Siege of Jerusalem ( 614 ) The Siege of Jerusalem in 614 was part of the final phase of the Byzantine - Sassanid Wars . The Persian Shah Khosrau II appointed his general Shahrbaraz to conquer the Byzantine controlled areas of the Near East , establishing a strategic alliance with the Jewish population of the Sasanian Persia . Following Persian advances into Syria in the previous year , Shahrbaraz ' s next target Palaestina Prima , first targeting its provincial center - Caesarea Maritima . Providing direct access to the Mediterranean Sea , the city would have also provided a strategic location for the Persian Empire to begin constructing a naval fleet , thereby threatening Byzantine hegemony in the Mediterranean . Reinforced by the Jewish army from Persia and local Jewish rebels under Benjamin of Tiberias , the Persian army later laid siege to Jerusalem . After 21 days of relentless siege warfare , Jerusalem ' s walls yielded and the decisive Persian victory resulted in the territorial annexation of Jerusalem , and eventually all of Palaestina Prima . Background . Following the victory in Antioch , a joint Sasanian - Jewish army , commanded by Shahrbaraz , arrived in Palaestina Prima and conquered Caesaria Maritima , the administrative capital of the province . Nehemiah ' s Jewish troops and the Sasanian Persians were joined by Benjamin of Tiberias ( according to Jewish sources – a man of immense wealth ) , who enlisted and armed additional Jewish soldiers from Tiberias , Nazareth and the mountain cities of Galilee , and together with a band of Arabs and additional Jews from southern parts of the country they marched on Jerusalem . Some 26 , 000 Jewish rebels joined the war against the Byzantine Christians . Siege and its aftermath . Persian capture . Customary to military tradition , when the Persian force arrived outside Jerusalem , Shahrbaraz offered a peaceful transition of power should the city surrender without resistance . The Sassanid general ' s offer was however rebuffed , and he consequently prepared his troops for a blockade . Shahrbaraz , alongside fellow general Shahin , prepared for what would they believed would be a long and fierce siege , given Jerusalem ' s powerful fortifications . For twenty days , the Persians army continually pounded the walls of Jerusalem with ballistas and other engines . While the Byzantine city was composed primarily of civilians and the priesthood , there is mention of a formidable Greek force , which was gathered by monk Abba Modestus to assist Jerusalem . However , once the Greek troops caught sight of the overwhelming Persian army encamped outside the city walls , they fled , fearing a suicidal battle . After the twenty - first day of bombardment , the city ' s walls finally broke , and due notably to the Jewish allies ' assistance to the Persian army , the interior was quickly overrun . According to Jewish sources , Jerusalem was handed to the Jewish rebels , under the leadership of Nehemiah ben Hushiel and Benjamin of Tiberias , becoming the capital of short - lived Jewish - Sasanian Commonwealth . Christian rebellion . Christian rebellion erupted just a few months after the July 614 capture of Jerusalem by Persians . Killing the new Jewish governor of Jerusalem - the Exilarch Nehemiah ben Hushiel and his " council of the righteous " and dragging their bodies through the streets , prompted a full scale Christian rebellion against the new Jewish - Persian hegemony across Palaestina . Christians in this time period had allied themselves with the Byzantines , including Aramaic and Greek - speaking Greco - Romans , Nabatean and Ghassanid Christian Arabs and descendants of converted Judeo - Christians . Following the outburst of violence in Jerusalem , Christians were able to briefly retake the city for 19 days before the walls where breached by Persian and Jewish forces . The siege resulted in an alleged massacre of the Christians in Jerusalem and destruction of Christian churches and other buildings , and notably the destruction of the Church of the Holy Sepulcure . According to Antiochus , Shahrbaraz ordered a swift razing and looting of Jerusalem . Having recognized the assistance of the Jews in the significant capture , he even gave them the opportunity to personally massacre their Christian enemies . However , archaeological evidence does not support the report that churches were burnt . Christian sources may well have reason to exaggerate the extent of the massacre as they would later in 628 massacre , forcible convert and expel the Jews . It is not known why and whether Shahrbaraz ordered the massacre . The Christian accounts of the massacre vary in their estimations . Historian Elliot Horowitz considers the common modern writing about the destruction to be " historiographical stonewalling " . Persia ' s most devastating crime in the eyes of the Byzantines was the capture of the True Cross and its removal to Ctesiphon as a battle - captured holy relic . The conquered city and the Holy Cross would remain in Sasaniian hands for some fifteen years until Heraclius recovered them in 629 . Sources . Antiochus ' account . According to Antiochus Strategos , shortly after the Persian army entered Jerusalem , an " unprecedented looting and sacrilege " took place . In his words " church after church was burned down alongside the innumerable Christian artifacts , which were stolen or damaged by the ensuing arson " . Antiochus Strategos further claimed that captive Christians were gathered near Mamilla reservoir and the Jews offered to help them escape death if they " become Jews and deny Christ " . The Christian captives refused , and the Jews in anger purchased the Christians from the Persians and massacred them on the spot . Antiochus wrote : " Then the Jews . . . as of old they bought the Lord from the Jews with silver , so they purchased Christians out of the reservoir ; for they gave the Persians silver , and they bought a Christian and slew him like a sheep . " According to Antiochus , the total Christian death toll was 66 , 509 , of which 24 , 518 corpses were allegedly found at Mamilla , many more than were found anywhere else in the city . Archaeological evidence . Despite the claims of large scale destruction , the archaeological evidence do not reveal layers of destruction to be associated with Persian conquest . There was also no hard evidence found for the widespread destruction of churches . A significant number of burial sites with bones were allocated in accordance to Christian sources . A mass burial grave at Mamilla cave was discovered in 1989 by Israeli archeologist Ronny Reich . Yet , excavations of Jerusalem show a continuous habitation in Jerusalem neighborhoods and essentially little impact of population during the period of Persian governorship . As stated by archaeologist Gideon Avni : Demographic continuity might have resulted of population exchange by the victorious Jewish rebels , but apparently also the Christian habitation remained relatively constant , despite the disturbance by the Persian conquest , and no significant impact on the population of Jerusalem was made during the following period of Sassanid - Jewish dominance . Quran . The fall of Palaestina Prima to the Persians was mentioned as a contemporary event in the thirtieth " sūrah " of the Qur ' an , Sūrat al - Rūm . It went on to predict the imminent defeat of the Persians by the Byzantines : " The Roman Empire has been defeated in a land close by , but after this defeat of theirs they will soon be victorious , within a few years " ( Qur ' an 30 : 2 - 4 ) . Other . Other sources give a figure of 60 , 000 slain . Other manuscripts report fewer corpses where found at Mamilla , 4518 or 4618 corpses , than the 24 , 518 reported by Antiochus .