Shapur I

(reigned a.d. 241-272)

   The son of the Sassanian king Ardashir I (reigned 226-241) and the second monarch of the Sassanian Empire. A capable war leader, Shapur raided a number of Roman towns. The Roman emperor Gordian III (reigned 238-244) defeated him in 242, but two years later the next Roman ruler, Philip the Arab (244-249), concluded a treaty with Shapur. Soon after that an eastern European people, the Goths, invaded some of Rome's eastern holdings, prompting Shapur to renew his attacks on the Romans. Growing increasingly bold, he assaulted Armenia and Syria, looting the large city of Antioch, one of Rome's most valuable commercial centers. Thousands of the city's inhabitants were deported to Mesopotamia and Iran. The emperor Valerian (253-260) tried to stop the Sassanians but met with disaster when Shapur took him prisoner during a peace negotiation. For the rest of his life, Valerian remained in captivity as the Sassanian king's personal servant. In a sculpted relief carved into a cliff in the valley of Istakhr, near Persepolis, Shapur sits in full armor, mounted proudly on his horse, while Valerian kneels before him, begging for mercy.

   Despite these successes, Shapur suffered a significant setback when Septimius Odenathus, ruler of the rich trading city of Palmyra in eastern Syria and a Roman ally, attacked him. Odenathus took back some of the Syrian cities Shapur had recently overrun. Odenathus also besieged the major Sassanian city of Ctesiphon between 263 and 265.

   In his domestic affairs, Shapur completed several large-scale construction projects. He built the town of Gundis-hapur, near the Persian capital of Susa. Shapur also befriended Persian Jews and showed toleration for other non-Zoroastrian religious groups.

   See also: Ardashir I; Ctesiphon; Sassanian Empire