Zemarchos

Zemarchos was the Roman envoy whom Justin II sent to the Göktürks in answer to the embassy of Maniakh.^[1] Menander calls him Zemarchos the Cilician. He says that Zemarchos was then general of the cities of the east.^[1] The office has been understood as the command of the army of the East. Some scholars make him a Thracian rather than a Cilician.^[2] John of Ephesus calls him a man of rank. He says that never before had Rome sent an embassy to the Turks.^[3]

The journey out

Zemarchos left Constantinople with Maniakh at the beginning of August 569.^[1] After many days he reached the land of the Sogdians. There men who averted ill omens carried burning frankincense around his baggage and led him through the fire.^[4] From there he was taken to Istemi on the mountain Ektag.^[4] He greeted the khan as ruler of so many peoples and delivered the emperor’s wishes for his fortune, his victories and a friendship free of jealousy.^[4] For three days Istemi received the Romans in tents hung with silk and furnished with gold.^[4]

Istemi then took Zemarchos with twenty followers and attendants on his march against Persia. He sent the other Romans ahead to wait in the land of the Kholiatai.^[4] He gave Zemarchos a female slave, a captive of the people called Kherkhir.^[4] At Talas a Persian envoy came to Istemi. At the feast the Romans were given the more honourable couch.^[4]

The quarrel with the Persians

John of Ephesus tells a scene that Menander does not have. In his account the Persian envoys at the king’s court claimed that the Roman emperor was their slave and paid them tribute.^[5] Zemarchos answered that many Roman emperors had invaded Persia. He said that since Trajan the Persians trembled before his statue in their land and would not ride past it.^[6] He asked that the Persians be called to be convicted of their lie.^[7] They admitted that the statue stood there. The king sent them away in anger.^[7] Khosrow, when he heard of it, had the statue overthrown. His enmity grew.^[8]

The return

When Istemi dismissed him, he reaffirmed the friendship with the Romans. He sent a Göktürk embassy home with him, since Maniakh had died.^[4] Its leader was Tagma, whose title was Tarkhan. With him went Maniakh’s young son, who ranked immediately after him.^[4] Istemi also let the leader of the Kholiatai travel with the Romans to see their empire. He refused the same to the other peoples who asked.^[9]

Zemarchos led the party along the shore of a great lake and across the rivers Ikh, Daikh and Attila. He sent a messenger ahead to the emperor by a shorter desert road.^[9] Among the Alans he settled a three-day quarrel over whether the Göktürk envoys should disarm before the Alan ruler.^[10] Warned that the Persians lay in wait in Suania, he sent ten porters with silk down that road to deceive them. He went himself by the road called Dareine.^[10] He took ship on the Black Sea to the Phasis and on to Trapezus. He rode the public post to Constantinople and reported everything to the emperor.^[10] John of Ephesus says the envoys had been away two years. He says that they told of the great numbers of these peoples, of their military order and of the uprightness of their customs.^[11]

The silk he carried shows that the road through the Caucasus, which Maniakh had opened, was used for silk.^[12] Some scholars add Gregory of Tours’ notice of an Armenian embassy that brought a great store of unwoven silk to Constantinople in 571.^[13]

Report

Theophanes of Byzantium is a contemporary known only from the summary of Photios. He records the embassy in one sentence: Justin sent Zemarchos to the Turks, and Zemarchos feasted them splendidly, was received with the greatest friendship, and came back to Byzantium.^[14] Menander’s longer account rests on the report Zemarchos brought home. The exact date of his departure points to an official record.^[15] Through this report the Roman court received its first description of a Göktürk ruler’s camp.

References

^ a b c Menander Protector; Blockley 1985, fr. 10.2
^ Blockley 1985, p. 263
^ John of Ephesus; Smith 1860, p. 425
^ a b c d e f g h i Menander Protector; Blockley 1985, fr. 10.3
^ John of Ephesus; Smith 1860, p. 426
^ John of Ephesus; Smith 1860, p. 426–427
^ a b John of Ephesus; Smith 1860, p. 427
^ John of Ephesus; Smith 1860, p. 427–428
^ a b Menander Protector; Blockley 1985, fr. 10.4
^ a b c Menander Protector; Blockley 1985, fr. 10.5
^ John of Ephesus; Smith 1860, p. 428
^ de la Vaissière 2005a, p. 235
^ de la Vaissière 2005a, p. 235–236
^ Theophanes of Byzantium; Müller 1851, p. 270–271
^ Blockley 1985, p. 6

Sources

Literature

R. C. Blockley, The History of Menander the Guardsman: Introductory Essay, Text, Translation, and Historiographical Notes (1985)
R. Payne Smith (trans.), The Third Part of the Ecclesiastical History of John, Bishop of Ephesus (1860)
Mark Dickens (Turkish trans.), Zemarkhos'un elçiliği hakkında Efesli Yuhanon (John of Ephesus on the Embassy of Zemarchus) (2021)
Karl Müller (ed.), Fragmenta Historicorum Graecorum, Bd. IV (darin: Menandri Protectoris fragmenta, griechisch mit lateinischer Übersetzung) (1851)
Étienne de la Vaissière, Sogdian Traders: A History (2005)
Emre-E. Yavuz, The Gokturk Empire: 2nd Edition (2025)