalty: his uncle, the "king" Opsites
Opsites of Lazica
Opsites is the name twice mentioned by the Roman historian Procopius in De Bellis, while recounting the events related to the Lazic War fought between the Eastern Roman and Sassanid Persian empires over the Caucasian state of Lazica....
(it is unknown when exactly he reigned), was married to a Byzantine lady named Theodora. It is known that Gubazes had a younger brother, Tzath
Tzath II of Lazica
Tzath II was King of Lazica from 556 to an unknown date. He was the younger brother of Gubazes II, who was assassinated by Byzantine generals in autumn 555. At the time, Tzath resided at the Byzantine capital, Constantinople, and the Lazi sent a delegation to the Byzantine emperor Justinian I Tzath...
, who succeeded him on the throne, and an unnamed sister. Gubazes was married and had children, but neither the name of his wife nor of any of his offspring is known. The name of Gubazes' father is not known from the ancient annals. Professor Cyril Toumanoff
Cyril Toumanoff
Cyril Leo Heraclius, Prince Toumanoff was an United States-based historian and genealogist who mostly specialized in the history and genealogies of medieval Georgia, Armenia, the Byzantine Empire, and Iran...
of Georgetown University
Georgetown University
Georgetown University is a private, Jesuit, research university whose main campus is in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic university in the United States...
has hypothesized that Gubazes was a son and direct successor of the king Tzath I
Tzath I of Lazica
Tzath I was king of Lazica from 521/522 to an unknown date. He rejected Sassanid Persian overlordship and turned to the Byzantine emperor Justin I for aid....
, and Opsites, his uncle, never actually ruled as a king.
The exact date of his accession is unknown, but it must not have been much earlier than 541, when he is attested as king of the Lazi
Laz people
The Laz are an ethnic group native to the Black Sea coastal regions of Turkey and Georgia...
. However it is very likely that before his accession he had lived for several years at the Byzantine capital, Constantinople
Constantinople
Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...
, for he is recorded to have been a silentiarius
Silentiarius
Silentiarius, Hellenized to silentiarios and Anglicized to silentiary, was the Latin title given to a class of courtiers in the Byzantine imperial court, responsible for order and silence in the Great Palace of Constantinople...
, an influential position at the imperial palace
Great Palace of Constantinople
The Great Palace of Constantinople — also known as the Sacred Palace — was the large Imperial Byzantine palace complex located in the south-eastern end of the peninsula now known as "Old Istanbul", modern Turkey...
; alternatively, but less likely, he may have been given the title as an honorary appointment after his accession. Lazica had been a Byzantine client state
Client state
Client state is one of several terms used to describe the economic, political and/or military subordination of one state to a more powerful state in international affairs...
since 522, when its king, Tzath I
Tzath I of Lazica
Tzath I was king of Lazica from 521/522 to an unknown date. He rejected Sassanid Persian overlordship and turned to the Byzantine emperor Justin I for aid....
, had rejected Persian hegemony. However, during the rule of Emperor Justinian I
Justinian I
Justinian I ; , ; 483– 13 or 14 November 565), commonly known as Justinian the Great, was Byzantine Emperor from 527 to 565. During his reign, Justinian sought to revive the Empire's greatness and reconquer the lost western half of the classical Roman Empire.One of the most important figures of...
(r. 527–565), a series of heavy-handed Byzantine measures made them unpopular. In particular the establishment of a trade monopoly by the magister militum
Magister militum
Magister militum was a top-level military command used in the later Roman Empire, dating from the reign of Constantine. Used alone, the term referred to the senior military officer of the Empire...
John Tzibus, which was regulated from the newly constructed fortress of Petra, drove Gubazes to seek once again the protection of the Persian shah, Khosrau I
Khosrau I
Khosrau I , also known as Anushiravan the Just or Anushirawan the Just Khosrau I (also called Chosroes I in classical sources, most commonly known in Persian as Anushirvan or Anushirwan, Persian: انوشيروان meaning the immortal soul), also known as Anushiravan the Just or Anushirawan the Just...
(r. 531–579).
At the time, Khosrau was already in war with the Byzantines, having broken the "Eternal Peace
Eternal Peace (532)
The Eternal Peace , signed in 532 between the East Roman Empire and Sassanid Persia, was a peace treaty of indefinite duration, which concluded the Iberian War between the two powers...
" of 532 in 540, when he had invaded the Byzantine province of Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia (Roman province)
Mesopotamia was the name of two distinct Roman provinces, the one a short-lived creation of the Roman Emperor Trajan in 116–117 and the other established by Emperor Septimius Severus in ca. 198, which lasted until the Muslim conquests of the 7th century....
. In spring 541, Khosrau and his troops, led by Lazi guides, marched over the mountain passes into Lazica, where Gubazes submitted to him. The Byzantines under John Tzibus resisted valiantly from Petra, but he was killed, and the fortress fell soon after. Khosrau left a Persian garrison at Petra and departed the country, but soon, the Lazi grew discontented: as Christians, they resented the Persians' Zoroastrianism
Zoroastrianism
Zoroastrianism is a religion and philosophy based on the teachings of prophet Zoroaster and was formerly among the world's largest religions. It was probably founded some time before the 6th century BCE in Greater Iran.In Zoroastrianism, the Creator Ahura Mazda is all good, and no evil...
