Sykes' History of Persia - Heritage Institute

454
HISTORY OF PERSIA
important and strongly defended city,
situated on an arti-
ficially-constructed island, which he determined to capture.
The city wall was soon breached and the town occupied ;
but the citadel, of great natural
strength,
defied all
attempts at storming, although the Emperor in person
led an attack on one of its
gates. Julian, like most great
generals, was a student, and he recollected the design of
the "helepolis," or
high movable tower invented by
Demetrius Poliorcetes. He immediately gave orders to
construct one, and the garrison was so terrified on seeing
it rising stage by stage that it surrendered on terms.
After this success the army proceeded down the river
till it came to the " Royal Canal," which connected the
Euphrates with the Tigris.
Artificial inundations and
the ever-present enemy delayed progress along this canal,
and a second fortress, Mahoz Malka, barred the way, but
was captured by mining. The Roman army then marched
forward until it reached the Tigris near Coche, opposite
Ctesiphon, a separate town from adjacent Seleucia, which
was apparently in ruins.
Julian, to his dismay, found that the " "
Royal Canal
entered the Tigris below Coche, and, as he was extremely
anxious to unite with the force which he believed to be
marching down the Tigris, and realized that he could not
work his fleet upstream between Coche and Ctesiphon,
the situation was difficult. Again his studies bore fruit,
as he had read of a canal which came out above Coche,
and after inquiries this disused branch was discovered and
reopened, and the fleet proceeded along it to the great
river.
It was evident that the Persian army was prepared to
dispute the passage of the Tigris,
for serried ranks of
panoplied warriors, supported by elephants, of which the
Romans never lost their dread, were seen drawn up along
its bank. Instead of imitating
the tactics employed by
Alexander against Porus, Julian decided on a direct attack
by night. His first detachment suff^ered from burning
darts which set fire to the ships, but finally the army made
good its position on the left bank. At dawn the Romans
attacked, and the Persians, after standing their ground for