His reign saw the military resurgence of the country and the expansion of its territory, which marked the start of the first Sasanian golden era. Thus, along withShapur I,Kavad I andKhosrow I, he is regarded as one of the most illustrious Sasanian kings. His three direct successors, on the other hand, were less successful. At the age of 16, he launched enormously successful military campaigns againstArab insurrections and tribes.
Shapur II pursued a harsh religious policy.[citation needed] Under his reign, the collection of theAvesta, the sacred texts ofZoroastrianism, was completed,heresy andapostasy were punished, and Christians were persecuted. The latter was a reaction against theChristianization of the Roman Empire byConstantine the Great. Shapur II, like Shapur I, was amicable towardsJews, who lived in relative freedom and gained many advantages in his period (see alsoRava). At the time of Shapur's death, the Sasanian Empire was stronger than ever, with its enemies to the east pacified andArmenia under Sasanian control.
Shapur was a popular name inSasanian Iran, being used by three Sasanian monarchs and other notables of the Sasanian era. Derived fromOld Iranian *xšayaθiya.puθra 'son of a king', it must initially have been a title, which became—at least in the late 2nd century AD—a personal name.[1] It appears in the list ofArsacid kings in some Arabic-Persian sources; however, this isanachronistic.[1] Shapur is rendered variously in other languages:GreekSapur,Sabour andSapuris;LatinSapores andSapor;ArabicSābur andŠābur;New PersianŠāpur,Šāhpur,Šahfur.[1]
WhenHormizd II died in 309, he was succeeded by his sonAdur Narseh, who, after a brief reign which lasted few months, was killed by some of the nobles of the empire.[2] They then blinded Hormizd's second son,[3] and imprisoned the third (Hormizd, who afterwards escaped to theRoman Empire).[4] The throne was reserved for another one of Hormizd II's children, Shapur II; some sources say that Shapur was born forty days after his father's death while others say that he was infant at the time.[5] A legend exists that Shapur was crowned while still unborn, with the crown being placed upon his pregnant mother's womb. This story was known to Western historians such asAgathias (6th century),[5] who writes that themagi had prophesied that the child would be a boy.[6] Modern historiansC. E. Bosworth[7] andAlireza Shapour Shahbazi consider this story to be fictional.[8] The sex of the infant could not have been known before Shapur's birth, writes Bosworth. The crowning of the infant Shapur after the elimination of his older brothers was a means for the nobility and priesthood to gain greater control of the empire.[7] They maintained their control until 325, when Shapur reached maturity at the age of sixteen.[9]
During the childhood of Shapur II,Arab nomads raided the Sasanian homeland ofPars, particularly the district ofArdashir-Khwarrah and the shore of thePersian Gulf.[10] At the age of 16, Shapur II led an expedition against the Arabs; primarily campaigning against theIyad tribe inAsoristan and thereafter he crossed the Persian Gulf, reaching al-Khatt, modernQatif, or present eastern Saudi Arabia. He then attacked theBanu Tamim in theHajar Mountains. Shapur II reportedly killed a large number of the Arab population and destroyed their water supplies by stopping their wells with sand.[11]
After having dealt with the Arabs of eastern Arabia, he continued his expedition into western Arabia andSyria, where he attacked several cities—he even went as far asMedina.[12] Supposedly because of his cruel way of dealing with the Arabs, piercing the shoulders of captives, he was calledDhu'l-Aktaf ("the man with the shoulders") by them.[9][10][a] However,Theodor Nöldeke considered this a later folkloric explanation of an honorary epithet meaning "the man with the broad shoulders", i.e., capable of bearing the weight of kingship.[13] Not only did Shapur II pacify the Arabs of the Persian Gulf, but he also pushed many Arab tribes further deep into the Arabian Peninsula. Furthermore, he also deported some Arab tribes by force; theTaghlib toBahrain andal-Khatt; theBanu Abdul Qays andBanu Tamim to Hajar; theBanu Bakr toKirman, and the Banu Hanzalah to a place nearHormizd-Ardashir.[10] Shapur II, in order to prevent the Arabs from making more raids into his country, ordered the construction of a wall nearal-Hira, which became known aswar-i tāzigān ("wall of the Arabs").[14]
During the rulership of Shapur (II), the son of Hormizd, the Arabs came; they took Khorig Rudbar; for many years with contempt (they) rushed until Shapur came to rulership; he destroyed the Arabs and took the land and destroyed many Arab rulers and pulled out many number of shoulders.[10]
