Siege of Caesarea Cappadocia (260)
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Siege of Caesarea (260) | |||||||||
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Part of the Roman-Persian wars | |||||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||||
Sassanid Empire | Roman Empire | ||||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
Shapur I Hormizd I | Demosthenes | ||||||||
Strength | |||||||||
Unknown | Unknown | ||||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||||
Unknown, probably minimal |
Unknown number of soldiers killed Deportation of 400,000 people |
The siege of Caesarea by the Sasanians under Shapur I took place following their siege of the Roman city of Antioch in 260 which followed their major victory over the Romans in the Battle of Edessa.
Background
[edit]The siege took place during a Sasanian invasion of the Roman east. Caesarea during that time had a large population (about 400,000 inhabitants).
Siege
[edit]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 then raided Caesarea during the night, killing every Roman soldier.
Aftermath
[edit]According to Percy Sykes, "He [Shapur] captured Caesarea Mazaca, the greatest city in Cappadocia; but probably from the 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".[2]
References
[edit]- ^ History of the Jews in Babylonia "At that point, and then alone, Shapur made a violent attack upon Syria and Asia Minor, devastated Antiochia, ravaged Cilicia and Cappadocia, took Tarsus, and, after a protracted siege, Caesarea."
- ^ Percy Sykes, A History of Persia, Vol. I, (Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1969), 402.