The Lazic War also known as the Great War of Egrisi (Georgian: ეგრისის დიდი ომი, Egrisis Didi Omi) in Georgian historiography and the Colchian War, was fought between the Byzantine and Sassanid Empire for controlling the region of Lazica locally known as Egrisi, what is now western Georgia. The Lazic war lasted for twenty years, from 541 to 562, with varying success and ended in a relative victory for the Byzantines. The Lazic war is narrated in ...
more
The Lazic War also known as the Great War of Egrisi (Georgian: ეგრისის დიდი ომი, Egrisis Didi Omi) in Georgian historiography and the Colchian War, was fought between the Byzantine and Sassanid Empire for controlling the region of Lazica locally known as Egrisi, what is now western Georgia. The Lazic war lasted for twenty years, from 541 to 562, with varying success and ended in a relative victory for the Byzantines. The Lazic war is narrated in details through many pages of Procopius of Caesarea and Agathias Scholasticus.
Lazica, situated at the Black Sea and controlling important mountain passes to the Caucasus, had a key strategic importance for both empires. For Byzantines, it was a barrier against a Persian advance through Iberia to the coasts of the Black Sea.
The Persian Sassanids recognized Lazica (Egrisi) as the Byzantine sphere of influence by the "Eternal Peace" Treaty of 532. However, Byzantine encroachment and efforts to establish its own administration resulted in a...
less
