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Shapur I's first Roman campaign was the first of three victorious campaigns that the Persian king Shapur I led against the Roman Empire.[1][2]
Background
[edit]The Sasanian dynasty overthrew the Parthian Arsacid dynasty in 224.[3] Shapur I's father, Ardashir I, the founder of the Sasanian dynasty, began an aggressive policy towards the Roman Empire. He led two campaigns against the Roman Empire, the first one ended inconclusively but the second one ended victoriously with the fall of several Roman cities, including Nisibis, Carrhae and, most importantly, Hatra.
The war
[edit]In 240, shapur I set out against the Roman Empire which provoked a response from the Romans with Emperor Gordian III mounting a counter-attack with a powerful army.[4] Initially victorious, the Roman forces routed the Persian army at the battle of Resaena. However, the next years, The Persian forces faced a Roman force comprising Roman legionaries as well as units made up of Goth and Germanic warriors and decisively defeated it with Gordian III being killed during the battle.[5][6][7][8] after the defeat and death of Gordian III, the new Roman Emperor, Philip the Arab, signed a "disgraceful" treaty with the Sasanian Empire, surrendering Mesopotamia and armenia to them.[9] Strangely enough, Philip the Arab celebrated, describing himself as victorious of the Persians, but only when he was far enough away from them.[10]
References
[edit]- ^ "ŠĀPUR I: History". Encyclopaedia Iranica. Retrieved 2025-06-13.
He also commemorated his victory on several rock reliefs in Fārs (see below), the most relevant of which is at Dārābgerd which shows the youthful emperor Gordian prostrate under the horse of Šāpur who wears Ardašir's crown and receives another Roman (Philip) with benediction.
- ^ Gregoratti, Leonardo (December 2017). Shapur I of Persia.
Shapur I was the second Sassanid King of Kings. He ruled from 239/240 to 270 ce and was the main antagonist of Rome during that period. He led the Sassanids against the Romans in three different successful wars that culminated with the capture of Emperor Valerian in 260 ce.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link) - ^ "ARDAŠĪR I i. History". Encyclopaedia Iranica. Retrieved 2025-06-13.
The supposition that the date indicated Pāpak's rebellion seems all the more probable because subsequent Sasanian time-reckoning was not based on the epochal year 205-206, but either on the start of each king's reign or on the Seleucid era, and Ardašīr himself initiated his own era (Ḥamza, p. 23) with his overthrow of the Parthians in 224.
- ^ Gregoratti, Leonardo (December 2017). Shapur I of Persia.
The first one (240–4CE) followed the conquest of the city of HATRA. In 242CE, the Roman emperor, GORDIAN III, led a powerful army against the Persians.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link) - ^ "ŠĀPUR I: History". Encyclopaedia Iranica. Retrieved 2025-06-13.
Since 1940, it has been possible to contrast this version with the Persian view, given by Šāpur himself in the KZ trilingual inscription (Back, pp. 290-94; Huyse, 1999, I, pp. 26-8). "Just as we were established on the throne, the emperor Gordianus gathered in all of the Roman Empire an army of Goths and Germans and marched on Āsōristān (Assyria), against Ērānšahr and against us. On the edges of Assyria, at Misiḵē [on the Euphrates as it flows close to the Tigris], there was a great frontal battle. And Gordianus Caesar perished, and we destroyed the Roman army. And the Romans proclaimed Philip emperor. And Philip Caesar came to us for terms, and paid us 500,000 dinars as ransom for his life and became tributary to us." A courtier of Šāpur called Ābnun set up a fire as an oblation when "it was heard that the Romans had come and Šāpur the King of kings had smitten them and had worsted them [so that they fell into our captivity] (Tavoosi and Frye, pp. 25-38; Gignoux, 1991, pp. 9-17; Livshits and Nikitin, pp. 41-44; MacKenzie, 1993, pp. 105-109; Skjærvø, 1992, pp. 153-60; Sundermann, 1993). Scholarly analyses have shown that Sāpur's account while defective is superior to the Roman version, which fails to explain why the Romans having routed Šāpur near Nisibis and marched to the gates of Ctesiphon would want to buy a "most shameful peace"? As Kettenhofen puts it (pp. 35-6): "It is understandable that Roman national pride transferred the responsibility of the defeat, in which Gordian III became the first Roman emperor to lose his life on enemy battlefield, to Philip. On the other hand, the feeling of the Sasanian triumph was immortalized in several rock-reliefs of Šāpur I, and the victory at Misiḵē was mentioned by a boastful Šāpur as the single military event within this first campaign."
- ^ Brosius, Maria (18 April 2006). The Persians. Routledge. ISBN 9781134359844. "Shapur I had to expect a military reaction from the Romans. For them, the loss of these cities warranted a counteroffensive and the emperor Gordian III commanded an army against Shapur I, regaining both Nisibis and Carrhae. But he suffered a major defeat in a battle at Misiche, north of Ctesiphon, in 243."
- ^ Gregoratti, Leonardo (December 2017). Shapur I of Persia.
After hard fighting, he managed to expel them from Syria but later suffered a disastrous defeat at the hands of Shapur at Misiκē
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link) - ^ Dignas, Beate; Winter, Engelbert (13 September 2007). Rome and Persia in Late Antiquity: Neighbours and Rivals. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521849258., "They probably intended to get as far as the Sasanian capital Ktesiphon but at the beginning of the year 244, Shapur I scored a decisive victory against the Roman army at Misik. Gordian III died in battle"
- ^ Gregoratti, Leonardo. Shapur I of Persia.
The new Roman emperor and former praetorian prefect, PHILIP the Arab, was forced to sign a "disgraceful"treaty and to surrender control over Armenia and Mesopotamia.
- ^ "ŠĀPUR I: History". Encyclopaedia Iranica. Retrieved 2025-06-13.
Curiously, Philip also celebrated and called himself victor over the Persians (Persicus/Parthicus Maximus, see Winter, pp. 107-10) once he was in a safe distance from them.