, and they were greatly affected by the cessation of the Black Sea
Black Sea
The Black Sea is bounded by Europe, Anatolia and the Caucasus and is ultimately connected to the Atlantic Ocean via the Mediterranean and the Aegean seas and various straits. The Bosphorus strait connects it to the Sea of Marmara, and the strait of the Dardanelles connects that sea to the Aegean...
trade with Byzantium. Procopius
Procopius
Procopius of Caesarea was a prominent Byzantine scholar from Palestine. Accompanying the general Belisarius in the wars of the Emperor Justinian I, he became the principal historian of the 6th century, writing the Wars of Justinian, the Buildings of Justinian and the celebrated Secret History...
reports that Khosrau, who was aware of Lazica's strategic importance, intended to resettle the entire Lazi people and replace them with native Persians. As a first step, the Persian ruler planned to assassinate Gubazes. Gubazes however was forewarned, and switched his allegiance back to Byzantium.
Return to Byzantine allegiance, wars against the Persians and murder
In 548, Justinian dispatched 8,000 men under Dagistheus, who together with a Lazic force set siege to the Persian garrison at Petra. The Persians however were well provisioned, and the siege dragged on. Dagistheus had neglected to keep watch over the mountain passes that led into Lazica, and a far larger Persian relief force under Mihr-MihroeMihr-Mihroe
Mihr-Mihroe, in Byzantine sources Mermeroes was a 6th-century Sassanid Persian general, and one of the leading commanders of the Byzantine–Sassanid Wars of the time.- Life :Nothing is known of his early life, but he is recorded as an old man by 555...
arrived and raised the siege. The Persians however lacked sufficient supplies, and so, after strengthening the garrison at Petra and leaving further 5,000 men under Phabrizus to secure its supply routes, Mihr-Mihroe left. In the spring of the next year, Gubazes and Dagistheus combined their forces, destroyed Phabrizus' army in a surprise attack, and pursued the survivors into Iberia
Caucasian Iberia
Iberia , also known as Iveria , was a name given by the ancient Greeks and Romans to the ancient Georgian kingdom of Kartli , corresponding roughly to the eastern and southern parts of the present day Georgia...
. In the same summer, they won another victory against a new Persian army, led by Khorianes. The allies failed however to prevent another Persian army from reinforcing Petra, and Dagistheus was recalled and replaced by Bessas.
In 550, a pro-Persian revolt broke out among the Abasgians. A high-ranking Lazic noble, called Terdetes, who had quarreled with Gubazes, used the opportunity to betray to the Persians an important fort in the land of the Apsili, a tribe under Lazic suzerainty. The Apsili retook the fort, but refused to accept Lazic rule until persuaded to do so by the Byzantine general John Guzes. In 551, the Byzantines finally took and razed Petra, but a new army under Mihr-Mihroe was able to establish Persian control over the eastern part of Lazica. The Byzantine forces in Lazica withdrew west to the mouth of the Phasis, while the Lazi, including Gubazes and his family, sought refuge in the mountains. Despite enduring harsh conditions in the winter of 551/552, Gubazes rejected the peace offers conveyed by envoys from Mihr-Mihroe. In 552, despite substantial reinforcements, the Persian attacks on the fortresses held by the Byzantines and the Lazi were repulsed.
Over the next two years, the Byzantines increased their forces in Lazica, but failed to achieve decisive success; Gubazes quarreled with their generals, and wrote to Justinian accusing them of incompetence following a defeat against the Persians. Bessas was recalled, but the other two, Martin and the sacellarius Rusticus, resolved to get rid of him. They sent a message to Constantinople accusing Gubazes of dealings with the Persians. Justinian, intending to question Gubazes himself, authorized the two generals to arrest him, using force if necessary. The two Byzantine generals then (September/October 555) invited Gubazes to observe the siege of a Persian-held fort, but when they met, John, Rusticus' brother, stabbed the king with his dagger. Gubazes fell from his horse, and one of Rusticus' servants gave him the finishing blow.
After his murder, the Lazi stopped participating in operations against the Persians for a time, leading to the failure of a Byzantine attack against the fort of Onoguris. An assembly of the Lazic people informed Justinian of the events, requested that an investigation be launched, and asked that Gubazes' younger brother Tzath, at the time residing in Constantinople, be confirmed as their new ruler. The emperor complied with their requests: the senator Athanasius was dispatched to investigate Gubazes' murder, and Tzath was sent to assume the Lazic throne. Athanasius' investigation cleared Gubazes of any suspicion of treachery; Rusticus and his brother John were found guilty and executed in autumn 556, but Martin was simply deposed from his post.
Sources
- Toumanoff, Cyril. "How Many Kings Named Opsites?". A Tribute to John Insley Coddington on the occasion of the fortieth anniversary of the American Society of Genealogists. Association for the Promotion of Scholarship in Genealogy, 1980.