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leading the army from Martyropolis, since it was distant from Amida by a little more than a day's journey for an unencumbered man. And as if managing some side-task of the journey and a kind of immediate digression from his attack, he took the city straightaway, not by storming the walls or making any assault or undertaking a siege, but only by announcing that he would arrive. For the inhabitants, knowing well that they would not hold out against the army for even a brief moment of time, when they saw the army of the Medes arriving nearby, together with Theodore, who was at that time ruling Sophanene as satrap and wearing the insignia of the satrapy, immediately went over to Cabades, surrendering both themselves and Martyropolis to him, and holding in their hands the public taxes of two years. Cabades, pleased with this, refrained from harming the city and the whole country, as belonging to the Persian dominion, and let the people go unharmed, neither doing any damage nor changing anything of the government, but appointing Theodore himself as satrap over them and, since he had not been disloyal, entrusting to him the symbols of his office, so that he might guard the country for the Persians. And so leading the army forward and taking Amida by siege, he marched off into the Persian territory, just as was related by me in my account of the wars. And the Emperor Anastasius, understanding that it was not possible for Martyropolis, which had no fortification, to be saved from an enemy attack, not only was not angry with Theodore and the people of Sophanene, but even acknowledged that he owed them much gratitude for the deed. Now the circuit-wall of this Martyropolis happened to have a thickness extending to about four feet, and a height up to twenty; so that for the enemy it was easy to attack not only without storming the walls or bringing up engines, but also quite easy to leap into. For this very reason the Emperor Justinian devised the following: digging a trench outside the circuit-wall, and laying foundations in it, he built another wall extending to a thickness of four feet, leaving a space between of another four feet in width, and raising this also to a height of twenty feet, he made it to be in every way equal to the first. And then, having thrown stones and mortar into the space between the two walls, this work has been fashioned into a single structure of twelve feet in thickness. and above this he has added at about the same thickness as much height as the former wall had. But he has also built for the city an outwork worthy of much account and simply all the