Shapur Ii
Shapour II (sometimes called is an emperor of the dynasty Sassanid in Persia who reigned from 309 to 379. During his reign, the Sassanid Empire saw a second golden age after the one that took place during the reign of Shapur I (241-272).
Summary |
When King Hormizd II (302-309) died, the Persian leaders killed his eldest son Adhur-Narseh , blinded and imprisoned the second and the third ( Hormizd , who then fled to Byzantium ). The throne was reserved for the unborn son of a women Hormizd II. Shapur II would be the only king in history to have been crowned in utero: the crown was placed on the mother's womb. The child, named Shapur, was therefore born king, the government was exercised by his mother and other characters in high places of the Empire. When Shapur II of the age rule, it turned out to be one of the greatest kings of the dynasty.
Conquests
In 337 , just before the death of the Emperor Constantine I (324-337), Shapur II broke the peace treaty concluded in 297 between Narseh (293-302) and Emperor Diocletian (284-305), which was respected for forty years. A conflict of a twenty-six years then began with two series of wars, the first taking place from 337 to 350. Shapur II then tried to conquer, with varying success, the great fortresses of Mesopotamia Roman Singara , Nisibis (which he attacked three times in vain) and Amida ( Diyarbakir ).
The Roman emperor Constantius II (353-361) was still defeated on the battlefield. Nevertheless, Shapur II did almost no progress, the military power of his kingdom was not sufficient for sustainable occupation of conquered territories. At the same time, he was attacked on the east by the nomadic tribes, among which are cited Chionites. After a prolonged struggle (353-358), they were forced to conclude a peace treaty, and their king, Grumbates , accompanied Shapur II in his war against the Romans.
In 358 , Shapur II was ready to begin the second series of wars against Rome, which enjoyed greater success. In 359 , Shapur II conquered Amida after a siege of seventy-three days, and he took Singara and other strongholds in the following year (360). In 363 , Emperor Julian (361-363), to lead a strong army, advanced to the capital of Shapur, Ctesiphon and beats a Sassanid army at the battle of top Ctesiphon, but was mortally wounded during his retirement. His successor Jovian (363-364) enters into an ignominious peace, by which the districts of the Tigris and Nisibis (a total of five Roman provinces) were given to the Persians and the Romans promised not to interfere into Armenia. This great success is represented by sculptures in the rock near the town of Bishapur in Persia , .
Contributions
During the reign of Shapur II, the gathering of the Avesta was completed, the heresy and apostasy were punished, and Christians persecuted. This was in response to the Christianization of the Roman Empire since the emperor Constantine. He enjoyed success in his battles in the east, and the city of Nishapur in Khorasan (then Parthia ) was rebuilt by him.
Family and descendants
Shapur II married a Persian nobleman named Sithil-Horak, of which he may be a son and a daughter:
- Yazdegerd I , Emperor of Persia .
- a daughter, who married Khosrov III of Armenia Notes
- Stolze, Persepolis, P. 141
- Agathias Book IV chapter 26 1
- Agathias Book IV chapter 26 3; Yazdegerd is said that "the son of Shapur," but it is unclear if or Shapur II Shapur III
Sources
- Clement Huart and Louis Delaporte Ancient Iran: Elam and Persia and Iranian civilization Collection "The Evolution of Humanity". Albin Michel Paris (1943) pages 347 and 348.
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