Siege of Amida (502–503)

Siege of Amida
	Part of the Anastasian War
	; The walls of Amida
Date	October 502 – January 503
Location	Amida; (modern-day Diyarbakır, Turkey)37°55′03″N 40°14′13″E / 37.91742770897364°N 40.23694022693002°E
Result	Sasanian victory
Belligerents
Sasanian Empire	Byzantine Empire
Commanders and leaders
Kavadh I ; Adergoudounbades ; Bawi ; Glon	Cyrus (WIA) (POW); Leontius (POW); Paul Bar Zainab (POW)
Casualties and losses
Unknown	80,000 (including civilians); Many were deported

The siege of Amida took place in 502–503 during the Anastasian War, when the Sasanian Empire captured the city from the Byzantine Empire. The conflict was sparked after the Byzantine Emperor Anastasius I Dicorus refused a loan requested by the Sasanian King Kavadh I. Kavadh then sought to raise the money by pillaging the Byzantine frontier towns. Though Amida had no Byzantine military troops, the city resisted a three-month siege before falling to the Sasanians. The sack of the city involved three days of mass killings, and those who survived were subsequently enslaved. The loss of Amida prompted Anastasius to mount a military response, and the war continued until both sides agreed to a truce in 505, after which the city was restored to Byzantine control.

Background

In 502, Kavadh sought funds to repay his debts to the Hephthalites, who had helped restore him to the throne in 498/499.^[2] His difficulties were worsened by recent shifts in the course of the Tigris in lower Mesopotamia, which had caused widespread famine and floodings. Kavadh requested a loan from Anastasius, who refused to offer assistance. The Kavadh then took his army, to obtain the money by raiding and pillaging Byzantine holdings.^[3]^[4]

In the summer 502, Kavadh invaded Roman Armenia and Mesopotamia with an army which included Armenian and Arab allies.^[4] He quickly captured the weakly fortified city of Theodosiopolis (present-day Erzurum), possibly with support from inside. The king did not harm the population because he was not insulted by them.^[2]

Siege

Kavadh then besieged the fortress-city of Amida (present-day Diyarbakır) in October 502, which turned more challenging than Kavadh expected.^[5] The city was well fortified with walls of black basalt. The defenders were under the leadership of Cyrus, the praeses of Mesopotamia, Leontius, the chief councilor, and Paul Bar Zainab, the steward. Although they were not supported by military troops, they repelled the Sasanian assaults for three months.^[6] As the siege dragged on, food supplies dwindled and were strictly rationed. The fighting men received the remaining food and drink, while women survived on small amounts of barley, the flesh of the dead, and shoe leather.^[7]

The defenders on the walls shouted insults and taunted Kavadh, who got distressed as winter set in. The Sasanians struggled in their garments and their bows were weakened by the damp air. The battering rams were also ineffective, as the defenders absorbed the blows with chained bundles of rushes. The defenders opened a breach from within, pulling in the attackers' mound material and propping the hollowed area with beams.^[5]^[8]

Unable to make progress, Kavadh opened negotiations with the defenders, requesting payment in exchange for lifting the siege. The defenders, however, demanded compensation for the food the Sasanian army had seized from the surrounding villages.^[9]

The siege ended in January 503, when the besieging army discovered a weak point in the walls. Kavadh sent a small squad to breach them at night.^[10] According to Procopius, the Sasanians had a stroke of luck in their attempt, the guards at the walls were drunk and fell asleep after celebrating a festival,^[10] allowing the Sasanians to quietly scale the walls and captured one of the towers.^[11] The defenders attempted to resist the invaders but failed. In the battle, Cyrus was pierced by an arrow and withdrew from the battle. The following day the Sasanians stormed into the city.^[12]

Aftermath

Comparative historian, Zacharias Rhetor detailed the fall and sack of the city.^[13] For three days, the Sasanian army pillaged and killed the people of the city, until a priest went to meet Kavadh, begged him to stop the killing. Kavadh asked him why they were fighting against him, the priest replied: "Because God willed to give Amida to you not by our decision but by your valour." Then, Kavadh ordered for the slaughter to stop but allowed his men to continue the plunder of the city and enslave the remaining survivors,^[3]^[14] some of which were deported to Persia.^[15] Kavadh also ordered Leontius and Cyrus^[a] to wear filthy garments with ropes around their necks, and carry pigs, saying while exhibited them, "Rulers who do not rule their city well nor restrain its people, so that they do not insult the king, deserve such insult as this."^[16]

In May 503, Anastasius, reacting to the news of Amida's fall, sent a 52,000-strong army^[17] to recover and protect the Byzantine eastern frontier. The Byzantines choose to starve the defenders of Amida into submission instead of launching a direct assault. The city surrendered as part of a truce in 505 (ransomed for 1,000 pounds of gold^[18]), because Byzantine army had invaded Sasanian territory.^[19]

While the two leaders were concluding a peace treaty, the Byzantines reinforced the fortifications of cities besieged by the Sasanian, including Amida.^[20] The peace treaty was for seven years with no exchange of territories.^[15]

Notes

^ Paul Bar Zainab was killed after the fall of the city.^[16]

References

^ Evans 2002, p. 109.
^ ^a ^b Greatrex & Lieu 2002, p. 62.
^ ^a ^b Procopius, History of the Wars, Book I, part xii.
^ ^a ^b Fisher 2015, p. 221.
^ ^a ^b Greatrex & Lieu 2002, p. 63.
^ Elton 2018, p. 326.
^ Garnsey 1988, p. 32.
^ Zachariah, Syriac Chronicle, pp. 153–154.
^ Elton 2018, p. 327.
^ ^a ^b Whately 2016, p. 74.
^ Evans 2002, p. 89.
^ Zachariah, Syriac Chronicle, pp. 157–158.
^ Zachariah, Syriac Chronicle, pp. 155–160.
^ Dewing 2014, p. 18.
^ ^a ^b Elton 2018, p. 248.
^ ^a ^b Greatrex & Lieu 2002, p. 66.
^ Fisher 2015, p. 223.
^ Procopius, History of the Wars, Book I, part ix.
^ Greatrex & Lieu 2002, p. 72.
^ Greatrex & Lieu 2002, p. 74.

Sources

Primary

Procopius (545–553). History of the Wars – via Wikisource.
Procopius (2014). The Wars of Justinian. Translated by Dewing, H. B. Hackett Publishing Company. ISBN 9781624661723.
Zachariah of Mitylene (1899) [c. 520 (?)]. Bury, J. B. (ed.). Syriac Chronicle. Translated by Brooks, E. W.; Hamilton, F. J. London: Methuen & Co.

Secondary

Elton, Hugh (2018). The Roman Empire in Late Antiquity: A Political and Military History. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-89931-4.
Evans, James A. S. (2002). The Age of Justinian: The Circumstances of Imperial Power. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-134-55976-3.
Fisher, Greg (2015). Arabs and Empires before Islam. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780199654529.
Garnsey, Peter (1988). Famine and Food Supply in the Graeco-Roman World. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521375856.
Greatrex, Geoffrey; Lieu, Samuel N. C. (2002). The Roman Eastern Frontier and the Persian Wars (Part II, 363–630 AD). New York and London: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-14687-9.
Whately, Conor (2016). Battles and Generals: Combat, Culture, and Didacticism in Procopius' Wars. Brill. ISBN 9789004310384.