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remainder of the Syrian army, which apparently retired to the North, were not strong enough to attack the Persians. Shapuhr used his chance fully. But he was still in a hurry; his rear was not safe. The Roman emperor, whoever he was at that time, might appear in Syria at any time with reinforcements. Shapuhr's aim in this expedition was apparently not conquest but pillage and political propaganda. He chose as his prey the richest and the most prominent Syrian cities. His task was made easier by the support given to him by a part of the Syrian population, apparently the lower classes whose leader was Mareades. As soon as the summer was over and an enormous quantity of booty, including men and animals, was safely in the hands of Shapuhr the return homeward of the Persian army began. On his way back Shapuhr endeavored to take and pillage other cities. One of them was the rich city and temple of Hemesa. But his attempt to take Hemesa miscarried. While the other cities of Syria were defenseless and probably showed very little resistance, Hemesa, like Palmyra, was in the hands of a strong native ruler, probably a pretender to the Roman throne. With his army of peasants and Bedouins Sampsiceramus (probably identical with Uranius Antoninus) was able to resist the attack and to drive off the Persians who had no time for a protracted siege. Whether or not Odenath attacked the rear of Shapuhr with his army will be discussed later. However, though driven away from Hemesa, Shapuhr and his generals had better success elsewhere. More loot was added to the rich war booty. The opulent cities Larisa (Sizara) and Hamath (Hama) and the temple of Doliche were among his victims.^57a But the expedition was a mere raid. In one year it was over, Shapuhr being apparently satisfied with pillaging and in some cases partially destroying the captured cities. He did not care to occupy them with permanent garrisons. This is certain for Antioch. We know that Valerian after his arrival in Syria (probably late in A.D. 253 or early in 254) found Antioch in ruins, but apparently not occupied by a Sassanian garrison and not utterly destroyed. No fighting in Antioch is reported and probably none occurred. The reconstruction of the city with the help of Successianus, the hero of Pityus, and the new pretorian prefect of Valerian was undertaken immediately. The same is probably true of the other cities of Syria.

Valerian when he came to Syria faced a hard problem. His first task was to reorganize the army, to reconcile the population to the Roman rule,⁵⁸ and to rebuild the cities and the fortresses. For a while Shapuhr was quiet. But he knew that the situation of Valerian was difficult. His "intelligence" service informed him of the conditions in

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