User:HistoryofIran/Shapur II

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Shapur II
𐭱𐭧𐭯𐭥𐭧𐭥𐭩
King of Kings of Iran and non-Iran[a]
Bust of Shapur II
King of the Sasanian Empire
Reign309 – 379
PredecessorAdur Narseh
SuccessorArdashir II
Born309
Died379 (aged 70)
IssueShapur III
Zurvandukht
Narseh
HouseHouse of Sasan
FatherHormizd II
MotherIfra Hormizd
ReligionZoroastrianism
(possibly Zurvanism)

Shapur II (Middle Persian: 𐭱𐭧𐭯𐭥𐭧𐭥𐭩 Šābuhr; New Persian: شاپور‎, Šāpur, 309 – 379), 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[edit]

"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.[1] It appears in the list of Arsacid kings in some Arabic-Persian sources, however, this is anachronistic.[1] 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.[1]

Accession[edit]

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 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 maturity at the age of 16.[5][3]

War with the Arabs (325)[edit]

Main article: Shapur II's Arab campaign
Nakhal Fort and the Al Hajar Mountains

During the childhood of Shapur II, Arab nomads raided the Sasanian homeland of Pars, particularly the district of Ardashir-Khwarrah and the shore of the Persian Gulf.[6] At the age of 16, Shapur II led an expedition against the Arabs; primarily campaigning against the Iyad 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.[7]

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.[8] Because of his cruel way of dealing with the Arabs, he was called Dhū'l-Aktāf ("he who pierces shoulders") by them.[6][5][b] 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.[6] 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").[9]

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.[6]

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.[10] 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.[11] He seemingly swore fealty to the Romans, possibly after the incident.[11]

War with the Romans[edit]

Objectives[edit]

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.[12][13] The Romans also received control over the kingdoms of Iberia and Armenia, and gained control over parts of upper Media in Iran proper.[12] Shapur's primary objective was thus to nullify the treaty, which he spent much of his reign in order to accomplish.[12]

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.[12][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.[4]

Imperial beliefs and numismatics[edit]

Gold coin of Shapur II, struck c. 320
Shapur II in the Shahnameh of Shah Tahmasp

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.[6] 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.[6]

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.[6]

Constructions[edit]

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").[6][7]

Contributions[edit]

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.[6]

Religious policy[edit]

According to the Life of Constantine, Shapur II initiated a persecution of his Christian subjects allegedly as a response to a letter sent by Constantine. In the letter, Constantine implores Shapur II to respect the Christians of Iran, while declaring himself as defender of all the Christians in the world, including those living in Iran.[12][14][15] This historicity of the letter has been highly questioned in modern historiography.[14][15] Amongst those are Richard Payne, who states that "If the letter reached the Iranian court, a highly uncertain proposition, Shapur II would have perceived its claim as an infringement on his own pretension to universal sovereignty. But the view that the letter inspired the king of kings to take action against the Christians of his empire as agents of Constantine relies on a bishop’s rewriting of a Roman imperial epistle to reconstruct the decision-making processes of an Iranian court."[14] The first reports about Shapur II persecuting Christians due to Roman sympathies first appear in the mid 5th-century, a decade after Shapur II's death.[14]

Shapur II was thought to have brutally persecuted his Christian subjects from 340 to 379 in a "Great Persecution".[16] Although later shahs – Yazdegerd I, Bahram V (r. 420–438), Yazdegerd II (r. 438–457), Peroz I (r. 459–484), Khosrow I (r. 531–579) and Khosrow II (r. 591–628) – were also said to have persecuted the Church of East, the church quickly expanded.[16] According to hagiographical sources, this was due to the "unwavering hostility of Zoroastrian religious authorities toward Christians."[17] Persecution of the Christians, however, was limited to their religious leaders who had failed to meet the commitment demanded of them by the court.[18] Although Shapur II disciplined leading priestly leaders for insubordination, neither he nor his court persecuted the Christian population as a whole;[18] the "Great Persecution" was fictional.[18] According to the modern historian Eberhard Sauer, Sasanian shahanshahs persecuted other religions only when it was in their urgent political interest to do so.[19] Shapur II's killing of Christians was due to the priestly leaders' refusal to participate more fully in the management of the empire.[18] This was finally achieved during Yazdegerd I's reign (r. 399–420), when the priestly leaders agreed to cooperate with the court.[20]

Religious beliefs[edit]

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).[21] This is however not mentioned 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.[22]

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 adherent of Zurvanism as well as promoting the official orthodox variant of Zoroastrianism.[23]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ Also spelled "King of Kings of Iranians and non-Iranians".
  2. ^ The Middle Persian rendering of that would be Šānag āhanj.[6]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c Shahbazi 2002.
  2. ^ Tafazzoli 1983, p. 477.
  3. ^ a b Al-Tabari 1991, p. 50.
  4. ^ a b c d Shahbazi 2004, pp. 461–462.
  5. ^ a b c Daryaee 2014, p. 16. sfn error: multiple targets (2×): CITEREFDaryaee2014 (help)
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Daryaee 2009.
  7. ^ a b Frye 1983, p. 136.
  8. ^ Potts 2012.
  9. ^ Daryaee 2014, p. 17. sfn error: multiple targets (2×): CITEREFDaryaee2014 (help)
  10. ^ Bosworth 1983, p. 603.
  11. ^ a b Shayegan 2004, p. 112.
  12. ^ a b c d e Kia 2016, p. 275.
  13. ^ Shahbazi 2004, pp. 464–465.
  14. ^ a b c d Payne 2015, p. 39.
  15. ^ a b Sauer 2017, pp. 190–191.
  16. ^ a b Payne 2015, p. 25.
  17. ^ Payne 2015, pp. 25–26.
  18. ^ a b c d Payne 2015, p. 43.
  19. ^ Sauer 2017, p. 190.
  20. ^ Payne 2015, p. 44.
  21. ^ Daryaee 2014, pp. 82–83. sfn error: multiple targets (2×): CITEREFDaryaee2014 (help)
  22. ^ Daryaee 2014, p. 83. sfn error: multiple targets (2×): CITEREFDaryaee2014 (help)
  23. ^ Sauer 2017, p. 91.

Bibliography[edit]

Ancient works[edit]

Modern works[edit]

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