CHAP. XIX.
atonement which could be accepted for such an act of rashness and insolence. His proposals were answered by a general discharge; and his only son, a beautiful and valiant youth, was pierced through the heart by a javelin, shot from one of the balistæ. The funeral of the prince of the Chionites was celebrated according to the rites of his country ; and the grief of his aged father was alleviated by the solemn promise of Sapor, that the guilty city of Amida should serve as a funeral pile to expiate the death, and to perpetuate the memory, of his son.
Siege of Amida. Siege of The ancient city of Amid or Amida[1], which sometimes assumes the provincial appellation of Diarbekir[2], is advantageously situate in a fertile plain, watered by the natural and artificial channels of the Tigris, of which the least inconsiderable stream bends in a semi-circular form round the eastern part of the city. The emperor Constantius had recently conferred on Amida the honour of his own name, and the additional fortifications of strong walls and lofty towers. It was provided with an arsenal of military engines, and the ordinary garrison had been reinforced to the amount of seven legions, when the place was invested by the arms of Sapor[3]. His first and most sanguine hopes depended on the success of a general assault. To the several nations which followed his standard their respective posts were assigned; the south to the Vertge, the north to the Albanians, the east to the Chionites, inflamed with grief and indignation; the west to the Segestans, the bravest of his warriors, who covered
- ↑ For the description of Amida, see d'Herbelot, Bibliotheque Orientale, p. 108; Histoire de Timur Bee, par Cherefeddin Ali, 1. iii. c. 41 ; Ahmed Arabsiades, torn. i. p. 331. c. 43; Voyages de Tavernier, tom. i. p. 301; Voyages d'Otter, torn. ii. p. 273; and Voyages de Niebuhr, tom. ii. p. 324—328. The last of these travellers, a learned and accurate Dane, has given a plan of Amida, which illustrates the operations of the siege.
- ↑ Diarbekir, which is styled Amid, or Kara-Amid, in the public writings of the Turks, contains above sixteen thousand houses, and is the residence of a pasha with three tails. The epithet of Kara is derived from the blackness of the stone which composes the strong and ancient wall of Amida.
- ↑ The operations of the siege of Amida are very minutely described by Ammiinus, (xix. 1—9.) who acted an honourable part in the defence, and escaped with difficulty when the city was stormed by the Persians.
