Shapur II
Shapur II, also known as Shapur the Great, was the tenth King of Kings of the Sasanian Empire. He took the title at birth and held it until his death at age 70, making him the longest-reigning monarch in Iranian history. He was the son of Hormizd II.
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 with Shapur I, Kavad I and Khosrow 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 against Arab insurrections and tribes.
Shapur II pursued a harsh religious policy. Under his reign, the collection of the Avesta, the sacred texts of Zoroastrianism, was completed, heresy and apostasy were punished, and Christians were persecuted. The latter was a reaction against the Christianization of the Roman Empire by Constantine the Great. Shapur II, like Shapur I, was amicable towards Jews, who lived in relative freedom and gained many advantages in his period. At the time of Shapur's death, the Sasanian Empire was stronger than ever, with its enemies to the east pacified and Armenia under Sasanian control.
Etymology
Shapur was a popular name in Sasanian Iran, being used by three Sasanian monarchs and other notables of the Sasanian era. Derived from Old 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. It appears in the list of Arsacid kings in some Arabic-Persian sources; however, this is anachronistic. Shapur is rendered variously in other languages: Greek Sapur, Sabour and Sapuris; Latin Sapores and Sapor; Arabic Sābur and Šābur; New Persian Šāpur, Šāhpur, Šahfur.Accession
When Hormizd II died in 309, he was succeeded by his son Adur Narseh, who, after a brief reign which lasted few months, was killed by some of the nobles of the empire. They then blinded Hormizd's second son, and imprisoned the third. 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. 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 as Agathias, who writes that the magi had prophesied that the child would be a boy. Modern historians C. E. Bosworth and Alireza Shapour Shahbazi consider this story to be fictional. 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. They maintained their control until 325, when Shapur reached maturity at the age of sixteen.War with the Arabs (325)
During the childhood of Shapur II, Arab nomads raided the Sasanian homeland of Pars, particularly the district of Ardashir-Khwarrah and the shore of the Persian Gulf. At the age of 16, Shapur II led an expedition against the Arabs; primarily campaigning against the Iyad tribe in Asoristan and thereafter he crossed the Persian Gulf, reaching al-Khatt, modern Qatif, or present eastern Saudi Arabia. He then attacked the Banu Tamim in the Hajar Mountains. Shapur II reportedly killed a large number of the Arab population and destroyed their water supply by filling their wells with sand.After having dealt with the Arabs of eastern Arabia, he continued his expedition into western Arabia and Syria, where he attacked several cities—he even went as far as Medina. Supposedly because of his cruel way of dealing with the Arabs, piercing the shoulders of captives, he was called Dhu'l-Aktaf by them. 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. 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; the Taghlib to Bahrain and al-Khatt; the Banu Abdul Qays and Banu Tamim to Hajar; the Banu Bakr to Kirman, and the Banu Hanzalah to a place near Hormizd-Ardashir. Shapur II, in order to prevent the Arabs from making more raids into his country, ordered the construction of a wall near al-Hira, which became known as war-i tāzigān.
The Zoroastrian scripture Bundahishn also mentions the Arabian campaign of Shapur II:
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. The Lakhmid ruler Imru' al-Qays ibn 'Amr, who was originally a vassal of the Sasanians, may have suffered from Shapur II's raids in Peninsula. He seemingly swore fealty to the Romans, possibly after the incident.
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.
War with the Romans
Objectives
Ever since the "humiliating" Peace of Nisibis concluded between Shapur's grandfather Narseh and the Roman emperor Diocletian 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 in Mesopotamia, changing the border from the Euphrates to the Tigris, close to the Sasanian capital of Ctesiphon. The Romans also received control over the kingdoms of Iberia and Armenia, and gained control over parts of upper Media in Iran proper. Shapur's primary objective was thus to nullify the treaty, which he spent much of his reign trying to accomplish.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 brother Hormizd, who had been well received at the Roman court by Constantine the Great and made a cavalry commander. Shapur had made fruitless attempts to satisfy his brother, even having his wife sent to him, who had originally helped him escape imprisonment. However, Hormizd had already become an avid philhellene during his stay with the Romans, with whom he felt at home. 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.
