Chosroës, king of Persia, having spread terror and dismay throughout
Syria by the capture of Sour (ancient Tyre) and other places, presented
himself before Antioch. The attack and defence were equally warm and
terrible in their results. The besieged surrendered, after having
exhausted all their resources, and admitted the Persians within their
walls. The confusion was horrible in this populous and unfortunate
city. Men, women, and children crowded over each other to escape the
murderous sword of the conqueror; the streets could not afford passage
wide enough for the multitude. The soldiers of the garrison, mingled
with the fugitives, overthrew the unhappy citizens, trampled them
under their horses’ feet, and crushed them to death in their own city
and by their own troops. The conquerors, spread throughout all the
quarters, indulged in a license almost unheard of even in such scenes:
they pillaged and sacked the houses; they pulled down and burnt all
the public edifices; they profaned and plundered the churches; they
insulted and violated the virgins consecrated to God; and the maidens
and women whose virtue they outraged were immolated before the eyes of
their husbands and parents. Chosroës himself animated his troops to
the carnage, and excited them to plunder. He took possession of the
gold and silver vases of the great church, and sent into Persia all the
valuable statues, rare pictures, and precious objects that decorated
that superb city. When despoiled of all its ornaments and deprived of
its wealth, he ordered it to be reduced to ashes. This cruel order was
so punctually obeyed, that only one single quarter escaped the flames.
Thus was for the first time destroyed, in the month of June, 540, a
city which, by its size, wealth, and population, rivalled Rome and
Constantinople. Such of the inhabitants as escaped the sword of the
conqueror were by him reduced to slavery, and sold by public auction in
Persia.