22 Facts About Shapur III

Shapur III, was the Sasanian King of Kings of Iran from 383 to 388.

Shapur III was the son of Shapur II and succeeded his uncle Ardashir II.

Shapur III's reign was largely uneventful; to the west, a dispute with the Romans over Armenia was eventually settled through diplomacy, partitioning the area between the two empires in a manner which left most of it under Sasanian control.

Shapur III is notable for having a rock relief carved at Taq-e Bostan, depicting a scene of him along with his father.

Shapur III was the penultimate monarch to have a rock relief carved, the last one being Khosrow II, who mimicked and magnified Shapur III's work.

Shapur III was crushed by the collapsing weight of his own tent, after some conspiring nobles had cut its ropes.

Shapur III is transliterated in other languages as; Greek Sapur, Sabour and Sapuris; Latin Sapores and Sapor; Arabic Sabur and Sabur; New Persian Sapur, Sahpur, Sahfur.

In 379, Shapur III II designated his half-brother Ardashir II as his successor on the condition that he would abdicate when his son reached adulthood.

Shapur III then succeeded him; according to the narratives included in the history of al-Tabari, he was well received by his subjects due to the crown being given to an offspring of Shapur II.

Shapur III declared to them in his accession speech, that he would not allow deceit, greed or self-righteousness at his court.

Shapur III responded by crowning Khosrov IV as king, and gave him his sister Zurvandukht in marriage.

Shapur III then sent an invasion force into Armenia, which occupied most of the country.

Arshak Shapur III was forced to withdraw to the western region of Acilisene, where he awaited Roman reinforcements.

Arshak Shapur III soon died, which made the Romans abolish their branch of the Arsacid monarchy and create the province of Western Armenia.

Besides the dispute over Armenia, Shapur III seems to have clashed with the Alchon Huns to the east; coinage indicates that the Alchon Huns seized Kabul from him sometime before 388.

Shapur III died in 388, after reigning for five years.

Shapur III died when some nobles cut the ropes of a large tent that he had erected in one of his palace courts, so that the tent fell on top of him.

Shapur III was one of the few Sasanian kings to mint coins of himself not wearing a crown and korymbos, but only a diadem.

Shapur III ordered the creation of a rock relief located at the site of Taq-e Bostan near present-day Kermanshah.

Unlike other Sasanian reliefs, the one created under Shapur III was not sculptured at the surface of a rock face, but at the back of a barrel vaulted area.

Shapur III's crown is highly identical to that of Shapur III.

One of the wives of Shapur III, named Yazdan-Friy Shapur, has been immortalized by an onyx seal of remarkable quality, where she is shown wearing the horns of a ram.