With Eastern Arabia more firmly under Sasanian control, and with the establishment of Sasanian garrison troops, the way for Zoroastrianism was opened.Pre-Islamic Arabian poets often makes mention of Zoroastrian practices, which they must have made contact with either in Asoristan or Eastern Arabia.[15] TheLakhmid rulerImru' al-Qays ibn 'Amr, who was originally a vassal of the Sasanians, may have suffered from Shapur II's raids in Peninsula.[16] He seemingly swore fealty to the Romans, possibly after the incident.[16]
In the accounts of the historians regarding Shapur's campaign against the Arab lands, as well as his mistreatment of the Arabs, the burning of cities, and the flooding of water sources, there are undoubtedly significant exaggerations. These embellishments stem from Persian sources that have been greatly overstated. However, the Roman historians' narratives about this event do not support this claim.[17]
Ever since the "humiliating"Peace of Nisibis concluded between Shapur's grandfatherNarseh and the Roman emperorDiocletian in 298, the borders between the two empires had changed largely in favor of the Romans, who in the treaty received a handful of provinces inMesopotamia, changing the border from theEuphrates to theTigris, close to the Sasanian capital ofCtesiphon.[18][19] The Romans also received control over the kingdoms ofIberia andArmenia, and gained control over parts of upperMedia in Iran proper.[18] Shapur's primary objective was thus to nullify the treaty, which he spent much of his reign trying to accomplish.[18]
Another cause for Shapur's wars against the Romans was their attempts to meddle in the domestic affairs of the Sasanian Empire and hurt Shapur's kingship by supporting his brotherHormizd, who had been well received at the Roman court byConstantine the Great and made a cavalry commander.[4][18] Shapur had made fruitless attempts to satisfy his brother, even having his wife sent to him, who had originally helped him escape imprisonment.[4] However, Hormizd had already become an avidphilhellene during his stay with the Romans, with whom he felt at home.[4] Another reason was Constantine's declaration of Christianity as the official religion of the Roman Empire in 337. He had also declared himself the defender of all the Christians in the world, including those living in the Sasanian realm.[18]
Gilded silver plate showing a king (identified as Shapur II) hunting a deer whilst riding a stag, in theBritish Museum
In 337, after the accession ofConstantius II to the Roman throne, Shapur II, provoked by the Roman rulers' backing of Armenia[14] and the Armenian kingdom's earlierconversion to Christianity,[10][b] broke the peace concluded in 298 betweenNarseh (293–302) andDiocletian (284–305), which had been observed for forty years. Most of the fighting during this campaign occurred in Roman Mesopotamia, where Roman fortifications impeded the Persian advance.[21] Nevertheless, Shapur was able to take some forts, such as Vitra.[14] Persian forces also devastated Armenia and captured and blinded the Armenian kingTiran, perhaps in 350. Shapur besieged the Roman fortress city ofNisibis in Mesopotamia thrice (in 338, 346, and 350) and was repulsed each time.[22] During this campaign, the sole engagement between the sides' main armies was theBattle of Singara (modern-daySinjar, Iraq) in 344, where Persian forces feinted a retreat and inflicted significant losses on the Roman army.[23][c] Neither side managed to achieve a decisive advantage, and an invasion of Central Asian nomads in the east forced Shapur to abandon his campaign against Rome by 350.[10] These nomads were likely theKidarites, who were threatening theGupta Empire (320–500 CE) in India at the same time.[14] After an extended campaign against the nomads, Shapur forced their king,Grumbates, into an alliance,[25] thus gaining a new ally against the Romans.[10] In particular, Grumbates's forces joined the Persians in theSiege of Amida in 359.[26]
Second war against the Romans and invasion of Armenia
Map showing Julian's journey fromConstantinople toAntioch (in 362) and his Persian expedition (in 363), ending with his death nearSamarra
In 356, Shapur rejected a peace overture by Constantius, replying that Rome should return Armenia and other territories lost by Persia in the Treaty of Nisibis.[20] In 359, Shapur II invaded southern Armenia and besieged the fortress ofAmida (nowDiyarbakır, Turkey). He was joined by King Grumbates's forces[26] and other allies.[27][d] Amida surrendered after a seventy-three-day siege.[25] The city was plundered and its inhabitants were deported to Khuzistan.[26] The delay forced Shapur to halt operations for the winter. Early the following spring he continued his operations against the Roman fortresses, capturingSingara andBezabde (Cizre?), again at a heavy cost. In the next yearConstantius II launched a counterattack, having spent the winter making massive preparations inConstantinople; Shapur, who had meanwhile lost the aid of his Asianic allies, avoided battle, but left strong garrisons in all the fortresses which he had captured. Constantius laid siege to Bezabde, but proved incapable of taking it, and retired on the approach of winter toAntioch, where he died soon after.Constantius was succeeded by his cousinJulian (361–363), who came to the throne determined to avenge the recent Roman reverses in the east. Though Shapur attempted an honorable reconciliation, warned of the capabilities which Julian had displayed in wars against theAlemanni inGaul, the emperor dismissed negotiation.[citation needed]
