Siege of Caesarea (260)
| Siege of Caesarea (260) | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Roman-Persian wars | |||||||||
| |||||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||||
| Sassanid Empire | Roman Empire | ||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
|
Shapur I Hormizd I | Demosthenes (Roman General) | ||||||||
| Strength | |||||||||
| Unknown | Unknown | ||||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
| Unknown, probably low |
Unknown amount of soldiers killed Deportation of 400,000 people | ||||||||
| ||||||
The Siege of Caesarea took place when the Sassanids under Shapur I besieged the Roman city of Antioch in 260 after winning over the Romans in the Battle of Edessa.
Background
The siege took place during a Sassanid invasion of the Roman east, Caesarea during that time had a large population (about 400,000 inhabitants).
The Siege
The Sassanids were unable to take the city, and took a Roman as captive and tortured him until he revealed another route they could use. The Sassanids raided Caesarea during the night, killing every Roman soldier.
Aftermath
According to Percy Sykes, "He[Shapur] captured Caesarea Mazaca, the greatest city in Cappadocia; but probably from lack of a standing army, again made no attempt to organize and administer, or even to retain, his conquests. He merely killed and ravaged with barbarous severity".[1]
References
- ↑ Percy Sykes, A History of Persia, Vol. I, (Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1969), 402.