Sisauranon, Sisauronon (), Sisaurana, or Sarbane was a Sasanian fortress city in the province of Arbayistan, located to the east of Nisibis at the edge of the north Syrian plain. It was situated near the border with the Byzantine Empire.
Sisauranon is mentioned by Procopius in the 6th century. On linguistic grounds, it is identified with the way-station Sarbane in the 5th-century Tabula Peutingeriana, and with the modern site of Sirvan on the TurkishâÂÂSyrian border, whose name probably derives from the ancient settlement. The site is also variously mentioned as Sarbanon (ÃÂὸ ãñÃÂòñýῶý) in Theophanes the Confessor, Sisarbanon (ÃÂὸ ãùÃÂñÃÂòìýÃÂý) in Theophylact Simocatta, and Sisara in Ammianus Marcellinus, as well as the variant forms of Sisaurion (ãùÃÂñÃÂÃÂùÿý), Sisabranon (ãùÃÂñòÃÂìýÃÂý), Isauranon (ἸÃÂñàÃÂñýῶý) in various manuscripts of Procopius. The locality of Sambure in the Ravenna Cosmography may also refer to the same site.
The fortress passed into Sasanian hands in 363, and thereafter played a role in safeguarding the western Sasanian frontier against the Roman-Byzantine Empire. In 541, during the Lazic War, the Byzantine general Belisarius took over the fortress as its commander Bleschames and 800 Sasanian cavalrymen defected due to lack of supplies; they fought alongside the Byzantines in the Gothic War. In 589 during the ByzantineâÂÂSasanian War of 572âÂÂ591, general Comentiolus captured it once again.
Sisauranon is also mentioned under the name SërwÃÂn in the eight century hagiography Life of Simeon of the Olives, where the Simeon and his nephew David meet the Persian military general Shahrbaraz at the fortress. SërwÃÂn is referred to both in the Life of Simeon as well as in the Ecclesiastical History of Pseudo-Zacharias as a âÂÂcityâ (mdittÃÂ) rather than a fort, making it more likely that Sisauranon was a complex village settlement rather than a simple military fortress. After the collapse of Sassanian control over the region during the Muslim conquest, the military function of Sisauranon disappeared and the village likely incorporated the fort into its fabric. According to the Life of Simeon and the MujÃÂdalat Abë QurrÃÂ, the Syriac dayràtaḥtÃÂytà(the 'Lower Monastery') was built attached to the village.
The fort lies on an artificial mound, some 545 m high, possibly of Bronze Age origin. As late as 2006, some of the fort's walls were still extant on the site, but the remains of Roman roads reported in 1927 appear to have vanished. Despite the small area of the present-day remains, which indicate a small fort, Procopius calls the site a ÃÂÃÂûùÃÂüñ, indicating the existence of a small civilian settlement. The plain around the fort was known as âÂÂthe Roman Fieldâ (ho rhà Âmaià Ân agros) and is crossed by many streams coming from Mount Izla.
The Roman fortress of Rhabdion (modern-day Hatem Tai Kalesi, Turkey) is located on the steep slope just 6.5 kilometers to the north-west of Sisauranon. In the 19th century, it was erroneously identified as Sisauranon.