Sasanian relief of the investiture ofArdashir II showingMithra, Shapur II, andAhura Mazda above a defeated Julian, lying prostrate
In 363 Julian, at the head of a strong army, advanced to Shapur's capital city ofCtesiphon and defeated a presumably larger Sasanian force at theBattle of Ctesiphon; however, he was unable to take the fortified city, or engage with the main Persian army under Shapur II that was approaching. Julian was killed by the enemy in a skirmish during his retreat back to Roman territory. His successorJovian (363–364) made an ignominious peace in which the districts beyond theTigris which had been acquired in 298 were given to the Persians along with Nisibis and Singara, and the Romans promised to interfere no more in Armenia.[10] The great success is represented in the rock sculptures near the townBishapur in Pars (Stolze,Persepolis, p. 141); under the hooves of the king's horse lies the body of an enemy, probably Julian, and a supplicant Roman, the Emperor Jovian, asks for peace.
According to the peace treaty between Shapur and Jovian,Georgia and Armenia were to be ceded to the Sasanians, and the Romans forbidden from further involvement in the affairs of Armenia.[28] The Armenian KingArshak II, who had joined Julian's campaign, was lured to Persia and imprisoned in theCastle of Oblivion[29] (Armenian:berd An(y)ush) inKhuzistan.[30][e] Shapur destroyed many towns in Armenia and deported their inhabitants to Persia.[29] He persecuted the local Christians, erectedfire temples and forced conversion toZoroastrianism.[31] The Persians were assisted in Armenia by the magnatesMeruzhan Artsruni and Vahan Mamikonian, who were made governors of the country and one of whom was given Shapur's own sister in marriage.[29][f] However, the Armenian nobles resisted him successfully, secretly supported by the Romans, who sent KingPap, the son of Arshak II, into Armenia. Shapur personally invaded Armenia in response to Pap's return, although Pap was restored to the Armenian throne again with the help of a Roman army in approximately spring 370.[33][34] Persian forces were defeated by a joint Roman-Armenian army in 371,[35] and an army led by Shapur himself was defeated in another battle on the eastern border of Armenia.[36] Eventually, Pap was suspected of colluding with the Persians and was assassinated in 375 by the order of the Roman emperorValens.[37] Shapur and Valens negotiated inconclusively over the status of Armenia until 377, and Valens's defeat and death at theBattle of Adrianople in 378 ended Roman presence in Armenia. Armenia was left in peace for the time being. The country was later partitioned between Rome and Persia in 387, under Shapur's sonShapur III.[38]
In Georgia, then known asIberia, where the Sasanians were also given control, Shapur II installedAspacures II of Iberia in the east; however, in western Georgia, Valens also succeeded in setting up his own king,Sauromaces II of Iberia.[28]
Shapur II had conducted great hosts of captives from the Roman territory into his dominions, most of whom were settled inElam. Here he rebuiltSusa—after having killed the city's rebellious inhabitants.[citation needed]
In the east around 350 CE, Shapur II gained the upper hand against theKushano-Sasanian Kingdom and took control of large territories in areas now known asAfghanistan andPakistan, possibly as a consequence of the destruction of the Kushano-Sasanians by theChionites.[39] The Kushano-Sasanian still ruled in the north. Important finds of Sasanian coinage beyond theIndus river in the city ofTaxila only start with the reigns of Shapur II (r. 309–379) andShapur III (r. 383–388), suggesting that the expansion of Sasanian control beyond the Indus was the result of the wars of Shapur II "with theChionites andKushans" from 350 to 358 CE as described byAmmianus Marcellinus.[40] During the last phase of the reign of Shapur II, a Sasanian mint was established south of theHindu Kush, the role of which was probably to pay local troops.[41] The Sasanians probably maintained control untilBactria fell to theKidarites under their rulerKidara around 360 CE,[42] andKabulistan fell to theAlchon Huns circa 385 CE.[40][41]
Shapur IIcoinage of Sindh. Such coins were minted inSind,Baluchistan andKutch inIndia, as well as coins of his successors down toPeroz I, although the Sasanians probably did not rule there directly.
