The fifth century had been a period of relative calm along the Roman-Persian frontier, as both the Romans and Persians fought for survival against the Hunnic hordes from the Eurasian steppes. Yet, as the sixth century dawned, the Persians had once more found their footing. Under the warrior king of kings, the shah, Kavad I (r. 488-531), the Sasanians again took the offensive against the Roman enemy after the septuagenarian emperor Anastasius (r. 491-518) refused to pay promised subsidies to his Persian counterpart. This officially negotiated payment had supported Sasanian efforts to command passes over the Caucasus Mountains - an arrangement from which both great states benefited. These remittances were deeply unpopular among the Romans, probably in no small part because the Persians boasted of them as being 'tribute' and thus indicative of Sasanian superiority. Starved for cash due to his own political problems, Kavad decided on war in a gambit to replenish his coffers with plunder from Roman lands. He struck at a moment of weakness. Over decades of peace, the Romans had allowed the frontier defences to moulder and their armies to run down. In 502, Persian armies dashed through the feeble frontier defences and assaulted the city of Amida (modern Diyarbakir in Turkey).
Hostilities recommence
Sitting astride a volcanic hilltop, some 675 meters above sea level, overlooking the Tigris, the fortified city of Amida
