Shahraplakan (), rendered Sarablangas () in Greek sources, was a Sassanid Persian general ('' spahbed'') who participated in the

Byzantine–Sasanian War of 602–628 The Byzantine–Sasanian War of 602–628, also called the Last Great War of Antiquity, was fought between the Byzantine Empire and the Sasanian Empire. It was the final and most devastating conflict of the Roman–Persian wars (54 BCAD&n ...

and the Third Perso-Turkic War.

Biography

Shahraplakan first appears in 624, when the Persian shah Khosrow II (r. 590–628) entrusted him with the command of the so-called "New Army", composed of the regiments of ''Khosroēgetai'' and ''Perozitai'' according to Theophanes the Confessor. With this army, Shahraplakan was to counter the

Byzantine emperor The foundation of Constantinople in 330 AD marks the conventional start of the Eastern Roman Empire, which Fall of Constantinople, fell to the Ottoman Empire in 1453 AD. Only the emperors who were recognized as legitimate rulers and exercised s ...

Heraclius Heraclius (; 11 February 641) was Byzantine emperor from 610 to 641. His rise to power began in 608, when he and his father, Heraclius the Elder, the Exarch of Africa, led a revolt against the unpopular emperor Phocas. Heraclius's reign was ...

(r. 610–641), who had invaded Persarmenia and was wintering in

Caucasian Albania Caucasian Albania is a modern exonym for a former state located in ancient times in the Caucasus, mostly in what is now Azerbaijan (where both of its capitals were located). The modern endonyms for the area are ''Aghwank'' and ''Aluank'', among ...

.. Shahraplakan's army was successful in recovering many towns and driving the Byzantines back to the Siwnik area, and sought to capture key passes so as to prevent Heraclius from descending south into northwestern Persia ( Adurbadagan). Heraclius, however, managed to avoid encirclement through a series of maneuvers. Shahraplakan followed him but did not engage him, hoping first to join with the army led by another Persian general, Shahrbaraz. Although Heraclius launched several sorties against Shahraplakan to prevent this, the two Persian armies eventually joined. Encouraged by reports from Byzantine deserters, the two Persian generals decided not to await the arrival of a third army under their rival Shahin, but to attack Heraclius. In the battle that followed, the Sassanid Persians were defeated. One source records that Shahraplakan was killed in that battle ("struck by a sword in his back"), but he re-appears later. In 627, he was sent with a force of about 1,000 elite men to the relief of

Tiflis Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი, ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), ( ka, ტფილისი, tr ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Georgia (country), largest city of Georgia ( ...

, then being besieged by the Byzantines and their "Khazar" (in reality probably Gökturk) allies. Their arrival reinforced the garrison and gave heart to the defenders, but the city eventually fell (probably in late 628). As the siege dragged on, however, in mid-September 627 Heraclius left the Turks to continue the siege, while he with his army and a large Turkic contingent turned south towards Persia. Shahraplakan, with his much smaller force, could do nothing to prevent the

's advance..

References

Sources

* * * 6th-century births Year of death unknown 7th-century Iranian people People of the Byzantine–Sasanian War of 602–628 Sasanian governors of Armenia Generals of Khosrow II {{Marzbans of Persian Armenia