Shapur I
The second Sasanian king (r. 240–270 CE) who expanded the empire and famously captured the Roman emperor Valerian in battle.
Read in context →Biography
Shapur I (c. 215–270 CE), son of Ardashir I and the second Sasanian King of Kings, was the dynasty's great early conqueror. He waged repeated wars against Rome, achieving three signal victories: the death of Emperor Gordian III (244), a costly peace and tribute from Philip the Arab, and — most famously — the capture of Emperor Valerian alive at Edessa in 260 CE, an unprecedented humiliation for Rome. He proclaimed these triumphs in his great trilingual inscription (the Res Gestae Divi Saporis at the Ka'ba-ye Zartosht) and built the city of Bishapur using captured Roman labor; he also tolerated the prophet Mani early in his reign, allowing Manichaeism to spread. A contested point is the death of Gordian III: Shapur's inscription claims he was killed in battle, while Roman sources attribute it to a mutiny or to Philip the Arab.
Quotes & narrations
«I am the Mazda-worshipping divine Shapur, King of Kings of Iran and non-Iran, whose lineage is from the gods, son of the divine Ardashir, King of Kings.»
«And Caesar Valerian himself we made captive with our own hands.»
Related entities
Sources
- Encyclopaedia Iranica, "Šāpūr I"
- Res Gestae Divi Saporis (Shapur's Ka'ba-ye Zartosht inscription, primary source)
- Encyclopaedia Britannica, "Shapur I"