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SHAPUR (Pahlavi, Shahpuhre, " son of ...
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See also:SHAPUR (See also:Pahlavi, Shahpuhre, " son of the See also: Shapur advanced into See also:Asia See also:Minor, but was beaten by Ballista; and now See also:Odaenathus (Odainath), See also:prince of See also:Palmyra, See also:rose in his See also:rear, defeated the Persian See also:army, reconquered Carrhae and Nisibis, captured the royal See also:harem, and twice invested See also:Ctesiphon (263—265). Shapur was unable to resume the offensive; he even lost Armenia again. But according to Persian and Arabic traditions, which appear to be trustworthy, he conquered the See also:great fortress of Hatra in the Mesopotamian See also:desert; and the great See also:glory of his reign was that a Roman emperor was by him kept prisoner to the See also:day of his death. In the valley of Istakhr (near See also:Persepolis), under the tombs of the Achaemenids at Nakshi Rustam, Shapur is represented on horseback, in the royal See also:armour, with the See also:crown on his See also:head; before him kneels See also:Valerian, in Roman See also:dress, asking for See also:grace. The same See also:scene is represented on the rocks near the ruins of the towns -Darabjird and Shapur in See also:Persis. Shapur See also:left other reliefs and See also:rock See also:inscriptions; one, at Nakshi-Rajab near Persepolis, is accompanied by a Greek See also:translation; here he calls himself " the Mazdayasnian (worshipper of Ahuramazda), the See also:god Sapores, king of kings of the See also:Aryans (Iranians) and non-Aryans, of divine descent, son of the Mazdayasnian, the god Artaxares, king of kings of the Aryans, See also:grandson of the god-king Papak." Another See also:long in= scription at Hajjiabad (Istakhr) mentions the king's exploits in See also:archery in the presence of his nobles. From his titles we learn that Shapur I. claimed the See also:sovereignty over the whole See also:earth, although in reality his domain extended 1 Timesitheus is the generally accepted variant for the Misitheus (" God-Hater ") of Capitolinus; See also:Zosimus, i. 16. 17, preferred Timesicles. In a See also:paper read before a See also:meeting of the See also:British School of See also:Archaeology at Rome on the 3oth of See also:January, 1908, Mr A. S. Yeames endeavoured to show that Timesitheus is the See also:general commemorated by a bust in the See also:Sala delle Colombe of the Capitoline Museum, and by the great See also:sarcophagus in the Museo delle Terme, representing a See also:battle between See also:Romans and barbarians. On the forehead in each See also:case is a non-See also:Christian incised See also:cross of unknown significance.little farther than that of Ardashir I. Shapur built the great See also:town Gundev-Shapur near the old Achaemenian See also:capital See also:Susa, and increased the fertility of this See also:rich See also:district by a barrage through the See also:Karun See also:river near See also:Shushter, which was built by the Roman prisoners and is still called See also:Band-i-Kaisar, " the See also:mole of the See also:Caesar." • Under his reign the See also:prophet Mani, the founder of See also:Manichaeism (q.v.) began his See also:preaching in See also:Persia, and the king himself seems to have favoured his ideas.
For the monuments and inscriptions cf. See also:Sir R. See also:Ker See also:Porter, Travels; Flandin and Coste, Voyage en Perse; Stolze, Persepolis; See also: 280.
2. SHAPURII. (310-379). When King See also:Hormizd II. (302—310) died, the Persian magnates killed his eldest son, blinded the second, and imprisoned the third (Hormizd, who afterwards escaped to the Romans); the See also:throne was reserved for the unborn See also:child of one of the wives of Hormizd. This child, named Shapur, was therefore See also:born king; the See also:government was See also:con-ducted by his See also:mother and the magnates. But when Shapur came of See also:age, he turned out to be one of the greatest monarchs of the See also:dynasty. Under his reign the collection of the Avesta was completed, See also:heresy and See also:apostasy punished, and the Christians persecuted. This was the natural See also:oriental reaction against the transformation of the Roman empire into a Christian empire by See also:Constantine. In 337, just before the death of Constantine, Shapur See also:broke the peace concluded in 297 between See also:Narses and See also:Diocletian, which had been observed for See also:forty years, and a war of twenty-six years (337—363) began.' Shapur attempted with varying success to conquer the great fortresses of Roman See also:Mesopotamia, Singara, Nisibis (which he invested three times in vain), Amida (Diarbekr). The emperor See also:Constantius II. was always beaten in the See also: Nevertheless Shapur made scarcely any progress; the military See also:power of his See also:kingdom was not sufficient for a lasting occupation of the conquered districts. At the same See also:time he was attacked in the E. by See also:nomad tribes, among whom the Chionites are named. After a prolonged struggle they were forced to conclude a peace, and their king, Grumbates, accompanied Shapur in the war against the Romans. Shapur now conquered Amida after a See also:siege of seventy-three days (359) , and took Singara and some other fortresses in the next See also:year. In 363 the emperor See also:Julian, at the head of a strong army, advanced to Ctesiphon, but was killed. His successor See also:Jovian was defeated and made an ignominious peace, by which the districts on the See also:Tigris and Nisibis were ceded to the Persians, and the Romans promised to interfere no more in Armenia. In the rock-sculptures near the town Shapur in Persis (Stolze, Persepolis, pl. 141) the great success is represented; under the hoofs of the king's See also:horse lies the See also:body of an enemy, probably Julian, and a suppliant Roman, the emperor Jovian, asks for peace. Shapur now invaded Armenia, took king See also:Arsaces III. (of the Arsacid See also:race), the faithful ally of the Romans, prisoner by treachery and forced him to commit See also:suicide. He then attempted to introduce Zoroastrian orthodoxy into Armenia. But the Armenian nobles resisted him successfully, secretly supported by the Romans, who sent King Pap, the son of Arsaces III. into Armenia. The war with Rome threatened to break out again; but See also:Valens sacrificed Pap and caused his assassination in See also:Tarsus, where he had taken See also:refuge (374). Shapur had conducted great hosts of captives from the Roman territory into his dominions, most of whom were settled in Susiana. Here he rebuilt Susa, after having killed her rebellious inhabitants, and founded some other towns. He was successful in the See also:east, and the great town See also:Nishapur in See also:Khorasan (E. See also:Parthia) was founded by him. 3. SHAPUR III. (383—388), son of Shapur II., elevated to the throne by the magnates against his See also:uncle, Ardashir II., and killed by them after a reign of five years. He concluded a treaty with See also:Theodosius the Great. (ED. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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