Heliodorus\' Aethiopica

[Nathan Ross]

An initial dam around the city to create the 'lake' which is then gated-off upstream to create a subsequent body of water back up the Mygdonius. Or perhaps Shapur sees that the initial lake idea is simply not working and then improvises an additional siege tactic of building up a body of water to release as a 'battering-ram'? I do find it an interesting coincidence that an accidental giving way of the dyke leads to exactly the effect Shapur has been seeking all along.

I still don't see how this would work. If the bursting dam caused the water to flow against the walls, then the water was not previously in contact with the walls, which means that there would have been no lake to float anything on! If the lake was already there, then the bursting dam or dyke would have caused the water to drain away from the walls, more probably flooding the Persians' own siege camp...

:dizzy:

I am planning a trekking holiday to Cappadocia in early Summer as background research for the latest novel and may be able to include Nisibis. Amida was on the itinerary but the Trekking company for some reason have removed it this year!

Maybe Amida was removed because of its proximity to the Syrian border? I believe that Nusaybin (Nisibis) is in the vicinity of a number of very large refugee camps, and the border zone in general is pretty precarious at the moment, for obvious reasons.