numbers of the enemy, and especially those stationed about the ram; the rest with difficulty made their escape together with the general and were saved.  And Chosroes, filled with rage, impaled Aniabedes, since he had been outgeneralled by John, a tradesman and an altogether unwarlike man.  But some say that not Aniabedes, but the officer commanding the men who were working the ram was impaled.  And he himself broke camp with the whole army, and coming close to the fortifications of Petra, made camp and began a siege.  On the following day he went completely around the fortifications, and since he suspected that they could not support a very strong attack, he decided to storm the wall.  And bringing up the whole army there, he opened the action, commanding all to shoot with their bows against the parapet.  The Romans, meanwhile, in defending themselves, made use of their engines of war and all their bows.  At first, then, the Persians did the Romans little harm, although they were shooting their arrows thick and fast, while at the same time they suffered severely at the hands of the Romans, since they were being shot at from an elevation.  But later on (since it was fated that Petra be captured by Chosroes), John by some chance was shot in the neck and died, and as a result of this the other Romans ceased to care for anything.  Then indeed the barbarians withdrew to their camp; for it was already growing dark; but on the following day they planned to assail the fortifications by an excavation, as follows.

The city of Petra is on one side inaccessible on account of the sea, and on the other on account of the sheer cliffs which rise there on every hand; indeed it is from this circumstance that the city has received the name it bears.  And it has only one approach on the level ground, and that not very broad; for exceedingly high cliffs overhang it on either side.  At that point those who formerly built the city provided that that portion of the wall should not be open to attack by making long walls which ran along beside either cliff and guarded the approach for a great distance.  And they built two towers, one in each of these walls, not following the customary plan, but as follows.  They refused to allow the space in the middle of the structure to be empty, but constructed the entire towers from the ground up to a great height of very large stones which fitted together, in order that they might never be shaken down by a ram or any other engine.  Such, then, are the fortifications of Petra.  But the Persians secretly made a tunnel into the earth and got under one of the two towers, and from there carried out many of the stones and in their place put wood, which a little later they burned.  And the flame, rising little by little, weakened the stones, and all of a sudden shook the whole tower violently and straightway brought it down to the ground.  And the Romans who were on the tower perceived what was being done in sufficient time so that they did