Siege of Amida

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Siege of Amida

Part of the Sassanid-Roman wars

Date	359
Location	Amida
Result	Sassanid victory (Amida captured)

Combatants

Commanders

The Siege of Amida took place when Sassanids under King Shapur II besieged the Roman city of Amida in 359.

In this battle Ammianus Marcellinus, an historian of Greek origin from Antioch, was a Roman army officer; he described the siege in his work (res gestae).

1 Background
2 Siege
3 Outcome
4 Sources
5 External link

[edit] Background

When Shapur II took control of the Sassanid Empire he sought to regain old territories previously lost to the Eastern Roman Empire. After crushing Arabs in the south, he went to east to deal with eastern nomads, After a prolonged struggle (353-358) they were forced to conclude a peace, and their king, Grumbates, accompanied Shapur in the war against the Romans.

He started the west campaign in 359. Initially, some of the Roman held cities surrendered to him. However, as his forces approached the city of Amida, the Romans resolved to stand and give battle. The Sassanids began the attack with siege towers and attempted to take the city hastily, the siege dragged on for weeks with the Sassanids finally taking the city.

[edit] Siege

According to Ammianus Marecllinus[1]

The king himself [Shapur II], mounted upon a charger and overtopping the others, rode before the whole army, wearing in place of a diadem a golden image of a ram's head set with precious stones, distinguished too by a great retinue of men of the highest rank and of various nations. But it was clear that he would merely try the effect of a conference on the defenders of the walls, since by the advice of Antoninus he was in haste to go elsewhere

The siege took 73 days. Shapur attempted to capture the city several times but every time it ended with disaster. Many times siege towers were set on fire by the Romans; even the son of King Grumbates was killed in one of the failed attempts. During the siege, plague broke out in Amida but ended after ten days by a light rain, according to Ammianus Marecllinus.

Finally, the city was captured on the night of day 72 when Shapur and Grumbates simultaneously stormed the city with siege towers and flaming arrows. A day before capture of the city, Ammianus Marecllinus escaped to Singara.

[edit] Outcome

After capturing the city Shapur II advanced further and took Singara and some other fortresses in the following years. In 363, Emperor Julian, at the head of a strong army, advanced to Ctesiphon, but was killed in a battle. His successor Jovian made an ignominious peace, by which the districts on the Tigris and Nisibis (totally five Roman provinces) were ceded to the Persians, and the Romans promised to interfere no more in Armenia.