The first two booksoften known as "The Persian War" ()deal with the conflict between the Romans and Sassanid Persia in Mesopotamia, Syria, Armenia, Lazica, and Iberia (present-day Georgia). It details the campaigns of the Sassanid shah KavadhI, the 532 'Nika' revolt, the war by Kavadh's successor KhosrauI in 540, his destruction of Antioch and deportation of its inhabitants to Mesopotamia, and the great plague that devastated the empire from 542. The "Persian War" also covers the early career of Procopius's patron Belisarius in some detail.