Shapur I

• King Shapur I (215-272 CE) was the second King of the Persian Sassanid Empire between c.240-272 CE. He was the son of King Ardashir I (224-242 CE).
• Shapur I conducted a series of wars against Rome resulting in the Battle of Edessa (260 CE), where he captured the Roman Emperor Valerian and his army of 70,000 men.

Shapur I goes to War against Rome

• In c. 240 CE, Shapur I entered Mesopotamia, conquered Nisibis and Carrhae and advanced into Syria.
• In 242 CE, Gordian III took the Legions to Antioch, then reconquered Nisibis and Carrhae before advancing into Mesopotamia. However, Gordian III died in Battle, before he could reach Persia.
• The Roman Senate then voted Philip the Arab (244-249 CE) to be the next Roman Emperor.

Battle of Barbalissos (c.250 CE)

• c.250 CE, Shapur I attacked the Roman Legions at the Battle of Barbalissos, where the Romans lost 60,000 men. Shapur I went on to capture Antioch and ravage Syria, before concentrating on capturing Armenia.
• By 252 CE Shapur I had turned Armenia into a Persian Client Kingdom.
• In 253 CE the Roman Senate elected Valerian as Roman Emperor.
• By 257 CE, Valerian had reconquered Antioch, and moved towards Persia.

Battle of Edessa (260 CE)

• At the Battle of Edessa in 260 CE, King Shapur I defeated the Roman Emperor Valerian.
• Valerian became the only Roman Emperor to be taken captive and die in captivity.
• In captivity, King Shapur I is reputed to have used Valerian as a footstool when he mounted his horse, according to Lactantius. Valerian died in captivity in 264 CE.

Roman Engineering in Persia

• The captured Legions, numbering up to 70,000 men, were then made to build the city of Bishapur, and the Band-e Kaisar meaning Caesar’s Dam at Shushtar, which still stands today in Iran.

Patron of Mani

• Shapur I encouraged the spread of Manichaeism, which was a Philosophy and Religion that became very popular in the Roman Empire, before being displaced by Christianity.
• Mani, the originator of Manichaeism, wrote the Shabuhragan, with six volumes in Syriac and one in Persian, which was dedicated to Shapur I.

Shapur II (309-379 CE)

• Also known as Shapur the Great, he was the tenth King of the Sassanid Empire, and the pre-eminent King of Iran who successfully resisted the Roman Empire.
• As Christianity replaced Paganism in the Roman Empire, he reinforced Zoroastrianism as the dominant religion in Iran.

Shapur III (383-388 CE)

• Son of Shapur II and reigned for 5 years.