{ "id": "ep61fywxep", "slug": "sarbane-sisara", "title": "Sarbane/Sisara", "updated": "2026-10-25", "topic_path": [ { "id": "places", "label": "Places and geography", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/places" }, { "id": "places.sites", "label": "Parks, protected areas, and geographic heritage sites", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/places.sites" }, { "id": "places.sites.archaeological", "label": "Archaeological sites and site complexes", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/places.sites.archaeological" }, { "id": "places.sites.archaeological.west-asian-sites", "label": "Archaeological sites of Western and Central Asia and the non-tell Near East", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/places.sites.archaeological.west-asian-sites" } ], "geo": [ { "id": "geo.mena.t500.places.sites.archaeological.west-asian-sites", "label": "Middle East and North Africa · 500 BC to AD 999: Archaeological sites of Western and Central Asia and the non-tell Near East", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.mena.t500.places.sites.archaeological.west-asian-sites", "path": [ { "id": "geo.mena", "label": "Middle East and North Africa", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.mena" }, { "id": "geo.mena.t500", "label": "Middle East and North Africa · 500 BC to AD 999", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.mena.t500" }, { "id": "geo.mena.t500.places", "label": "Places and geography", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.mena.t500.places" }, { "id": "geo.mena.t500.places.sites", "label": "Parks, protected areas, and geographic heritage sites", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.mena.t500.places.sites" }, { "id": "geo.mena.t500.places.sites.archaeological", "label": "Archaeological sites and site complexes", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.mena.t500.places.sites.archaeological" }, { "id": "geo.mena.t500.places.sites.archaeological.west-asian-sites", "label": "Archaeological sites of Western and Central Asia and the non-tell Near East", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.mena.t500.places.sites.archaeological.west-asian-sites" } ] } ], "excerpt": "Sarbane/Sisara, known in Greek sources as Sisauranon (Σισαυράνων), was a Sasanian fortress city east of Nisibis on the Roman–Persian frontier, captured and razed by Belisarius in 541 and identified with the modern village of Sirvan.", "snippet": "Sarbane/Sisara, known in Greek sources as Sisauranon (Σισαυράνων), was a Sasanian fortress city east of Nisibis on the Roman–Persian frontier, captured and razed by Belisarius in 541 and identified with the modern village of Sirvan.", "node": "places.sites.archaeological.west-asian-sites", "markdown": "# Sarbane/Sisara\n\n**Sarbane/Sisara** is the name given in modern scholarship to a late-antique settlement on the Roman–Persian frontier, known from the 5th-century [Tabula Peutingeriana](https://www.edgepedia.org/tabula-peutingeriana) as the way-station **Sarbane** and from 6th-century Greek sources as **Sisauranon** (Σισαυράνων), a Sasanian fortress city in the province of Arbayistan, east of Nisibis at the edge of the north Syrian plain.[5](https://elexikon.ch/?Text=IA%2C2_2433&Typ=REh) On linguistic grounds it is identified with the modern site of Sirvan on the Turkish–Syrian border, whose name probably derives from the ancient settlement.[5](https://elexikon.ch/?Text=IA%2C2_2433&Typ=REh)\n\n| Key fact | Detail |\n|---|---|\n| Tabula Peutingeriana | Toponym Sarbane between Nisibi and Sapham, planquadrat 10B5, black lettering without a symbol; Barrington Atlas 89 D3[1](https://www1.ku.de/ggf/ag/tabula_peutingeriana/trefferanzeige.php?id=1810) |\n| Siege of 541 | Belisarius captured the fortress; commander Bleschames and 800 Sasanian cavalrymen defected for lack of supplies, and the wall was razed[2](https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/16764/pg16764-images.html) |\n\n## Names and identification\n\nThe settlement appears under many names. It is called Sarbanon (τὸ Σαρβανῶν) in [Theophanes the Confessor](https://www.edgepedia.org/theophanes-the-confessor), Sisarbanon (τὸ Σισαρβάνων) in Theophylact Simocatta, and Sisara in [Ammianus Marcellinus](https://www.edgepedia.org/ammianus-marcellinus), while the manuscripts of [Procopius](https://www.edgepedia.org/procopius) offer the variants Sisaurion (Σισαύριον), Sisabranon (Σισαβράνων), and Isauranon (Ἰσαυρανῶν).[5](https://elexikon.ch/?Text=IA%2C2_2433&Typ=REh) The Sambure of the Ravenna Cosmography may also refer to the same place.[5](https://elexikon.ch/?Text=IA%2C2_2433&Typ=REh) A recent archaeological inventory of the Ṭur ʿAbdīn region treats the site under the combined designation \"Roman Sarbane/Sisara/Sisauranon/Sirvan\".[3](https://www.archaeopress.com/Archaeopress/DMS/CD9932D05128440BA456752BEA886C9F/9781803277127-sample.pdf)\n\nThe Tabula Peutingeriana, a medieval copy of a Roman road map, lists Sarbane as a plain place-name without a symbol, in black lettering, on the route between Nisibi (Nisibis) and Sapham, in map square 10B5 in the region east of the [Euphrates](https://www.edgepedia.org/euphrates) and south of the Taurus; the Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World indexes it as Sarbane/Sisara at 89 D3.