User:HistoryofIran/Shapur I

Shapur I 𐭱𐭧𐭯𐭥𐭧𐭥𐭩
King of Kings of Iranians and non-Iranians
Reconstruction of the Colossal Statue of Shapur I by George Rawlinson, 1876
Shahanshah of the Sasanian Empire
Reign	12 April 240 – May 270
Predecessor	Ardashir I
Successor	Hormizd I
Died	May 270 Bishapur
Consort	Khwarranzem al-Nadirah (?)
Issue	Bahram I Shapur Mishanshah Hormizd I Narseh Shapurdukhtak Adur-Anahid
House	House of Sasan
Father	Ardashir I
Mother	Mirdod
Religion	Zoroastrianism

Shapur I (also spelled Shabuhr I; Middle Persian: 𐭱𐭧𐭯𐭥𐭧𐭥𐭩, romanized: Shabuhr), also known as Shapur the Great, was the second Sasanian King of Kings of Iran. The dating of his reign is disputed, but it is generally agreed that he ruled from 240 to 270, with his father Ardashir I as co-regent until the death of the latter in 242. During his co-regency, he helped his father with the conquest and destruction of Arab city of Hatra, whose fall was facilitated, according to Islamic tradition, by the actions of his future wife al-Nadirah. Shapur also consolidated and expanded the empire of Ardashir I, waged war against the Roman Empire and seized its cities of Nisibis and Carrhae while he was advancing as far as Roman Syria. Although he was defeated at the Battle of Resaena in 243 by Roman emperor Gordian III (r. 238–244), he was the following year able to win the Battle of Misiche and force the new Roman Emperor Philip the Arab (r. 244–249) to sign a favorable peace treaty that was regarded by the Romans as "a most shameful treaty".

Shapur later took advantage of the political turmoil within the Roman Empire by undertaking a second expedition against it in 252/3–256, sacking the cities of Antioch and Dura-Europos. In 260, during his third campaign, he defeated and captured the Roman emperor, Valerian. He did not seem interested in permanently occupying the Roman provinces, choosing instead to resort to plundering and pillaging, gaining vast amount of riches. The captives of Antioch, for example, were allocated to the newly reconstructed city of Gundeshapur, later famous as a center of scholarship. In the 260s, Shapur suffered setbacks against Odaenathus, the king of Palmyra. According to Shapur's inscription at Hajiabad, he still remained active at the court in his later years, participating in archery. He died of illness in Bishapur, most likely in May 270.

Shapur 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". He had adopted the title due to the influx of Roman citizens whom he had deported during his campaigns. However, it was first under his son and successor Hormizd I, that the title became regularized. Shapur 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.

Etymology

"Shapur" was a popular name in Sasanian Iran, being used by three Sasanian monarchs and other notables of the Sasanian era and its later periods. 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 transliterated in other languages as; Greek Sapur, Sabour and Sapuris; Latin Sapores and Sapor; Arabic Sābur and Šābur; New Persian Šāpur, Šāhpur, Šahfur.

Background

According to the semi-legendary Kar-Namag i Ardashir i Pabagan, a Middle Persian biography of Ardashir I, the daughter of the Parthian king Artabanus IV, Zijanak, attempted to poison her husband Ardashir. Discovering her intentions, Ardashir ordered her to be executed. Finding out about her pregnancy, the mobads (priests) were against it. Nevertheless Ardashir still demanded her execution, which led the mobads to conceal her and her son Shapur for seven years, until the latter was identified by Ardashir, who chooses to adopt him based on his virtuous traits. This type of narrative is repeated in Iranian historiography. According to 5th-century BC Greek historian Herodotus, the Persian king Cambyses I wanted to have his son Cyrus killed because he believed that he would one day overthrow him. A similar narrative is also found in the story of the mythological Iranian king Kay Khosrow. According to the modern historian Bonner, the story of Shapur's birth and uprising "may conceal a marriage between Ardashir and an Arsacid princess or perhaps merely a noble lady connected with the Parthian aristocracy." On his inscriptions, Shapur identifies his mother as a certain Mirdod.

Background and state of Iran

Shapur I was a son of Ardashir I and his sister-wife Denag. The background of the family is obsecure; although based in Pars (also known as Persis), they were not native to the area, and were seemingly originally from the east. The historian Marek Jan Olbrycht has suggested that the family was descended from the Indo-Parthians of Sakastan. Iranologist Khodadad Rezakhani also noted similarities between the early Sasanians and the Indo-Parthians, such as their coinage. Yet, he stated that "evidence might still be too inconclusive."

