Sittas

During the Iberian War against the Sassanid Empire, Sittas was given command of forces in Armenia, similar to the status of Belisarius in Mesopotamia.

He enters history in the reign of Emperor Justin I (r. 518–527) as a doryphoros ("bodyguard") in the guard of Justinian, then magister militum per Orientem.

According to both Malalas and Theophanes the Confessor, Sittas recruited his scriniarii (administrative officials) among the local Armenian populace, as he considered them more familiar with the territory.

That same year, Sittas and Dorotheus defended Theodosiopolis against an invading force from the Sassanid Empire, part of the ongoing Iberian War between Emperor Justinian and the Persian shah, Kavadh I (r. 488–531).

[1] During the Siege of Martyropolis (531), Sittas and Al-Harith ibn Jabalah camped at the nearby city of Amida, but avoided engagement as the Persians had the upper hand there.

Kavadh, however, died within the year, and his son and successor Khosrau I (r. 531–579 AD) was interested in stabilizing his internal position for the time being and started negotiations for a peace.