Byzantine Covert Operations - Leo III in the Caucasus

Covert operations and proxy wars filed the history of the Cold War – a battle between 2 superpowers of the 20th century. Covert operations and proxy wars, however, already existed way before and used by many of the great empires in history to weaken or humiliate rival powers. Such as the case of the Byzantine Empire and the Umayyad Caliphate in the late 7th and early 8th century, when Emperor Justinian II sent his spartharios, the future Emperor Leo III, to the Alans and help them defeat the Abasgians who switched their fealty in favor of the Muslim Empire.

Map of the kingdom of Lazica, by Cplakidas, CC BY-SA 3.0

A mission filled with deception and treachery, Leo’s mission, as Theophanes narrated in his work the Chronicles, befit a novel, a drama, and even an epic. He wrote the following:

"Annus Mundi 6209 (September 1, 716 – August 31, 717)

Some men who were jealous of Leo falsely accused him of grasping for the imperial power. There was an inquiry about this, with the result that his accusers were disgraced, but from then on many began to speak of this notion. If indeed, Justinian did not wish to harm Leo openly, he did begin to feel anger toward him.

He sent Leo to Alania [Land of the Alans] with money to help the Alans against the Abasgians [later Abkhazians] because the Saracens had conquered Abasgia, Lazika [Lazica], and Iberia. Leo went to Lazika, and stored the money at Phasis. He took a few of the locals to Apsilia and, crossing the Caucasus Mountains, reached Alania. But Justinian now wanted to destroy him, and sent out a messenger who took the money back from Phasis.

The Alans received the spartharios [Leo] with all honor, paid attention to his plans, and invaded and captured Abasgia. The lord of the Abasgians told the Alans, 'As I have found, Justinian does not have anyone else who is a big a liar as this man. The Emperor made him go off to work with you against us, your neighbors. Leo has even lied to you about his promise of money, for Justinian sent a man and took it back. Give him to us and we will pay you 3,000 nomismata; also, we will not break off the friendship we have always felt.'

But the Alans said, 'We do not obey him on account of money, but because of our love for the Emperor.'

The Abasgians sent them men again, saying, 'Give him to us and we will give you 6,000 nomismata.' As they wanted to learn the Abasgians’ land thoroughly, the Alans agreed to take the 6,000 nomismata and give up the general. But they told Leo everything, and said to him, 'As you see, the road to Romania [Eastern Roman Empire/Byzantine Empire] is closed, and you do not know how to cross. Instead, let us turn around and agree with them to give you up. We will send our men off with them, learn their mountain passes, and raid and devastate their land to do your service.'

So the Alans’ envoy went to Abasgia and agreed to give up the spatharios; they received gifts of friendship from the Abasgians. The Abasgians sent back more envoys with the amount of money to get the spartharios. The Alans told Leo, 'Just as we said before, these men have come to take you, and Abasgia awaits you. When we near their land, our agents will not stop going to them. Furthermore, in order to keep from giving away our goal, we will openly give you up. But when your party has left, we will secretly come back to kill them, and will hide you until our army is mustered and we can invade their land by surprise.'

This, in fact, is what happened. The Abasgians’ envoys took the spatharios and his men, bound them, and went off. The Alans and their lord Itaxes [Itaz] overtook the Abasgians from behind; they killed them and hid Leo. Once they had levied troops, they marched on Abasgia and unexpectedly penetrated its passes. They took a great number of prisoners and worked destructions on the Abasgians.

When Justinian heard that his goal had been accomplished even without his money, he sent letters to the Abasgians: 'If you preserve our general and let him come through your territory unharmed, we will suffer all your errors.' They were overjoyed to agree to this, and sent a message back to Alania: 'We will give you our children as hostages; give us the spatharios so we can send him to Justinian.' But Leo would not accept this; he said, 'May God open me a gate so I can go away, as I will not do so through Abasgia.'

After a certain time, a force of Romans and Armenians invaded Lazika and besieged Arkhaiopolis [Archaeopolis or now known as Nokalakevi], but retreated when they heard the Saracens were coming. About 200 got cut off from them; these men moved north and raided Apsilia and the Caucasus. When the Saracens overran Lazika, the army of the Romans and Armenians fled to Phasis. The 200 men still in the Caucasus Mountains stayed there as brigands, since they had lost hope for themselves.

When the Alans learned this, they thought there was a Roman host in the Caucasus; rejoicing at this, they said to the spatharios, 'The Romans are near – go to them.' He took fifty Alans and crossed the peaks of the Caucasus with snowshoes (in May!). He found the men and joyfully asked them, 'Where is your army?'

They said, 'When the Saracens attacked, it went back to Romania. Since we could not get there, we have been on the way to Alania.'

'What shall we do now?' he asked them.

'We cannot travel this land,' they said.

The spatharios answered, 'It is impossible to leave by any other route.'

There was a fortress there called Sideron, in which was a commander named Pharasmanios, who was subject to the Saracens and at peace with the Armenians. The spatharios sent him a message: Because you are at peace with the Armenians, make peace with me as well. Come under the Empire, and help us go down to the sea so we can cross to Trebizond. Since Pharasmanios did not choose to do this, the spatharios sent out some of his men and some Armenians, ordering them to lay an ambush: When they leave the fortress to work, overpower as many of them as you can and seize the gates from the men outside until we get there too. They went there to lay the ambush, and made a sudden attack when the garrison came out to work; they captured the gates and took many prisoners.

But Pharasmanios was still in the citadel with a few men; when the spatharios arrived, he tried to talk him into opening the gates in peace. He did not wish to do so and fought. Since his citadel was strong, Leo could not take it.

When Marinos (the leader of the Apsilians) learned the fortess was under siege he grew fearful, as he thought the spatharios had a large army. He took 300 men to the spatharios, and told him, I will maintain you until you reach the coast. Once Pharasmanios had seen this state of affairs, he said to the spatharios, Take my child as a hostage; I agree to serve the Empire.

Leo took his child, then told him, What sort of servant of the Empire do you call yourself, when you are talking with us while shut up? We cannot withdraw until we have taken your citadel.

Then Pharasmanios said, 'Give me your pledge.'

The spatharios promised he would not treat him unjustly and would enter the citadel with only 30men. But he did not keep his promise, ordering the 30 who entered with him, 'When we go in, seize the gates to all of us can get in.' After this was done he ordered the citadel set afire. There was a great conflagration; the families came out, snatching up whatever they could of their property.

After they spent another 3 days there, the troops razed the fort’s wall to the ground. With the Apsilian leader Marinos they went to Apsilia, where the Apsilians received them with great honor. From there Leo went to the coast, crossed, and went to Justinian."

See also:
Leo III the Isaurian
Justinian II

Bibliography:

Turtledove, Harry. The Chronicle of Theophanes: An English translation of Anni Mundi 6095 – 6305 (A.D. 602-813), with Introduction and Notes. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1982.