The Roman commander in the place was the Count Lucilianus, afterwards the father-in-law of Jovian, a man of resource and determination.

He is said to have taken the best advantage of every favorable turn of fortune in the course of the siege, and to have prolonged the resistance by various subtle stratagems.

But the real animating spirit of the defence was once more the bishop, St.James, who raised the enthusiasm of the inhabitants to the highest pitch by his exhortations, guided them by his counsels, and was thought to work miracles for them by his prayers.

Sapor tried at first the ordinary methods of attack; he battered the walls with his rams, and sapped them with mines.

But finding that by these means he made no satisfactory progress, he had recourse shortly to wholly novel proceedings.