A´MIDA
A´MIDA (
Ἄμιδα: Eth.
Ἀμιδηνός, Eth.
Amidensis:
Diyar-Bekr).
The modern town is on the right bank of the Tigris.
The walls are lofty and substantial, and constructed of the ruins of ancient edifices.
As the place is well adapted for a commercial city, it is probable that Amida, which occupied the site of
Diyar-Bekr, was a town of considerable antiquity.
It was enlarged and strengthened by Constantius, in whose reign it was besieged and taken by the Persian king Sapor, A.D. 359.
The historian Ammianus Marcellinus, who took part in the defence of the town, has given us a minute account of the siege. (
Amm. Marc. 19.1, seq.)
It was taken by the Persian king Cabades in the reign of Anastasius, A.D. 502 (Procop.
B. Pers. 1.7, seq.); but it soon passed again into the hands of the Romans, since we read that Justinian repaired its walls and fortifications. (Procop.
de Aedif. iii. l.) Ammianus and Procopius consider it a city of Mesopotamia, but it may be more properly viewed as belonging to Armenia Major.
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G.L]
