Tamkhosrau first appears in early 575. A one-year truce had been negotiated in 574, interrupting the
ongoing war (since 572) between Persia and the
East Roman (Byzantine) Empire, while negotiations were taking place to conclude an even longer truce. While the Persians insisted on a five-year truce, the Roman emissaries refused to accept it and insisted on a three-year duration. In order to apply pressure on the
Byzantines, the Persian general
Mahbod ordered Tamkhosrau to launch an attack. Tamkhosrau led a major raid that plundered the territory around
Dara in northern
Mesopotamia. A three-year truce was concluded soon after, in exchange for an annual payment of 30,000 gold
solidi from the Byzantines. As a result of the truce, fighting was refocused to
Persian Armenia; there, the Byzantines had considerable success, driving off a large Persian invasion led by Khosrau himself, and securing much of the country. Negotiations for peace resumed, and seemed about to be concluded on terms slightly favoring the Byzantines in 577, when Tamkhosrau led a series of expeditions into
Armenia and
defeated the East Roman general
Justinian. Thereafter, the Persians abandoned the negotiations. Tamkhosrau remained in Armenia as the senior Persian commander in 578. As his forces were numerically inferior to those of the Roman
magister militum Armeniae Maurice, after feinting in the direction of
Theodosiopolis, he led a surprise raid south and plundered the regions around
Martyropolis and
Amida. His decision, however, was criticized by the Persians as the result of inexperience, and he was recalled and replaced in his Armenian command by
Varaz Vzur. By 581, however, he had risen to the post of
marzban, and commanded the Persian army in northern Mesopotamia. After another round of peace talks broke down, Tamkhosrau, along with
Adarmahan, invaded Roman territory and headed for the town of
Constantina. Maurice, who had been expecting and preparing for such an attack,
met the Persians in battle outside the city in June 582. The Persian army suffered a heavy defeat, and Tamkhosrau was killed. ==References==