27 Facts About Shapur I

Shapur I was the second Sasanian King of Kings of Iran.

Shapur I did not seem interested in permanently occupying the Roman provinces, choosing instead to resort to plundering and pillaging, gaining vast amounts of riches.

Shapur I was the first Iranian monarch to use the title of "King of Kings of Iranians and non-Iranians"; beforehand the royal titulary had been "King of Kings of Iranians".

Shapur I had adopted the title due to the influx of Roman citizens whom he had deported during his campaigns.

Shapur I had new Zoroastrian fire temples constructed, incorporated new elements into the faith from Greek and Indian sources, and conducted an extensive program of rebuilding and refounding of cities.

Shapur I was a son of Ardashir I and his wife Murrod or Denag.

Shapur I ruled as the uncontested king from 208 to 213, but afterwards fell into a dynastic struggle with his brother Artabanus IV, who by 216 was in control of most of the empire, even being acknowledged as the supreme ruler by the Roman Empire.

Shapur I, as portrayed in the Sasanian rock reliefs, took part in his father's war with the Arsacids, including the Battle of Hormozdgan.

Shapur I seems to have garrisoned the Eastern territories with POW's from his previous campaign against the Medes of the Mountains.

Ardashir I had, towards the end of his reign, renewed the war against the Roman Empire, and Shapur I had conquered the Mesopotamian fortresses Nisibis and Carrhae and had advanced into Syria.

In 242, the Romans under the father-in-law of their child-emperor Gordian III set out against the Sasanians with "a huge army and great quantity of gold," and wintered in Antioch, while Shapur I was occupied with subduing Gilan, Khorasan, and Sistan.

The Romans later invaded eastern Mesopotamia but faced tough resistance from Shapur I who returned from the East.

Shapur I had to pay an enormous indemnity to the Persians of 500,000 gold denarii.

Shapur I commemorated this victory on several rock reliefs in Pars.

Shapur I then burned and ravaged the Roman province of Syria and all its dependencies.

Shapur I then reconquered Armenia, and incited Anak the Parthian to murder the king of Armenia, Khosrov II.

Anak did as Shapur I asked, and had Khosrov murdered in 258; yet Anak himself was shortly thereafter murdered by Armenian nobles.

Shapur I then appointed his son Hormizd I as the "Great King of Armenia".

Shapur I plundered the eastern borders of Syria and returned to Ctesiphon, probably in late 260.

The Colossal Statue of Shapur I, which stands in the Shapur Cave, is one of the most impressive sculptures of the Sasanian Empire.

Shapur I had good relations with the Jewish community and was a friend of Shmuel, one of the most famous of the Babylonian Amoraim, the Talmudic sages from among the important Jewish communities of Mesopotamia.

Shapur I's campaigns deprived the Roman Empire of resources while restoring and substantially enriching his own treasury, by deporting many Romans from conquered cities to Sasanian provinces like Khuzestan, Asuristan, and Pars.

Several names of Shapur I's officials are carved on his inscription at Naqsh-e Rustam.

Use of war elephants is attested under Shapur I, who made use of them to demolish the city of Hatra.

Shapur I is responsible for building the city of Bishapur, with the labours of Roman soldiers captured after the defeat of Valerian in 260.

Shapur I did not convert to Manichaeism and remained a Zoroastrian.

Shapur I appears in Harry Sidebottom's historical fiction novel series as one of the enemies of the series protagonist Marcus Clodius Ballista, career soldier in a third-century Roman army.