Battle of Tyana

The Battle of Tyana occurred in 272 AD. The forces of the Roman Emperor Aurelian were seeking to conquer the Palmyrene Empire.

Aurelian besieged the city of Tyana. He had a vision of the great 1st-century philosopher Apollonius of Tyana, whom he respected greatly, in a dream. Apollonius implored him to be merciful if he took with city. Aurelian did so. This paid off militarily for the remainder of his campaign as many more cities submitted to him upon seeing that the Emperor would not exact revenge upon them. Apollonius was seen as the champion to the Greek people, as he was a miracle worker. Having been a wise philosopher he was well known by many during and after his lifetime for being a genius compared to those around him. Some texts relate him, or mention him being very similar to Jesus of Nazarene. Being highly respected among most, he was even regarded as a magician to some, that people believed he practiced wizardry. This may be reason to Aurelian being given a vision to attack Tyana and be merciful for greater reward in the future. Tyana, even having Apollonius wouldn't put up much of a battle against Aurelian, and would surrender rather quickly. Most of the soldiers of Tyana gave very little resistance, even to the point of some charging at Aurelians' men without and weapon in their hands as farmers had been called to action, and were not prepared for any sort of warfare by the Roman empire. Agreeing to be merciful allowed Aurelian to conquer more cities by way of surrender to eventually defeat Queen Zenobia within six months and diminish the rest of the Palmyrene empire. The battle with the Palyrene only lasted 3 years total with Aurelian rising to power in 270 AD, and then with Tyana being a great victory to accomplish for little effort.

External links

• Description of battle at Historia Augusta

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