Early campaigns and first war against the Romans
In 337, after the accession of Constantius II to the Roman throne, Shapur II, provoked by the Roman rulers' backing of Armenia and the Armenian kingdom's earlier conversion to Christianity, broke the peace concluded in 298 between Narseh and Diocletian, 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. Nevertheless, Shapur was able to take some forts, such as Vitra. Persian forces also devastated Armenia and captured and blinded the Armenian king Tiran, perhaps in 350. Shapur besieged the Roman fortress city of Nisibis in Mesopotamia thrice and was repulsed each time. During this campaign, the sole engagement between the sides' main armies was the Battle of Singara in 344, where Persian forces feinted a retreat and inflicted significant losses on the Roman army. 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. These nomads were likely the Kidarites, who were threatening the Gupta Empire in India at the same time. After an extended campaign against the nomads, Shapur forced their king, Grumbates, into an alliance, thus gaining a new ally against the Romans. In particular, Grumbates's forces joined the Persians in the Siege of Amida in 359.Second war against the Romans and invasion of Armenia
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. In 359, Shapur II invaded southern Armenia and besieged the fortress of Amida. He was joined by King Grumbates's forces and other allies. Amida surrendered after a seventy-three-day siege. The city was plundered and its inhabitants were deported to Khuzistan. The delay forced Shapur to halt operations for the winter. Early the following spring he continued his operations against the Roman fortresses, capturing Singara and Bezabde, again at a heavy cost. In the next year Constantius II launched a counterattack, having spent the winter making massive preparations in Constantinople; 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 to Antioch, where he died soon after.Constantius was succeeded by his cousin Julian, 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 the Alemanni in Gaul, the emperor dismissed negotiation.
File:Taq-e Bostan - High-relief of Ardeshir II investiture.jpg|thumb|Sasanian relief of the investiture of Ardashir II showing Mithra, Shapur II, and Ahura Mazda above a defeated Julian, lying prostrate
In 363 Julian, at the head of a strong army, advanced to Shapur's capital city of Ctesiphon and defeated a presumably larger Sasanian force at the Battle 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 successor Jovian made an ignominious peace in which the districts beyond the Tigris 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. The great success is represented in the rock sculptures near the town Bishapur in Pars ; 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. The Armenian King Arshak II, who had joined Julian's campaign, was lured to Persia and imprisoned in the Castle of Oblivion in Khuzistan. Shapur destroyed many towns in Armenia and deported their inhabitants to Persia. He persecuted the local Christians, erected fire temples and forced conversion to Zoroastrianism. The Persians were assisted in Armenia by the magnates Meruzhan Artsruni and Vahan Mamikonian, who were made governors of the country and one of whom was given Shapur's own sister in marriage. However, the Armenian nobles resisted him successfully, secretly supported by the Romans, who sent King Pap, 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. Persian forces were defeated by a joint Roman-Armenian army in 371, and an army led by Shapur himself was defeated in another battle on the eastern border of Armenia. Eventually, Pap was suspected of colluding with the Persians and was assassinated in 375 by the order of the Roman emperor Valens. Shapur and Valens negotiated inconclusively over the status of Armenia until 377, and Valens's defeat and death at the Battle 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 son Shapur III.
In Georgia, then known as Iberia, where the Sasanians were also given control, Shapur II installed Aspacures II of Iberia in the east; however, in western Georgia, Valens also succeeded in setting up his own king, Sauromaces II of Iberia.
Shapur II had conducted great hosts of captives from the Roman territory into his dominions, most of whom were settled in Elam. Here he rebuilt Susa—after having killed the city's rebellious inhabitants.