[1](https://www1.ku.de/ggf/ag/tabula_peutingeriana/trefferanzeige.php?id=1810) The entry carries a river-crossing mark on the route, and the distance figure between Sarbane and the next station straddles the route line.[1](https://www1.ku.de/ggf/ag/tabula_peutingeriana/trefferanzeige.php?id=1810)\n\n## Procopius and the siege of 541\n\nThe fullest ancient account is Procopius of Caesarea, the 6th-century historian who served as legal adviser and secretary to the general [Belisarius](https://www.edgepedia.org/belisarius).[2](https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/16764/pg16764-images.html) In his *History of the Wars* he describes how, during the [Lazic War](https://www.edgepedia.org/lazic-war) in 541, Belisarius marched a day's journey forward from Nisibis and came upon the fortress of Sisauranon, which besides its numerous population held 800 Persian horsemen, the best of the Persians, under the commander Bleschames.[2](https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/16764/pg16764-images.html) A Roman assault on the fortifications was beaten back with heavy losses because the wall was extremely strong.[2](https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/16764/pg16764-images.html)\n\nBelisarius then learned from captured Persians that the garrison was out of provisions: unlike Dara and Nisibis, the place kept no annual food supply in public storehouses, and the sudden influx of refugees had strained what little it had.[2](https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/16764/pg16764-images.html) He sent an envoy named George, who persuaded the defenders to surrender on pledges of safety. Belisarius released unscathed the inhabitants, who were all Christians of Roman origin, sent the Persians with Bleschames to [Byzantium](https://www.edgepedia.org/byzantium), and razed the fortification wall to the ground; the emperor soon dispatched these Persians to Italy to fight against the Goths.[2](https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/16764/pg16764-images.html)\n\nIn *On the Buildings*, Procopius calls Sisauranon a fortress in Persia of very great note that Emperor Justinian captured and leveled, taking captive a great throng of Persian horsemen with their leader Bleschames; he places it two days' journey from Daras for an unencumbered traveler and about three miles from Rhabdios (the fortress Rhabdion).[4](https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/e/roman/texts/procopius/buildings/2%2A.html)\n\n## Later history\n\nThe settlement survived into the modern era as a Syriac Christian village. In the Syriac Orthodox patriarchal register of dues of 1870 it was recorded as having 25 households, who paid 144 dues, and as having no church or priest.\n\n## References\n\n1. [Tabula Peutingeriana – Einzelanzeige: Sarbane, Universität Kassel](https://www1.ku.de/ggf/ag/tabula_peutingeriana/trefferanzeige.php?id=1810)\n2. [Procopius, History of the Wars, Books I and II, trans. H. B. Dewing, Project Gutenberg](https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/16764/pg16764-images.html)\n3. [Satellite and Archaeological Reconnaissance, Archaeopress sample](https://www.archaeopress.com/Archaeopress/DMS/CD9932D05128440BA456752BEA886C9F/9781803277127-sample.pdf)\n4. [Procopius, On the Buildings, Book II, LacusCurtius](https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/e/roman/texts/procopius/buildings/2%2A.html)\n5. [+ IA,2_2433 | REh, elexikon.ch](https://elexikon.ch/?Text=IA%2C2_2433&Typ=REh)\n\n---\n*Topic: Encyclopedia › Places and geography › Parks, protected areas, and geographic heritage sites › Archaeological sites and site complexes › Archaeological sites of Western and Central Asia and the non-tell Near East*\n\n*Initially written Oct 21, 2026 · Edited: Oct 25, 2026*\n\n*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*\n\nLicense: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license\n", "same_as": [], "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/sarbane-sisara", "markdown_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/sarbane-sisara.md", "license": { "name": "Edgepedia Community License 1.0", "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license", "summary": "Free with credit, commercial use included. AI training is open to everyone. For other uses, organizations over USD 100M in revenue or 100M monthly users license separately.", "spdx": "LicenseRef-Edgepedia-Community-1.0" }, "credit": "\"Sarbane/Sisara\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/sarbane-sisara. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "credit_md": "\"[Sarbane/Sisara](https://www.edgepedia.org/sarbane-sisara)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), [https://www.edgepedia.org/sarbane-sisara](https://www.edgepedia.org/sarbane-sisara). [Edgepedia Community License 1.0](https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license).", "credit_html": "\"Sarbane/Sisara\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/sarbane-sisara. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "speakable": "Sarbane/Sisara, known in Greek sources as Sisauranon, was a Sasanian fortress city east of Nisibis on the Roman–Persian frontier, captured and razed by Belisarius in 541 and identified with the modern village of Sirvan." }