Pars, a region in the southwestern Iranian plateau, was the homeland of the southwestern branch of the Iranian peoples, the Persians. It also was also the birthplace of the first Iranian Empire, the Achaemenids. The region served as the center of the empire until its conquest by the Macedonian king Alexander the Great (r. 336–323 BC). Since the end of the 3rd or the beginning of the 2nd century BCE, Pars was ruled by local dynasts subject to the Hellenistic Seleucid Empire. These dynasts held the ancient Persian title of frataraka ("leader, governor, forerunner"), which is also attested in the Achaemenid-era. Later under the frataraka Wadfradad II (fl. 138 BC) was made a vassal of the Iranian Parthian (Arsacid) Empire. The frataraka were shortly afterwards replaced by the Kings of Persis, most likely at the accession of the Arsacid monarch Phraates II (r. 132–127 BC). Unlike the fratarakas, the Kings of Persis used the title of shah ("king"), and laid foundations to a new dynasty, which may be labelled the Darayanids.

Under Vologases V (r. 191–208), the Parthian Empire was in decline, due to wars with the Romans, civil wars and regional revolts. The Roman emperor Septimius Severus (r. 193–211) had invaded the Parthian domains in 196, and two years later did the same, this time sacking the Parthian capital of Ctesiphon. At the same time, revolts occurred in Media and Persis. The Iranologist Touraj Daryaee argues that the reign of Vologases V was "the turning point in Parthian history, in that the dynasty lost much of its prestige." The kings of Persis were now unable to depend on their weakened Parthian overlords. Indeed, in 205/6, Pabag rebelled and overthrew the Bazrangid ruler of Persis, Gochihr, taking Istakhr for himself. Around 208 Vologases VI succeeded his father Vologases V as king of the Arsacid Empire. He 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. Artabanus IV soon clashed with the Roman emperor Caracalla, whose forces he managed to contain at Nisibis in 217.

Peace was made between the two empires the following year, with the Arsacids keeping most of Mesopotamia. However, Artabanus IV still had to deal with his brother Vologases VI, who continued to mint coins and challenge him. The Sasanian family had meanwhile quickly risen to prominence in Pars, and had now under Ardashir begun to conquer the neighboring regions and more far territories, such as Kirman. At first, Ardashir I's activities did not alarm Artabanus IV, until later, when the Arsacid king finally chose to confront him.

Early life and co-rule

1840 illustration of a Sasanian relief at Firuzabad, showing Ardashir I's victory over Artabanus IV and his forces.

Shapur, as portrayed in the Sasanian rock reliefs, took part in his father's war with the Arsacids, including the Battle of Hormozdgan. The battle was fought on 28 April 224, with Artabanus IV being defeated and killed, marking the end of the Arsacid era and the start of 427-years of Sasanian rule. The chief secretary of the deceased Arsacid king, Dad-windad, was afterwards executed by Ardashir I. Ardashir celebrated his victory by having two rock reliefs sculptured at the Sasanian royal city of Ardashir-Khwarrah (present-day Firuzabad) in Pars. The first relief portrays three scenes of personal fighting; starting from the left, a Persian aristocrat seizing a Parthian soldier; Shapur impaling the Parthian minister Dad-windad with his lance; and Ardashir I ousting Artabanus IV. The second relief, conceivably intended to portray the aftermath of the battle, displays the triumphant Ardashir I being given the badge of kingship over a fire shrine from the Zoroastrian supreme god Ahura Mazda, while Shapur and two other princes are watching from behind. Ardashir considered Shapur "the gentlest, wisest, bravest and ablest of all his children", and nominated him as his successor in a council amongst the magnates.

Government

Provinces

Shapur I's inscription at the Ka'ba-ye Zartosht lists the territories part of his empire :

...[I] am ruler of Ērānshahr, and I possess the lands of [provinces; Greek ethne]: Pars [Persis], Pahlav (Parthia), Huzestan (Khuzestan), Meshan (i.e. Maishan, Mesene), Asorestan (Mesopotamia), Nod-Ardakhshiragan (i.e. Adiabene), Arbayistan, Adurbadagan [i.e. Atropatene, ’twrp'tkn], Armenia [Armin, ’lmny], Iberia [Wiruzān/Wručān, wlwc'n, i.e., K'art'li], Segan [or Machelonia, i.e. Mingrelia], Arran ['ld'nm, i.e., Caucasian Albania], Balasagan, up to the Caucasus mountains [Kafkōf] and the Gates of Albania/of the Alans, and all of the mountain chain of Pareshwar/Padishkwar[gar], Mad (i.e. Media), Gurgan (i.e. Hyrcania), Marw, Harey (i.e. "Aria") and all of Abarshahr, Kirman, Sakastan, Turan, Makuran, Paradan, Hind (Sindh), the Kushanshahr (i.e. Kushano-Sasanian Kingdom) up to Peshawar/Pashkibur, and up to Kashgar[ia], Sogdia and to the mountains of Tashkent (Chach), and on the other side of the sea, Oman (i.e. Mazun).

