ABSTRACT
The second Persian war of Justinian broke out in early summer 540, when a large Persian army commanded by Khusro invaded Roman Mesopotamia and Syria. According to Procopius, Khusro was encouraged to undertake the campaign both by an emissary from the Gothic king Vitiges and by Armenians discontented with Roman rule (Proc. II.2-3).1 Justinian’s continuing campaigns in North Africa and Italy and the consequent reduction in manpower on the Roman eastern front must have encouraged Khusro’s ambitions; he may too have been aware of the poor morale among the limitanei, whose pay had been cut since the Eternal Peace.2 Another likely contributory factor was Khusro’s continuing need for funds, since his kingdom was still having to make tributary payments to the Hephthalite Huns.3 Khusro initially (in 539) attempted to exploit a dispute between the Lakhmid and Ghassanid Arabs (over ownership of grazing land known as the ‘Strata’, i.e. the region through which passed the Strata Diocletiana) to justify an attack on Roman territory, but the Romans successfully defused the issue by prevaricating. Next the Persian king alleged that Justinian had sought to bribe the Lakhmid ruler Mundhir through his envoy Summus, and that he had encouraged some Huns to invade Persian territory (Proc. II.1). See Bauzou 1993: 36 (on the name of the Strata), Shahîd 1995: 210-16 (critical of Proc.’s portrayal of the affair), Key Fowden 1999: 66.
