Page:The History of Armenia - Avdall - Volume 1.djvu/237

 194 HYSTORT OP ARHEVf A.

veady to fall, ordered the trumpets to sound ai general assault. The besiegers then running forward, cast showers of spears, stones, and acrows from all sides, upon the Armenians oa the battlements. The Greeks darted their combustibles into the citv,. which, in a short time, was in flames. The inhabitants, in a state of consternation, knew not what to do ; many were wounded and fell; others continued to. fight undauntedly. At last two sides of the battlement fell with a horrible crash ; at the same moment breaches were made in other parts. The besiegers then rushed in, a massacre- of the inhabitants ensued, and many of the Per-^ sians falling in the assault, the blood of the killed inundated the streets, giving them the appear- ance of what they would exhibit after ahard rain. In the meanwhile the Greeks were employed in throwing their combustibles, and a terrible conflagration of all the buildings took place. Dreadful were the screams and lamentations^ beard on all. sides from the children and women, who were butchered indiscriminately by the in- furiated assailants. Those who escaped the fire fell by the sword ^ and those who had taken refuge in their houses from the fury of the soldiers perished by the fire. The governor Andovk was burnt to death in his house. Shapuh, seeing the city almost destroyed, aad but few o£

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