Procopius, Roman Defences North of the Taurus and the New Fortress of Citharizon

Abstract

One of the most important military projects undertaken in the early sixth century in the Roman provinces near the Persian frontier ( Fig. 14.1 ) was the construction of a new fortress at Citharizon. The historian Procopius, who describes a massive programme of investment in military infrastructure in the Near East in books 2 and 3 of his De Aedificiis , includes a brief report about its building. This leaves us in no doubt about its general location and its strategic importance. The date of the project is, as usual, not specified, but we may with reasonable confidence place its completion in the reign of Justin I (518-27), uncle of the future Emperor Justinian, and add it to the long list of completions in that reign which were credited to Justinian himself ( 1 ).

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