The siege of Antioch in 540 was part of the war Byzantium–Sassanid war Khosrow I, invasion Syria in the same year, besieged the city of Antioch and was able to capture and destroy that city and exile its population to Iran.
June 540 Khosrow I moved to Antioch.
When this news reached Antioch, part of the people took refuge elsewhere and others remained in the city, and the leaders of Lebanon, Theoctistus and Molatzes, who arrived at Antioch with 6,000 men to defend it against the Persians, were reassured[1]Khosrow I invasion a hill whose fortifications were more vulnerable due to the presence of the above rock.The Byzantines tied the tall beams together, hanging them between the towers, thus making the spaces much larger to ensure that more people could meet the attackers from there[2] So for a long time the Byzantines managed to stand against the Sassanid army But the breaking of the ropes that kept the beams suspended and the noise caused by their fall made the Eastern Romans, who were fighting on the other towers, believe that the walls of that part were destroyed, and for this reason, they retreated hastily and tried to escape from Antioch[3] Khosrow I ordered his army to capture and enslave the remaining Antiochians and loot all their property, then he went with the ambassadors to the church of the city, where he found a large amount of gold and silver, which he looted along with precious marbles that he intended to take to Iran[4]Upon his return to Persia, Khosrau built a new city in Assyria, Antioch of Khosrau, settling there the captured Antiochenes who became subjects of the Persian monarch.
[5]According to some sources the name of the city was Weh Antiok Khosrow which means "better than Antioch Khosrowbuilt it".
Weh Antiok Khosrow