User:HistoryofIran/Sassanid Empire

Shapur II 𐭱𐭧𐭯𐭥𐭧𐭥𐭩
King of kings of Iran and Aniran
Bust of Shapur II
Shahanshah of the Sasanian Empire
Reign	309–379
Predecessor	Adur Narseh
Successor	Ardashir II
Born	309
Died	379 (aged 70)
Issue	Shapur III Zurvandukht Narseh
House	House of Sasan
Father	Hormizd II
Mother	Ifra Hormizd
Religion	Zoroastrianism (possibly Zurvanism)

Shapur II (Middle Persian: 𐭱𐭧𐭯𐭥𐭧𐭥𐭩 Šābuhr; New Persian: شاپور‎, Šāpur), also known as Shapur II the Great, was the tenth Sasanian king (shah) of Iran. The longest-reigning monarch in Iranian history, he reigned for his entire 70-year life from 309 to 379. He was the son of Hormizd II (r. 302–309).

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. He is thus along with Shapur I, Kavad I and Khosrow I, regarded as one of the most illustrious Sasanian kings. His three direct successors, on the other hand, were less successful.

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 (see also Rava). 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 several notables of the Sasanian era and its later periods. The name is derived from Old Iranian *xšayaθiya.puθra ("son of a king") and initially must have been a title, which became−at least in the late 2nd century AD, a personal name.^[1] The name appears in the list of Arsacid kings in some Arabic-Persian sources, however, this is anachronistic.^[1] The name of Shapur is known in other languages as; Greek Sapur, Sabour and Sapuris; Latin Sapores and Sapor; Arabic Sābur and Šābur; New Persian Šāpur, Šāhpur, Šahfur.^[1]

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.^[2] They then blinded the second,^[3] and imprisoned the third (Hormizd, who afterwards escaped to the Roman Empire).^[4] The throne was reserved for the unborn child of Hormizd II's Jewish wife Ifra Hormizd, which was Shapur II. It is said that Shapur II may have been the only king in history to be crowned in utero, as the legend claims that the crown was placed upon his mother's womb while she was pregnant.^[5]

However, according to Alireza Shapour Shahbazi, it is unlikely that Shapur was crowned as king while still in his mother's womb, since the nobles could not have known of his sex at that time. He further states that Shapur was born forty days after his father's death, and that the nobles killed Adur Narseh and crowned Shapur II in order to gain greater control of the empire, which they were able to do until Shapur II reached his majority at the age of 16.^[5][3] The empire was thus administered by courtiers, priests and officials throughout Shapur's childhood, which suggests that the empire was stable enough to endure without a strong ruler.^[6]

War with the Arabs (325)

During the childhood of Shapur II, Arab nomads made several incursions into the Sasanian homeland of Pars, where they raided Gor and its surroundings.^[7] Furthermore, they also made incursions into Meshan and Mazun. At the age of 16, Shapur II led an expedition against the Arabs; primarily campaigning against the Ayad 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 Al Hajar Mountains. Shapur II reportedly killed a large number of the Arab population and destroyed their water supplies by stopping their wells with sand.^[8]

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.^[9] Because of his cruel way of dealing with the Arabs, he was called Dhū'l-Aktāf ("he who pierces shoulders") by them.^[7][5][a] 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.^[7] 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 ("wall of the Arabs").^[10]

The Zoroastrian scripture Bundahishn also mentions the Arabian campaign of Shapur II:

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.^[7]

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 Zoroastrianism practices, which they must have either made contact with in Asoristan or Eastern Arabia.^[11] 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.^[12] He seemingly swore fealty to the Romans, possibly after the incident.^[12]

War with the Romans

Objectives

Ever since the "humilating" Peace of Nisibis concluded between Shapur's grandfather Narseh and the Roman emperor Diocletian in 299, 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.^[13][14] The Romans also received control over the kingdoms of Iberia and Armenia, and gained control over parts of upper Media in Iran proper.^[13] Shapur's primary objective was thus to nullify the treaty, which he spent much of his reign in order to accomplish.^[13]

Another reason behind his motives to wage war against the Romans was due 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, who made him a cavalry commander.^[13][4] 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 avid philhellene during his stay with the Romans, with whom he felt at home with.^[4] Another reason was due to Constantine, who at his deathbed in 337, had declared Christianity as the official religion of the Roman Empire. He had also selected himself as the defender of all the Christians in the world, including those living in the Sasanian realm.^[13] Indeed, Constantine recommended Shapur II to "love the Christians", and Iranian Christians started to embrace foreign names and titles "and in the regulation of their internal affairs adopted the Roman-Syriac legal system known as Leges Constantini Theodosii Leonis, then in use in the Roman world."^[15] Adherance to Christianity in Iran thus came to be viewed as fealty to the Romans, which Shapur II saw as posing a danger to the preservation of his realm.^[15]

Shapur II's letter to Constantinus II

Against Constantine the Great and Constantius II (336–361)

In 336, Shapur II, after having his efforts to have peaceful talks about the terms of the Nisibis treaty declined by Constantine, declared war against the Romans by sending his general Narses to invade Armenia.^[17][18] With the help of the military governor of Arzanene, he captured Amida, defeating Constantine's son Constantius there and at Constantia.^[18] Narses, however, was later defeated and killed at a battle against Constantius at Narasara.^[18] Following Constantine's death, Shapur II besieged Nisibis, which was then regarded as the key to Mesopotamia. After sixty days, no closer to taking Nisibis and with a plague hampering his army, he lifted the siege and returned to Iran.^[19]

Against Julian (363)

