blockaded or stormed Singara. In response, Ursicinus ordered the Comes Aelianus with five legions to Amida. The Romans wanted to use the city as a base to strike at the Sassanids if they besieged Nisibis or to attack their lines of communication and supply if they moved westwards towards Syria. Ursicinus moved his headquarters to Amida and sent out scouting parties. The Sassanids suddenly marched to Amida, where their vanguard almost captured Ursicinus when he rode out with the cavalry wanting to make sure the bridges across the Euphrates were broken down. After a protracted fight, Ursicinus' cavalry was driven towards the Tigris with Ursicinus and a few men barely escaping. When Shapur and the main army approached Amida, the Sassanids were provoked into attacking the city. This came about when the son of Grumbates, while inspecting the defences of Amida, was shot and killed with an arrow shot by the city garrison. Ammianus described how Grumbates, outraged at his son's death, demanded revenge from the Romans: he compares the death to that of Patroclus at Troy. The Sassanids began the attack with siege towers and attempted to take the city quickly, but were largely unsuccessful. Siege According to Ammianus Marcellinus According to historian Khodadad Rezakhani, the ruler described by Ammianus Marcellinus, who is not named specifically as Shapur II, could alternatively be the Kidarite ruler Peroz. In particular, Shapur's traditional headgear is a crenellated crown, and is very different from the one described by Ammianus Marcellinus. The headgear with ram's horn would rather correspond to that of Peroz as seen on many of his coins in the Sasanian style. Ammianus Marcellinus also mentions that the king, whom he assumes to be Shapur, was called "Saansaan" and "Pirosen" by the Persians, which could actually refer to "Šāhanšāh Pērōz", the ruler of the eastern Hunnic tribes (Chionites, Gelani, and Sagistani). Ammianus Marcellinus continues with the account of how he reached the safety of the city just as the Sassanids were descending on the city: The siege took 73 days. Shapur II attempted to capture the city several times but every time it failed. Early in the siege a company of 70 elite Persian foot-archers by aid of a Roman renegade gained entrance to a tower on the south side of the city, which was placed on the bank of the Euphrates. The archers then fired precision shots toward the city's interior