other things by which the fortification of a city is preserved. For one going from Martyropolis somewhere toward the setting sun there is a place named Pheison, situated, it too, in the Armenia called Sophanene, and distant from Martyropolis a little less than a day's journey. Beyond this place, at a distance of about eight stades, steep and altogether impassable mountains, coming together with one another, form two narrow passes, being somewhere very near each other, which they are accustomed to call "Clisurae." For those traveling from Persarmenia to Sophanene, whether from the Persian borders themselves or if they should go by way of the fort of Citharizon, it is impossible to get there except through these two narrow passes. The local people call one of them Illyrison, and the other Saphchas. Therefore, so that the road there might be blocked to the enemy, these places happened to be most worthy of security and of other attention. But even so they had remained entirely unguarded by the men of former times. But the Emperor Justinian, having established in Pheison and in the narrow passes both fortifications worthy of admiration and an unconquerable garrison of soldiers, made the country altogether impassable to barbarians. Such, then, are the things that have been built in this way by the Emperor Justinian in the country called Sophanene. And in the place Citharizon, which is in the district called Asthianine, a fort, not existing before, in a hilly place, both exceedingly strong and marvelously impregnable

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Μαρτυροπόλεως τὸ στράτευμα ἄγων, ἐπεὶ Ἀμίδης ὀλίγῳ πλέον ἡμέρας ὁδῷ εὐζώνῳ ἀνδρὶ διειστή3.2.5 κει. ὥσπερ δέ τι πάρεργον ὁδοῦ διαχειρίζων καὶ τῆς ἐφόδου παρενθήκην τινὰ εὐθυωρὸν τὴν πόλιν ἐξεῖλεν, οὐ τειχομαχήσας ἢ προσβολήν τινα ἢ προσεδρείαν πεποιη3.2.6 μένος, ἀλλὰ δηλώσας ὅτι δὴ ἀφίξεται μόνον. εὖ γὰρ εἰδότες οἱ τῇδε ᾠκημένοι ὡς οὐδὲ βραχεῖάν τινα χρόνου στιγμὴν τῷ στρατοπέδῳ ἀνθέξουσιν, ἐπειδὴ ἀγχοῦ τῶν Μήδων στρατὸν ἥκοντα εἶδον, ἅμα Θεοδώρῳ τηνικάδε Σοφανηνῆς σατραπεύοντι καὶ τῆς σατραπείας ἐνδιδυσκομένῳ τὸ σχῆμα, Καβάδῃ προσῆλθον εὐθύς, σφᾶς τε αὐτοὺς καὶ Μαρτυρόπολιν αὐτῷ ἐνδιδόντες, φόρους τε 3.2.7 τοὺς δημοσίους ἐνιαυτοῖν δυοῖν ἐν χερσὶν ἔχοντες. οἷς δὴ ὁ Καβάδης ἡσθεὶς τῆς μὲν πόλεώς τε καὶ χώρας ἁπάσης, ὡς τῇ Περσῶν ἀρχῇ προσηκούσης, ἀπέσχετο, τοὺς δὲ ἀνθρώπους ἀθῴους ἀφῆκεν, οὔτε τι λυμηνάμενος οὔτε τι τῆς πολιτείας μεταβαλών, ἀλλὰ Θεόδωρον αὐτὸν σατράπην αὐτοῖς ἐπιστήσας καὶ αὐτῷ ἅτε οὐ γεγονότι ἀγνώμονι τὰ σύμβολα ἐγκεχειρικὼς τῆς ἀρχῆς, ὡς τὴν χώραν 3.2.8 φυλάξοντι Πέρσαις. οὕτω τε τὸ στράτευμα πρόσω ἀπαγαγὼν πολιορκίᾳ τε Ἄμιδαν ἐξελὼν ἐς τὰ Περσῶν