Wars in the east

Death and succession

Shapur later died in 379, and was succeeded by his slightly younger brother Ardashir II, who agreed to rule till Shapur's son, Shapur III reached adulthood.^[20] By Shapur's death, Iran was stronger than ever before, considerably larger than when he came to the throne, the eastern and western enemies were pacified and Armenia once again under Iranian rule. Shapur is thus regarded as one of the most important Sassanian kings along with Shapur I, Kavad I and Khosrow I, and could after a long period of instability regain the old strength of the country. His three successors, however, were less successful than he. Furthermore, his death marked the start of a 125-year-long conflict between the wuzurgan, a powerful group of nobility, and the crown, who both struggled for power over Iran.^[21]

Relations with the Christians

Shapur II's unease was not religious or doctrinal but political.^[22]

Regardless of the increasing suspense between the Sasanian realm and its Christian population, Iran persisted as a religiously heterogenous country consisting of numerous non-Zoroastrian communities, such as the Jews, Christians, and Buddhists.^[23]

Imperial beliefs and numismatics

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 the Achaemenids or the legendary Kayanian dynasty.^[7] During the reign of Shapur II, the title of “the divine Mazda-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.^[7]

Under Shapur II, coins were minted in copper, silver and gold, however, a great amount of the copper coins were made on Roman planchet, 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.^[7]

Constructions

Besides the construction of the war-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 from Istakhr and Spahan. In Asoristan, he founded Wuzurg-Shapur ("Great Shapur"), a city on the west side of the Tigris. He also rebuilt Susa after having destroyed it when suppressing a revolt, renaming it Eran-Khwarrah-Shapur ("Iran's glory [built by] Shapur").^[7][8]

Contributions

Under Shapur II's reign the collection of the Avesta was completed, heresy and apostasy punished, and the Christians persecuted (see Abdecalas, Acepsimas of Hnaita and Aba of Kashkar). This was a reaction against the Christianization of the Roman Empire by Constantine.^[7]

Religious beliefs

According to Armenian 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).^[24] This is however not mentioend in Sasanian sources, which implies that there are two possibilities; one that it is regarding about the angelic divinity Mithra, whilst the other one being that it may be an Indo-Iranian characteristic where the shahs considered their ancestors descendants of Manuchehr (Indic Manu) and his father Wiwahvant (Indic Vivasvant), who were in India associated with the Moon and the Sun.^[25]

Shapur's own religious beliefs doesn't seem to have been very strict; he restored the family cult of Anahita in Istakhr and was possibly an adherant of Zurvanism as well as promoting the official orthodox variant of Zoroastrianism.^[22]

Shapur II in literature

Notes

References

Bibliography

Ancient works

• Ammianus Marcellinus, Res Gestae.

Modern works

• Boyce, Mary (1984). Zoroastrians: Their Religious Beliefs and Practices. Psychology Press. pp. 1–252. ISBN 9780415239028.
• Pourshariati, Parvaneh (2008), Decline and Fall of the Sasanian Empire: The Sasanian-Parthian Confederacy and the Arab Conquest of Iran, London and New York: I.B. Tauris, ISBN 978-1-84511-645-3
• Daryaee, Touraj (2014). Sasanian Persia: The Rise and Fall of an Empire. I.B.Tauris. pp. 1–240. ISBN 978-0857716668.
• Shahbazi, A. Shapur (2005). "Sasanian dynasty". Encyclopaedia Iranica, Online Edition. Retrieved 30 March 2014.
• Tafazzoli, Ahmad (1989). "Bozorgān". Encyclopaedia Iranica, Vol. IV, Fasc. 4. Ahmad Tafazzoli. p. 427.
• Daryaee, Touraj (2009). "Šāpur II". Encyclopaedia Iranica.
• Shahbazi, A. Shapur (2004). "Hormizd (2)". Encyclopaedia Iranica, Vol. XII, Fasc. 5. pp. 461–462.
• Tafazzoli, Ahmad (1983). "Ādur Narseh". Encyclopaedia Iranica, Vol. I, Fasc. 5. p. 477.
• Potts, Daniel T. (2012). "ARABIA ii. The Sasanians and Arabia". Encyclopaedia Iranica.
• Al-Tabari, Abu Ja'far Muhammad ibn Jarir (1991). Yar-Shater, Ehsan (ed.). The History of al-Ṭabarī, Volume V: The Sasanids, the Byzantines, the Lakhmids, and Yemen. Trans. Clifford Edmund Bosworth. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press. ISBN 0-7914-0493-5.
• Sozomen, Hermias (2018). Walford, Edward (ed.). The Ecclesiastical History of Sozomen. Merchantville, NJ: Evolution Publishing. p. 59. ISBN 978-1-935228-15-8.
• Langer, William L. (editor and compiler), An Encyclopedia Of World History, (Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, 1952)
• Bosworth, C.E. (1975). "Iran and the Arabs before Islam". The Cambridge History of Iran, Volume 3 (1): The Seleucid, Parthian and Sasanian periods. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 593–613. ISBN 978-0-521-20093-6.
• Shahbazi, A. Shapur (1986). "Ardašīr II". Encyclopaedia Iranica, Vol. II, Fasc. 4. pp. 380–381.
• Sauer, Eberhard (2017). Sasanian Persia: Between Rome and the Steppes of Eurasia. London and New York: Edinburgh University Press. pp. 1–336. ISBN 9781474401029.
• Shahbazi, A. Shapur (2002). "Šāpur I". Encyclopaedia Iranica.
• Shayegan, M. Rahim (2004). "On the Rationale behind the Roman Wars of Šābuhr II the Great". Bulletin of the Asia Institute. 18: 111–133. JSTOR 24049144.
• Shahbazi, A. Shapur (1990). "Byzantine-Iranian relations". Encyclopaedia Iranica, Vol. IV, Fasc. 6. pp. 588–599.
• Syvanne, Ilkka (2015). Military History of Late Rome 284-361. Pen & Sword.

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