Beate Dignas & Engelbert Winter - Kaveh Farrokh

108 3 Military confrontations
here and flows into the Euphrates, and this fortress is located right in the corner
which the junction of the two rivers forms. And another long wall outside the
fortress separates the land between the two rivers there and forms a triangle around
Kirkesion. (4) Because of this Xusrō did not want to attack such a strong fortress
and was not planning to cross the river Euphrates but rather to march against the
Syrians and the Cilicians. . .
Procopius not only comments on Xusrō’s determination but also explains
the goals of the Persian advance. Apparently, Xusrō was not interested
in winning individual positions in Mesopotamia but – as had been the
intention of ˇ Sāpūr I in the third century (5) – aimed immediately at the
heartlands of the Byzantine East. He refrained from an attack on the strong
Roman fortress Kirkesion in order to reach Syria and Cilicia as quickly as
possible. 164 The element of surprise was not to be spoilt by a long siege,
which would have slowed down his advance. Having captured Soura 165 he
marched through Sergiopolis and Hierapolis, both of which paid a ransom,
166 and then headed for his actual target: Antioch. The Sasanians took
and destroyed the city of Beroia (Aleppo), 167 which was situated between
Antioch and Hierapolis, and in June of 540 laid siege to the Syrian metropolis.
Procopius describes the siege and capture of the city, which fell into
Sasanian hands within days, in detail. 168
Procopius, De bello Persico ii.10.4–9
(4) But I get dizzy describing such great suffering and committing it to the memory
of future times, and I cannot understand how it can be god’s will to lift the fortune
of a man or a place into the sky but then again to throw it down and to destroy it
for no reason, as far as we can tell. (5) For it is not allowed to say that he does not
do everything with reason, he who at the time did not mind watching Antioch
being razed to the ground at the hands of the most unholy man, Antioch, whose
beauty and splendour in every respect may not even now be entirely concealed.
(6) The church alone was left after the city had been destroyed, and this through
the efforts and foresight of the Persians who were in charge of this task. (7) And
there were also many houses left around the so-called cerataeum, not because of
the foresight of any human being but because they were situated on the outskirts
of the city and not adjacent to any other building so that the fire could not get
to them at all. (8) The barbarians also burnt what was outside the wall, except for
the sanctuary which is dedicated to St Julianus, and by chance also the buildings
164 Proc. BP ii.5.2–4. 165 Ibid. ii.5.8–26.
166 Ibid. ii.5.29–33 and ii.6.16–25. 167 Ibid. ii.7.1–13.
168 On the Persian conquest of Antioch see Downey 1961: 542–6; Evans 1996: 156–7 and Börm 2006:
301–28.