II. I shall begin with the country of Mesopotamia, in order to connect my account with what has been described above. He established one of these rulers of the Armenian tribes, who have the title of Duke, in the city which is called Martyropolis,[58] and the other in a fortress which is named Citharizon. I will now describe in what part of the Roman Empire these places are situated. The city of Martyropolis is situated in that part of Armenia which is called Sophanene, close to the river Nymphius, and bordering closely on the enemy’s country; for at that place the river Nymphius divides the Roman and Persian territory. Beyond the river lies the country named Arxanes, which from ancient times has belonged to the Persians. Yet this city was always neglected by the Romans, and lay exposed to the attacks of these barbarians; so that Cabades, the King of the Persians, in the reign of the Emperor Anastasius, invaded the country of the Romans, and led an army through Martyropolis, which is distant from Amida a little more than a day’s journey for a lightly equipped traveller. As a mere incident and unimportant part of his invasion he took this city without any siege, assault, or beleaguerment, but simply by giving out that he was coming; for the inhabitants, who knew well that they could not hold out for a single moment of time against his army, as soon as they saw the Median host near at hand, at once went over to Cabades, with Theodorus—who at that time was satrap of Sophanene—at their head, dressed in the insignia of his office, and delivered themselves and the city of Martyropolis up to him, taking with them the public revenue for two years. Cabades, pleased with this, refrained from ravaging the city and the entire country, which he regarded as part of the Persian Empire. He dismissed the people unhurt, and neither did any injury to them nor altered anything in their city, but replaced Theodorus—whom he regarded as a wise man—as satrap over them, placing in his hands the symbols of authority, and trusting him to protect the Persian territory. After this he led his army onwards, took Amida by a siege, and retired into the Persian territory, as I have described in my ‘History of the Wars.’ The Emperor Anastasius, perceiving that it was not possible for the city of Martyropolis to defend itself without any fortifications against the attacks of the enemy, not only was not angry with Theodorus and the people of Sophanene, but declared that he was very thankful to them for their action. The wall of the city of Martyropolis was in thickness about four feet, and in height about twenty feet; so that it could not only be easily captured by an enemy, who employed siege operations and brought battering engines against it, but could easily be escaladed.