In the area ofSindh, fromMultan to the mouth of theIndus river, an important series of gold coins started to be issued on the model of the coinage of Shapur II, and would continue down toPeroz I.[43][44] The coins are not the usual Sasanian imperial type, and the legend around the portrait tends to be degradedMiddle Persian in thePahlavi script, but they have theBrahmi script characterSri (meaning "Lord") in front of the portrait of the King.[44] The coins suggest some sort of Sasanian control of Sind from the time of Shapur II, and a recognition of Sasanian overlordship,[44] but the precise extent of the Sasanian presence or influence is unknown.[45]
Confrontations with nomadic tribes from Central Asia soon started to occur.Ammianus Marcellinus reports that in 356 CE, Shapur II was taking his winter quarters on his eastern borders, "repelling the hostilities of the bordering tribes" of theChionites and the Euseni ("Euseni" is usually amended to "Cuseni", meaning theKushans),[46] finally making a treaty of alliance with the Chionites and the Gelani in 358 CE.
From around 360 CE, however, during his reign, the Sasanids lost the control ofBactria to invaders from the north, first theKidarites, then theHephthalites and theAlchon Huns, who would follow up with the invasion ofIndia.[47] These invaders initially issued coins based onSasanian designs.[48] Various coins minted inBactria and based on a Sasanian designs are known, often with busts imitating Sasanian kings Shapur II (r. 309 to 379 CE) andShapur III (r. 383 to 388 CE), adding the AlchonTamgha and the name "Alchono" inBactrian script on the obverse, and with attendants to afire altar on the reverse.[49]
Shapur died in 379 and was succeeded by his slightly younger brotherArdashir II, who agreed to rule till Shapur's sonShapur III reached adulthood.[50] At the time of Shapur's death, the Sasanian Empire was stronger than it had ever been, and it was also considerably larger than when he came to the throne, the eastern and western enemies were pacified and Persia had gained control over Armenia. He is regarded as one of the most important Sasanian kings along withShapur I andKhosrow I, and could after a long period of instability regain the old strength of the Empire. His three successors, however, were less successful than he. Furthermore, his death marked the start of a 125-year-long conflict between thewuzurgan, a powerful group of nobility, and the kings, who both struggled for power over Iran.[51]
According toArmenian and primary sources, the Sasanian shahs revered the sun and the moon, with Roman sources stating that Shapur II asserted to be the "brother of the Sun and the Moon" (Latin:frater Solis et Lunae).[52] This is however not mentioned in Sasanian sources, which implies that there are two possibilities; one that it is regarding about the angelic divinityMithra, whilst the other one being that it may be anIndo-Iranian characteristic where the shahs considered their ancestors descendants ofManuchehr (IndicManu) and his father Wiwahvant (IndicVivasvant), who were inIndia associated with the Moon and the Sun.[53]
Shapur's own religious beliefs do not seem to have been very strict; he restored the family cult ofAnahita inIstakhr and was possibly an adherent ofZurvanism as well as promoting the official orthodox variant of Zoroastrianism.[54]
Initially, Shapur II was not hostile to hisChristian subjects, who were led byShemon Bar Sabbae, thePatriarch of theChurch of the East. However, the conversion of Constantine the Great toChristianity caused Shapur to start distrusting his Christian subjects. He started seeing them as agents of a foreign enemy. The wars between the Sasanian and Roman empires turned Shapur's mistrust into hostility. After the death of Constantine, Shapur II, who had been preparing for a war against the Romans for several years, imposed a double tax on his Christian subjects to finance the conflict. Shemon, however, refused to pay the double tax. Shapur started pressuring Shemon and his clergy to convert to Zoroastrianism, which they refused to do. It was during this period the 'cycle of the martyrs' began during which 'many thousands of Christians' were put to death. During the following years, Shemon's successors,Shahdost andBarba'shmin, were also martyred.
