The disposition of forces at the Battle of Dara (530).
The first five years of Justinian’s reign (527-532) are so incident-filled that it will take us a few episodes to get through them.
In part one we stay on the Eastern front for the Battle of Dara. We revisit the way cavalry had come to dominate warfare and the motives for King Kavad’s attacks on Byzatine territory. We follow the war as it goes badly for Justinian and see his attempts to reorganise his armies. Then we introduce Belisarius, the General who would go on to become Justinian’s most able commander. He is made Master of Soldiers for the Eastern Army and in 530 comes face to face with a much larger Persian army on the plain outside the fortress of Dara.
Period: 527-530
Map: The map shows the disposition of forces at the Battle of Dara (530). The Huns are the tiny squares inside the “goal mouth.”
(Author: US Military Academy Atlas for Ancient Warfare, Source Website: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Battle_of_Dara-battleplan.png)
Other resources:
To see a moving representation of the battle visit “The Art of Battle” website here.
To see a re-creation of the battle on the BBC TV show Time Commanders click here.
Download: Episode 17 – 527-532, Part 1: The Battle of Dara
RSS Feed: The History of Byzantium
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The History of Byzantium 
Best episode yet in my opinion, I really hope you keep going at least through to the great war 602-628.
I look forward that as well which is known as the Last Great War of Antiquity. I find Heraclius to be one of the greatest Byzantine rulers who did so much to save the Empire from the Persians. I know this podcast will do a great job when that part of the story arrives but it will alas be a year off.
I hope so too, glad you enjoyed the episode.
Just discovered this project, listening as fast as I can! Really enjoying it as I’m just starting to learn about this ‘foreign’ entity (at least to me as a westerner) called Byzantium.
Just hopped on. I was dying to find a podcast for history of Byzantium (12 Byzantine rulers is brilliant but too limited in scope )and here you are! I really hope you could go all the way until the Turks blast the wall. But that’s like a thousand years of work right:) So good luck and thank you so much for this.
The link to “The Art of Battle” is no longer correct. The new/correct link is http://theartofbattle.com/battle-of-daras-530/