ἤθη ἀπήλαυνεν, ᾗπερ ἐν λόγοις μοι τοῖς ὑπὲρ τῶν πολέμων 3.2.9 ἐρρήθη. βασιλεύς τε Ἀναστάσιος ἐξεπιστάμενος ὡς οὐχ οἷόν τε ἦν Μαρτυρόπολιν ὀχύρωμα οὐδὲν ἔχουσαν ἐκ πολεμίων διασώσασθαι προσβολῆς, οὐχ ὅπως ἐπὶ Θεόδωρόν τε καὶ Σοφανηνοὺς ἠγανάκτησεν, ἀλλὰ καὶ χάριτας αὐτοῖς 3.2.10 τῆς πράξεως ἔχειν ὡμολόγει πολλάς. ταύτης οὖν τῆς Μαρτυροπόλεως τοῦ περιβόλου ἐτύγχανε τὸ μὲν πάχος διῆκον ἐς πόδας μάλιστα τέσσαρας, τὸ δὲ ὕψος ἄχρι ἐς εἴκοσιν· ὥστε τοῖς πολεμίοις αὐτὸν οὐ τειχομαχοῦσιν οὐδὲ μηχανὰς προσβάλλουσι μόνον εὐέφοδον εἶναι, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐσπηδῆσαι ἱκανῶς πρόχειρον. 3.2.11 ∆ιὸ δὴ βασιλεὺς Ἰουστινιανὸς ἐπενόει τάδε· τοῦ περιβόλου ἐκτὸς τὴν γῆν διορύξας, θεμέλιά τε ταύτῃ ἐνθέμενος τείχισμα ᾠκοδομήσατο ἕτερον ἐς ποδῶν πάχος διῆκον τεττάρων, χώραν διαλιπὼν μεταξὺ τεττάρων ἑτέρων τὸ εὖρος, ἐς ὕψος δὲ καὶ τοῦτο ἀναστήσας ποδῶν εἴκο3.2.12 σιν, ἴσον τῷ προτέρῳ παντάπασιν ἐσκευάσατο εἶναι. μετὰ δὲ λίθους τε καὶ τίτανον ἐς χῶρον τὸν μεταξὺ τείχους ἑκατέρου ἐμβεβλημένος ἐς μίαν τινὰ οἰκοδομίαν δυοκαίδεκα τὸ πάχος ποδῶν τὸ ἔργον τοῦτο ἀποτετόρνευται. 3.2.13 ὕπερθέν τε κατὰ πάχος τὸ αὐτὸ μάλιστα ἐς ὕψος τοσοῦ3.2.14 τον ἐντέθεικεν, ὅσον ξυνέβαινε τὸ πρότερον εἶναι. ἀλλὰ καὶ προτείχισμα λόγου πολλοῦ ἄξιον τῇ πόλει δεδημιούργηκε καὶ τὰ ἄλλα ἁπλῶς ἅπαντα οἷς δὴ πόλεως ὀχύρωμα διασώζεται. 3.3.1 Ἐκ δὲ Μαρτυροπόλεως ἐς δύοντά που τὸν ἥλιον ἰόντι χωρίον ἐστὶ Φεισὼν ὄνομα ἐν Ἀρμενίᾳ μὲν καὶ αὐτὸ κείμενον τῇ Σοφανηνῇ καλουμένῃ, Μαρτυροπόλεως δὲ 3.3.2 ὀλίγον ἔλασσον ἢ ὁδῷ ἡμέρας διέχον. τούτου δὲ τοῦ χωρίου ἐπέκεινα, ὅσον ἐκ σημείων ὀκτὼ μάλιστα, ὄρη ἀπότομα καὶ παντάπασιν ἀδιέξοδα ξυνιόντα ἐς ἄλληλα στενωποὺς ἀπεργάζονται δύο, ἄγχιστά πη ἀλλήλοιν ὄν3.3.3 τας οὕσπερ νενομίκασι Κλεισούρας καλεῖν. τοὺς δὲ ἐκ Περσαρμενίας ἐπὶ Σοφανηνὴν πορευομένους, εἴτε ἐξ αὐτῶν τῶν Περσικῶν ὁρίων εἴτε διὰ τοῦ Κιθαρίζων φρουρίου ἴοιεν, ἀμήχανά ἐστιν ὅτι μὴ διὰ τούτων δὴ τῶν δύο στεν3.3.4 ωπῶν ἐνταῦθα γενέσθαι. καλοῦσι δὲ αὐτῶν οἱ ἐπιχώριοι Ἰλλυρισὸν μὲν τὸν ἕτερον, τὸν δὲ ἄλλον Σαφχάς. 3.3.5 ὅπως μὲν οὖν ἀναστέλλοιτο τοῖς πολεμίοις ἡ ἐνταῦθα ὁδὸς ἀσφαλείας τε αὐτῆς καὶ τῆς ἄλλης ἐπιμελείας ἄξια ἐν τοῖς μάλιστα τὰ χωρία ταῦτα ὄντα ἐτύγχανεν. ἀλλὰ καὶ ὣς ἀφύλακτα τὸ παράπαν μεμένηκε τοῖς πρόσθεν ἀν3.3.6 θρώποις. βασιλεὺς δὲ Ἰουστινιανὸς ἔν τε τῷ Φεισὼν κἀν τοῖς στενωποῖς ὀχυρώματά τε ἀξιοθέατα καὶ στρατιωτῶν φρουρὰν ἀνανταγώνιστον καταστησάμενος, ἄβατον βαρβάροις τὴν χώραν διεπράξατο παντάπασιν εἶναι. τὰ μὲν οὖν ἐπὶ χώρας τῆς Σοφανηνῆς καλουμένης τῇδε Ἰουστινιανῷ βασιλεῖ εἴργασται. 3.3.7 Ἐν δὲ τῷ Κιθαρίζων χωρίῳ, ὅπερ ἐπὶ Ἀσθιανίνης τῆς καλουμένης ἐστί, φρούριον οὐ πρότερον ὂν ἐν χώρῳ λοφώδει ὑπερφυές τε καὶ δαιμονίως ἄμαχον