# Khosrow I invades; Antioch is sacked in the collapsed Eternal Peace

Date: 540

## The fact

In 540 Khosrow I broke the Eternal Peace, marched through Syria, and sacked Antioch, deporting many inhabitants to a new Persian city. Justinian’s armies were committed in Italy and Africa. Later museums, UNESCO lists, Loeb editions, and translations are not this Fact. Tribonian, Belisarius, Narses, John the Cappadocian, and unnamed officials may share the file; they do not erase a dated constitution, and they are not a licence to treat every general’s siege as the emperor’s javelin.

## Context

Subsidy arrears and western victories are among the motives Procopius gives Khosrow. Sharing the sack with the Sasanian king is mandatory: Justinian did not torch Antioch himself. He did choose a western war that emptied the East. Later 545 truce and 562 peace are other rows. Later museums, UNESCO lists, Loeb editions, and translations are not this Fact. Tribonian, Belisarius, Narses, John the Cappadocian, and unnamed officials may share the file; they do not erase a dated constitution, and they are not a licence to treat every general’s siege as the emperor’s javelin.

Confidence is stated on the impact path, not hidden in adjectives. Do not treat the plague of 541 as this invasion. Mixed effects of Khosrow I invades; Antioch is sacked in the collapsed Eternal Peace are separate paths.

## Evidence and sources

Procopius, Wars 2, is the main narrative. Britannica independently records the 540 sack of Antioch. Sasanian royal traditions independently boast of the campaign. No Factrail original deportation census is offered. Later museums, UNESCO lists, Loeb editions, and translations are not this Fact. Tribonian, Belisarius, Narses, John the Cappadocian, and unnamed officials may share the file; they do not erase a dated constitution, and they are not a licence to treat every general’s siege as the emperor’s javelin.

Official or archival record: Procopius, Wars 2 — Khosrow’s invasion and the sack of Antioch (https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Procopius/Wars/2B*.html; LacusCurtius / University of Chicago).

## Significance

Worsening humanitarian path. Complex. High confidence on the sack; the causal share with western overstretch is a reasoned path, not a unique coefficient. Later museums, UNESCO lists, Loeb editions, and translations are not this Fact. Tribonian, Belisarius, Narses, John the Cappadocian, and unnamed officials may share the file; they do not erase a dated constitution, and they are not a licence to treat every general’s siege as the emperor’s javelin.

The attached driver is [humanitarian-access](/drivers/humanitarian-access). The welfare reading used in this dossier is worsening. That reading is an impact-path choice, not a property stored on the Fact itself.

## What is established and what is not

Established: Khosrow sacked Antioch in 540 during Justinian’s reign after the 532 peace failed. Not established: a unique deportation total, or that Justinian ordered the sack. Later museums, UNESCO lists, Loeb editions, and translations are not this Fact. Tribonian, Belisarius, Narses, John the Cappadocian, and unnamed officials may share the file; they do not erase a dated constitution, and they are not a licence to treat every general’s siege as the emperor’s javelin.

Shared responsibility is part of Khosrow I invades; Antioch is sacked in the collapsed Eternal Peace. Naming Justinian I does not delete co-authors, institutions, or later transmitters. The lag from 0540-03-01 to any measured indicator is not treated as zero. Alternative explanations — weather, other armies, later statutes, or independent cultural change — remain live where the sources do not close them.

If a number is not in the two records named above, it is not supplied here.

Later competitions, monuments, translations, UNESCO listings, museums, and adaptations are not converted into extra lifetime acts.

## People

- Justinian I: https://factrail.ai/people/justinian-i

## Drivers

- Humanitarian Access: https://factrail.ai/drivers/humanitarian-access

## Sources

- https://www.britannica.com/place/Antioch-modern-and-ancient-city-south-central-Turkey
- https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Procopius/Wars/2B*.html

## Methodology

https://factrail.ai/methodology

Canonical: https://factrail.ai/facts/er-justinian-sasanian-war-0540