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The siege of Sirmium in 580–582 was a decisive event in the history of the
Balkans The Balkans ( , ), corresponding partially with the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throug ...
. The fall of the city to the Avars deprived the
Byzantine Empire The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived History of the Roman Empire, the events that caused the ...
of its major stronghold on the northwestern
Danube The Danube ( ; see also #Names and etymology, other names) is the List of rivers of Europe#Longest rivers, second-longest river in Europe, after the Volga in Russia. It flows through Central and Southeastern Europe, from the Black Forest sou ...
, opening the path for devastating incursions by the Avars and their Slavic allies into the
Balkans The Balkans ( , ), corresponding partially with the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throug ...
.
Sirmium Sirmium was a city in the Roman province of Pannonia, located on the Sava river, on the site of modern Sremska Mitrovica in the Vojvodina autonomous province of Serbia. First mentioned in the 4th century BC and originally inhabited by Illyrians ...
, which for much of the 6th century had been controlled by the
Goths The Goths were a Germanic people who played a major role in the fall of the Western Roman Empire and the emergence of medieval Europe. They were first reported by Graeco-Roman authors in the 3rd century AD, living north of the Danube in what is ...
and then the
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, had come under Byzantine control in 567 after the Lombard–Gepid War (567). The Avars appeared along the Danube at about the same time. They launched a first attack on Sirmium in 568, but were seen off by the local governor, Bonus. The Byzantines secured peace with the Avars through the payment of an annual tribute, which by 578 had risen to some 80,000 '' solidi''. In 580, however, the Avar ''
khagan Khagan or Qaghan (Middle Mongol:; or ''Khagan''; ) or zh, c=大汗, p=Dàhán; ''Khāqān'', alternatively spelled Kağan, Kagan, Khaghan, Kaghan, Khakan, Khakhan, Khaqan, Xagahn, Qaghan, Chagan, Қан, or Kha'an is a title of empire, im ...
'', Bayan I, marched with his men to the right bank of the
Sava The Sava, is a river in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, a right-bank and the longest tributary of the Danube. From its source in Slovenia it flows through Croatia and along its border with Bosnia and Herzegovina, and finally reac ...
river across from Sirmium, and began construction of a bridge to cross it. The city at the time was largely undefended and unprepared to withstand a siege, as most of the Byzantine forces were engaged in the east against Sassanid Persia. 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 ...
Tiberius II tried to forestall the Avar attack by diplomatic means, but when the ''khagan''′s ambassador demanded the surrender of the city, he replied that he would sooner give one of his two daughters as a bride to the ''khagan'', rather than surrender Sirmium. Tiberius managed to send in a few officers from
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to oversee the city's defence, while the envoy Theognis tried unsuccessfully to treat with Bayan. Despite the weakness of the garrison, the city resisted for almost three years, and it was not until late 581 or early 582, shortly before his death, that Tiberius agreed to surrender the city in exchange for the lives of its citizens. The Avars indeed spared the population, but took their possessions and 240,000 ''solidi'' from the Emperor, as arrears of the tribute owed over three years. In the aftermath of the siege, many survivors fled to Salona, as evident form funerary inscriptions.


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Sources

* * {{cite book , title = Die Awaren. Ein Steppenvolk in Mitteleuropa 567–822 n. Chr. , last = Pohl , first = Walter , location = Munich , publisher = Verlag C.H. Beck , year = 1988 , isbn = 3-406-33330-3 , language= German , pages=70–76
Sirmium Sirmium was a city in the Roman province of Pannonia, located on the Sava river, on the site of modern Sremska Mitrovica in the Vojvodina autonomous province of Serbia. First mentioned in the 4th century BC and originally inhabited by Illyrians ...
6th century in the Byzantine Empire Avar–Byzantine wars 580s in the Byzantine Empire 580s conflicts History of Syrmia Medieval history of Vojvodina 6th century in Serbia 580 581 582