Petra, Lazica
Ruins of a fortress at Tsikhisdziri identified as Petra
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 Shown within Georgia (country)
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| Alternate name | Petra Pia Justiniana |
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| Location | Lazica (Kobuleti Municipality, Adjara, Georgia |
| Region | South Caucasus |
| Coordinates | 41°46′06″N 41°45′12″E / 41.76833°N 41.75333°ECoordinates: 41°46′06″N 41°45′12″E / 41.76833°N 41.75333°E |
| Type | Fortified settlement |
| Part of | Eastern Roman Empire |
| History | |
| Periods | Late Antiquity |
| Events | Lazic War |
Petra (Greek: Πέτρα) was a fortified town on the eastern Black Sea coast, in Lazica in what is now western Georgia. In the 6th century, under the Byzantine emperor Justinian I, it served as an important Eastern Roman outpost in the Caucasus and, due to its strategic location, became a battleground of the 541–562 Lazic War between Rome and Sasanian Persia (Iran). Mainstream scholarly opinion identifies Petra with a ruined settlement of Late Antiquity at the village of Tsikhisdziri in Adjara, southwestern Georgia.
Petra is first referred to in the Novellae Constitutiones by the Eastern Roman emperor Justinian I, dated to 535. It was built to reinforce the Roman authority in the kingdom of Lazica, located on the southeastern shores of the Black Sea and, with the emperor's approval, was named in his honor as Petra Pia Justiniana. According to the contemporary historian Procopius, Petra was founded through the efforts of the Roman official John Tzibus, who thereafter exercised tight control of imports into Lazica and controlled local access to luxury commodities and much-needed salt. The name of Petra, literally, "rock" in Greek, was a reference to the rocky and precipitous coast where the city was built. Its location between the sea and the cliffs rendered the city inaccessible, except for a narrow and rocky stretch of level ground, which was defended by a defensive wall with two towers.
Tzibus' monopolization of trade in Petra soured Rome's relations with the Lazi, whose king, Gubazes, secretly sought Sasanian assistance against Rome. This occasioned an invasion by a Sasanian army under Khosrow I in 541 and twenty years of war in Lazica, in the course of which Petra changed hands several times. In 541, Khosrow, following an initial unsuccessful assault on the fortifications of the city, captured Petra by sending his troops through a secretly constructed tunnel and destroying the towers, which induced the Romans to capitulate. Khosrow appropriated the riches of Tzibus, who was killed in battle, but treated the Romans of the city with consideration.
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