Roman Armenia in the context of "Heraclius the Elder"

Hadrian (/ˈheɪdriən/ HAY-dree-ən; born Publius Aelius Hadrianus, 24 January 76 – 10 July 138) was Roman emperor from 117 to 138. Hadrian was born in Italica, in the present-day Andalusian province of Seville in southern Spain, an Italic settlement in Hispania Baetica; his gens Aelia came from the town of Hadria in eastern Italy. He was a member of the Nerva–Antonine dynasty.

Early in his political career, Hadrian married Vibia Sabina, grandniece of the ruling emperor, Trajan, and his second cousin once removed. The marriage and Hadrian's later succession as emperor were probably promoted by Trajan's wife Pompeia Plotina. Soon after his own succession, Hadrian had four leading senators unlawfully put to death, probably because they seemed to threaten the security of his reign; this earned him the senate's lifelong enmity. He earned further disapproval by abandoning Trajan's expansionist policies and territorial gains in Mesopotamia, Assyria, Armenia, and parts of Dacia. Hadrian preferred to invest in the development of stable, defensible borders and the unification of the Roman empire's disparate peoples and subjects. He was a promoter of philhellenism.

Arabia Petraea (lit. 'Rocky Arabia') was a Roman province from the 2nd century to the 7th century. It was established after the Roman Empire conquered the Nabataean Kingdom in 106 and existed until the Muslim conquest of the Levant in the 630s. Spanning much of the Sinai Peninsula and part of the Levant, it was bordered by Syria to the north, by Judaea (later Syria Palaestina) to the west, and by Egypt to the southwest. To the east and southeast of Arabia Petraea was non-Roman territory that the Romans knew as Arabia Deserta. These two regions, together with a third region in South Arabia that was called Arabia Felix, accounted for the Arabian Peninsula in Roman geography.

Annexed by Trajan (r. 98–117), Arabia Petraea was a key province along the Limes Arabicus, which delineated the Roman Empire's borders throughout the Arabian Desert. It was also the only province in the Near East that the Romans did not gain and subsequently lose during Trajan's reign, unlike Armenia, Assyria, and Mesopotamia. The province's capital city was initially Petra, as it had been under the Nabataeans, but Bosra later served in this capacity. Most of the province's land was a vast desert that was sparsely populated by nomadic Arab tribes, though there were several urban settlements closer to the Jordan River.

40°03′00″N 39°36′00″E / 40.050°N 39.600°E / 40.050; 39.600

The Battle of Satala was fought between the forces of the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire and the Sassanid (Persian) Empire in summer 530, near Satala in Byzantine Armenia. The Persian army approached the city to lay siege, when it was attacked in the rear by a small Byzantine force. The Persians turned back to meet them, but were then attacked by the main army from inside the city. A determined attack by a Byzantine unit led to the loss of the Persian general's flag, causing the panicking Persians to retreat.