Barbasceminus, bishop of Seleucia and Ctesiphon from 342, was executed on 14 January 346 with sixteen of his clergy.[55]A near-contemporary fifth-century Christian work, theEcclesiastical History ofSozomen, contains considerable detail on the Persian Christians martyred under Shapur II. Sozomen estimates the total number of Christians killed as follows:
The number of men and women whose names have been ascertained, and who were martyred at this period, has been computed to be upwards of sixteen thousand, while the multitude of martyrs whose names are unknown was so great that the Persians, the Syrians, and the inhabitants of Edessa, have failed in all their efforts to compute the number.
According to Ammianus Marcellinus, Shapur II fought the Romans in order to "re-conquer what had belonged to his ancestor". It is not known who Shapur II thought his ancestor was, probably theAchaemenids or the legendaryKayanian dynasty.[10] During the reign of Shapur II, the title of "the divineMazda-worshipping, king of kings of the Iranians, whose image/seed is from the gods" disappears from the coins that were minted. He was also the last Sasanian king to claim lineage from the gods.[10]
Under Shapur II, coins were minted in copper, silver and gold, however, a great amount of the copper coins were made on Romanplanchet, which is most likely from the riches that the Sasanians took from the Romans. The weight of the coins also changed from 7.20 g to 4.20 g.[10]
Besides the construction of thewar-i tāzigān near al-Hira, Shapur II is also known to have created several other cities. He created a royal city called Eranshahr-Shapur, where he settled Roman prisoners of war. He also rebuilt and repopulated Nisibis in 363 with people fromIstakhr andSpahan. In Asoristan, he foundedWuzurg-Shapur ("Great Shapur"), a city on the west side of the Tigris. He also rebuiltSusa after having destroyed it when suppressing a revolt, renaming it Eran-Khwarrah-Shapur ("Iran's glory [built by] Shapur").[10][11]
^Lee E. Patterson writes, "That Armenia should officially become Christian was troubling mainly because such a transformation aligned it with the Romans even more than before."[20]
^The date of the battle is disputed, and some scholars have suggested that there were actually two battles of Singara. See the references inPotter 2004, p. 690, note 140 andDodgeon & Lieu 2005, pp. 329–330. According to Potter, K. Mosig-Walburg conclusively demonstrated that there was one battle in 344 in the article "Zur Schlacht bei Singara,"Historia 48 (1999): 330–84.[24]
^These were the Caucasian Albanians, Gelani, Mardians and Segestani.[27]
^Supposedly, Arshak then committed suicide during a visit by his eunuch Drastamat,[28] although the Roman historianAmmianus Marcellinus (4th century) reports that Arshak was blinded and executed.[30]
^Shapur's sister, who is called Ormizdukht in the old Armenian histories, was given to Vahan according to theBuzandaran Patmutʻiwnkʻ and to Meruzhan according toMovses Khorenatsi.[32]
Dodgeon, Michael H.; Lieu, Samuel N. C. (2005) [Originally published 1991].The Roman Eastern Frontier and the Persian Wars AD 226-363: A Documentary History (e-book ed.). London: Routledge.ISBN0-203-42534-0.
Drijvers, Jan Willem (2016)."Ammianus Marcellinus, King Pap and the Dominance over Armenia". In Binder, Carsten; Börm, Henning; Luther, Andreas (eds.).Diwan: Studies in the History and Culture of the Ancient Near East and the Eastern Mediterranean. Festschrift für Josef Wiesehöfer zum. Vol. 68. Duisburg: Wellem. pp. 571–590.ISBN978-3-941820-24-1.
Patterson, Lee E. (2017). "Minority Religions in the Sasanian Empire: Suppression, Integration and Relations with Rome". In Sauer, Eberhard (ed.).Sasanian Persia: Between Rome and the Steppes of Eurasia. Edinburgh University Press.
Potter, David S. (2004).The Roman Empire at Bay, AD 180–395. London: Routledge.ISBN0-203-40117-4.
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