The Siege of Caesarea took place when the Sassanids under Shapur I besieged the Roman city of Antioch in 260 after winning over the Romans in the Battle of Edessa. Caesarea during that time had a large population (about 400,000 inhabitants), the Sassanids could not take the city so they took a Roman as captive and tortured him until he revealed a special way from which the Sassanids could take. The Sassanids raided Caesarea during the night and killed every Roman soldier, however, the Roman general Demosthenes managed to escape during the raid.