Shah had been expected, but he was reported to be occupied with a Hunnish incursion, and did not make his appearance on the Euphrates this year. After directing some raids on Persian territory, in the course of which Sisauranum, an important fortress, with its garrison, was captured, Belisarius returned to Constantinople for the winter. Arethas, the Saracen sheikh, with a large following, took part in this expedition, and even crossed the Tigris into Assyria; but, being ill-directed and supported, rendered little effective service. The Persian soldiers who had been taken as prisoners of war, about eight hundred in number,[1] were sent to Italy, there to do duty as combatants against the Goths.
In the meantime Chosroes had really absented himself on an expedition which he had undertaken insidiously against Byzantine commerce in the Euxine Sea. After the Lazi and Iberians had taken refuge in the arms of Rome, Justinian had proceeded to make his suzerainty practical by building a strong fortress on the coast of Lazica. Founded among inaccessible rocks, and approachable from the plain on one side only, this stronghold received the appropriate name of Petra. A pair of military Dukes, distinguished as usual for rapacity, were placed in charge, and they immediately created a monopoly in their own favour of the imports by sea, on which the Lazi were almost wholly dependent. The region, in fact, was devoid of agricultural produce and salt.[2] For such necessaries they bartered slaves and skins. Soon the fiscal oppression became so intolerable that deputies were secretly despatched to implore the Persian King to take up arms on behalf of the Lazi and expel the Romans. Chosroes seized the opportunity, and, giving out that he was marching against the Huns, proceeded with a
