Histories

So when Darius assaulted the whole circuit of the walls, according to the agreed plan, then Zopyrus' treason was fully revealed. For while the townsmen were on the wall defending it against Darius' assault, he opened the gates called Cissian and Belian, and let the Persians inside the walls.

Those Babylonians who saw what he did fled to the temple of that Zeus whom they call Belus; those who had not seen it remained in position, until they too discovered how they had been betrayed.

Thus Babylon [44.4,32.55] (deserted settlement), Babil, Iraq, AsiaBabylon was taken a second time, and when Darius was master of the Babylonians, he destroyed their walls and tore away all their gates, neither of which Cyrus had done at the first taking of Babylon [44.4,32.55] (deserted settlement), Babil, Iraq, AsiaBabylon; moreover he impaled about three thousand men that were prominent among them; as for the rest, he gave them back their city to live in.

Further, as the Babylonians, fearing for their food, had strangled their own women, as I described above, Darius provided wives to give them a posterity by appointing that each of the neighboring nations should send a certain number of women to Babylon [44.4,32.55] (deserted settlement), Babil, Iraq, AsiaBabylon; the sum of the women thus collected was fifty thousand: these were the mothers of those who now inhabit the city.