Siege of Nisibis (252)

The siege of Nisibis took place when the Sasanians under Shah Shapur I besieged the Roman city of Nisibis in 252. This marks the beginning of Shapur's I second invasion of the Roman empire which saw the first Sassanid invasion of Syria; the year of the invasion is debated as Shapur's inscription from Naqsh-e Rustam regarding his second campaign against Rome do not mention the city of Nisibis. But Syriac and Arabic sources, mainly the Chronicle of Seert and Al-Tabari, mention that Shapur took Nisibis in his eleventh regnal year; according to the historian David Stone Potter, this regnal year is 252. Another Syriac account, the Liber Caliphorum, from the eighth century, mentions the invasion of the city in 252.^[3][4]

Siege of Nisibis
Part of the Roman–Persian wars
Date 252 AD Location Nisibis (modern-day Nusaybin, Mardin, Turkey) Result Sasanian victory[1] Territorial changes Sasanians capture Nisibis.[2]
Belligerents
Roman Empire	Sasanian Empire
Commanders and leaders
Unknown	Shapur I
Strength
2,000-5,000 Legionaries	Unknown

References

Citations

1. A Journey to Palmyra: Collected Essays to Remember Delbert R. Hillers "Sometime in the middle of the century, Shapur took possession of Armenia and invaded Roman Mesopotamia. Nisibis and Charrae fell into his hands"
2. Empress Zenobia: Palmyra's Rebel Queen "Shapur also claimed that he had devastated Syria and captured thirty-seven cities with their surrounding territories. He may have captured Nisibis, and destroyed Antioch."
3. Edwell 2007, p. 185.
4. Dodgeon & Lieu 2002, p. 306.

Sources

• Edwell, Peter (2007). Between Rome and Persia: The Middle Euphrates, Mesopotamia and Palmyra Under Roman Control. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-134-09573-5.
• Dodgeon, Michael H; Lieu, Samuel N. C (2002). The Roman Eastern Frontier and the Persian Wars AD 226-363: A Documentary History. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-134-96113-9.