Sun Rises Over the Tripyrgion(?)
Diyarbakır '22
I am of the opinion that these three towers northeast of the Evil Beden Tower mark the area known in Roman times as the tripyrgion. We don't have much information about the site's location, but the name in Greek means "three towers" and these three towers are grouped very closely together. The siege of 502/3 was focused on the north of the city where the land was flat and level, with this area in the center/verging on south-west being unsuitable for intensive siege operations due to cliffs. The tripyrgion was manned by monks of the monastery of St. John Urtaye, which was located in the northwest of Amida (Roman Diyarbakır), who would likely have been stationed nearby their old home. The tripyrgion was an isolated area, which this is, had three towers grouped together, which these three towers certainly are, and had a stream or some sort of waterwork nearby that allowed smugglers to enter the city, which this area apparently once had. I'm not alone in this conclusion: this is approximately where this excellent article on the siege places it: Warfare and Tragedy
The reason the tripyrgion matters is that this was where the Persians broke through in their siege of 503. On January 10, after an 80-day siege, the Persians were able to capture the tripyrgion and open the gates to let the army in. This stretch of wall is equidistant from Urfa Gate and Evil Beden Tower (each four towers each way). It's impossible to see from Urfa Gate since the wall curves randomly inwards here, which would have delayed response time. Evil Beden Tower could see what was happening (indeed, they have the best view of any tower on the wall) but they are a projecting point and any effort from there to retake the stretch of wall would be easily seen from the tripyrgion.
The cause of the disaster was apparently that the monks had gotten drunk on the cold winter night. When an observant Persian marzban noticed that nobody was firing at his patrols they snuck in through an underground waterway and slaughtered the monks. And then the city. Supposedly 80,000 people were killed in the sack. That's not impossible - there are 100,000 people living within the Roman walls today, although they rely on vital infrastructure found in the new city - but it would make Amida one of the largest cities in the Roman Empire and be 2-3 times their estimated population. Even with refugees fleeing from the countryside (which there certainly were, the monks being a prime example) it's hard to believe the city had that many people. It's also hard to imagine how the Romans could have counted the dead - the Persians occupied the city for the next year so if the bodies remained stacked in two piles outside the north gate there must have been nothing but bones left by the time they regained it by treaty.
Sun Rises Over the Tripyrgion(?)
Diyarbakır '22
I am of the opinion that these three towers northeast of the Evil Beden Tower mark the area known in Roman times as the tripyrgion. We don't have much information about the site's location, but the name in Greek means "three towers" and these three towers are grouped very closely together. The siege of 502/3 was focused on the north of the city where the land was flat and level, with this area in the center/verging on south-west being unsuitable for intensive siege operations due to cliffs. The tripyrgion was manned by monks of the monastery of St. John Urtaye, which was located in the northwest of Amida (Roman Diyarbakır), who would likely have been stationed nearby their old home. The tripyrgion was an isolated area, which this is, had three towers grouped together, which these three towers certainly are, and had a stream or some sort of waterwork nearby that allowed smugglers to enter the city, which this area apparently once had. I'm not alone in this conclusion: this is approximately where this excellent article on the siege places it: Warfare and Tragedy
The reason the tripyrgion matters is that this was where the Persians broke through in their siege of 503. On January 10, after an 80-day siege, the Persians were able to capture the tripyrgion and open the gates to let the army in. This stretch of wall is equidistant from Urfa Gate and Evil Beden Tower (each four towers each way). It's impossible to see from Urfa Gate since the wall curves randomly inwards here, which would have delayed response time. Evil Beden Tower could see what was happening (indeed, they have the best view of any tower on the wall) but they are a projecting point and any effort from there to retake the stretch of wall would be easily seen from the tripyrgion.
The cause of the disaster was apparently that the monks had gotten drunk on the cold winter night. When an observant Persian marzban noticed that nobody was firing at his patrols they snuck in through an underground waterway and slaughtered the monks. And then the city. Supposedly 80,000 people were killed in the sack. That's not impossible - there are 100,000 people living within the Roman walls today, although they rely on vital infrastructure found in the new city - but it would make Amida one of the largest cities in the Roman Empire and be 2-3 times their estimated population. Even with refugees fleeing from the countryside (which there certainly were, the monks being a prime example) it's hard to believe the city had that many people. It's also hard to imagine how the Romans could have counted the dead - the Persians occupied the city for the next year so if the bodies remained stacked in two piles outside the north gate there must have been nothing but bones left by the time they regained it by treaty.