Governors

Relief showing Shapur I on horseback, followed by his sons and nobles

Under Shapur, the Sasanian court, including its territories, were much larger than that of his father. Several governors and vassal-kings are mentioned in his inscriptions; Ardashir, governor of Qom; Varzin, governor of Spahan; Tiyanik, governor of Hamadan; Ardashir, governor of Neriz; Narseh, governor of Rind; Friyek, governor of Gundishapur; Rastak, governor of Veh-Ardashir; Amazasp III, king of Iberia. Under Shapur several of his relatives and sons served as governor of Sasanian provinces; Bahram, governor of Gilan; Narseh, governor of Sindh, Sakastan and Turan; Ardashir, governor of Kirman; Hormizd-Ardashir, governor of Armenia; Shapur Meshanshah, governor of Meshan; Ardashir, governor of Adiabene.

Court and officers

Several names of Shapur's officials are carved on his inscription at Naqsh-e Rustam. Many of these were the offspring of the officials who served Shapur's father. During the reign of Shapur, a certain Papak served as the commander of the royal guard (hazarbed), while Peroz served as the chief of the cavalry (aspbed); Vahunam and Shapur served as the director of the clergy; Kirdisro served as viceroy of the empire (bidaxsh); Vardbad served as the "chief of services"; Hormizd served as the chief scribe; Naduk served as "the chief of the prison"; Papak served as the "gate keeper"; Mihrkhwast served as the treasurer; Shapur served as the commander of the army; Arshtat Mihran served as the secretary; Zik served as the "master of ceremonies".

Army

Bishapur relief of Sasanian infantry

Under Shapur, the Iranian military experienced a resurge after a rather long decline in the 2nd and 3rd centuries, which gave the Romans the opportunity to undertake expeditions into the Near East and Mesopotamia during the end of the Parthian Empire. Yet, the military was essentially the same as that of the Parthians; the same Parthians nobles who served the Arsacid royal family, now served the Sasanians, forming the majority of the Sasanian army. However, the Sasanians seem to have employed more cataphracts who were equipped with lighter chain-mail armor resembling that of the Romans.

Although Iranian society was greatly militarised and its elite designated themselves as a "warrior nobility" (arteshtaran), it still had a significantly smaller population, was more impoverished, and was a less centralized state compared to the Roman Empire. As a result, the Sasanian shahs had access to fewer full-time fighters, and depended on recruits from the nobility instead. Some exceptions were the royal cavalry bodyguard, garrison soldiers, and units recruited from places outside Iran. The bulk of the nobility included the powerful Parthian noble families (known as the wuzurgan) that were centered on the Iranian plateau. They served as the backbone of the Sasanian feudal army and were largely autonomous. The Parthian nobility worked for the Sasanian shah for personal benefit, personal oath, and, conceivably, a common awareness of the "Aryan" (Iranian) kinship they shared with their Persian overlords.

Use of war elephants is also attested under Shapur, who made use of them to demolish the city of Hatra. He may also have used them against Valerian, as attested in the Shahnameh (The Book of Kings).

Coinage and imperial ideology

Coin of Shapur wearing a eagle-headed crown

While the titulage of Ardashir was "King of Kings of (Iran)ians", Shapur slighty changed it, adding the phrase "and non-Iran(ians)". The extended title demonstrates the incorporation of new territory into the empire, however what was precisely seen as "non-Iran(ian)" (aneran) is not certain. Although this new title was used on his inscriptions, it was rarely used on his coinage. The title first became regularized under Hormizd I.

Religious policy

Zoroastrianism

In all records Shapur calls himself mzdysn ("Mazda-worshipping"). His inscription at the Ka'ba-ye Zartosht recounts his wars and religious establishments to the same extent. He believed that he had a responsibility; "For the reason, therefore, that the gods have so made us their instrument (dstkrt), and that by the help of the gods we have sought out for ourselves, and hold, all these nations (štry) for that reason we have also founded, province by province, many Varahrān fires (ʾtwry wlhlʾn), and we have dealt piously with many Magi (mowmard), and we have made great worship of the gods." According to the Zoroastrian priest Kartir, Shapur treated the Zoroastrians generously, and permitted members of their clergy to follow him on his expeditions against the Romans. According to the historian Prods Oktor Skjærvø, Shapur was a "lukewarm Zoroastrian".

Death and succession

When Shapur I was on his deathbed, he crowned Hormizd I as the new king of Iran, most likely in May 270. He died of illness in Bishapur.

Family

The German Iranologist Walther Hinz has suggested that Adur-Anahid was the spouse of her father Shapur I, demonstrating the practice in Zoroastrianism of khwedodah, or close-kin marriage. However, this is opposed by other scholars, who have deduced that the title of members of the royal family illustrated their social status rather than family status. The title of "Queen" was wielded by all women of the royal Sasanian family, including the king's daughters and sisters, and the spouses of Sasanian princes. The title of Adur-Anahid thus demonstrated her status as the highest ranking woman in the court. There is no suggestion that she practiced kwedodah with her father. According to the modern historian Maria Brosius, "Analysis of the written evidence for the Sasanian period does not permit the conclusion that the Sasanian kings favored incestuous marriages."

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