The Persian Empire

by Kia, Mehrdad;

  Source: Mary Boyce, ed. and trans., Textual Sources for the Study of Zoroastrianism (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1984), 112–113. Reprinted with permission.

  35. DESCRIPTIONS OF SHAPUR II AS A LEADER AND A DIPLOMAT

  Shapur II (r. 309–379 CE) was the longest-reigning Sasanian monarch. He was designated as the king before he was born. For the first 16 years of his life, the daily affairs of the Sasanian state were managed by members of the Persian nobility and trusted courtiers. Shapur II began his long reign by organizing a campaign against Arab tribesmen who had invaded the southern and southwestern provinces of the Sasanian Empire. He then shifted his attention from the southern borders of his empire to Central Asia, where a Hunnic people called the Chionites were threatening the northeastern provinces of the Sasanian state. After several military campaigns between 353 and 358 CE, Shapur pacified the Chionites and formed an alliance with their king.

  Much of Shapur II’s reign was spent in wars against the Romans. His principal objective was to nullify the Peace of Nisibis, which the Sasanian monarch Narseh had signed with the Romans in 297/298, changing the border between the Roman and Persian Empires from the Euphrates River to the Tigris River and allowing the Romans to restore their power in Armenia. Shapur II was determined to regain the five provinces that Narseh had lost to the Romans.

  In military campaigns extending from 337 to 363, Persian and Roman armies repeatedly clashed over the control of Mesopotamia and Armenia. The Persians managed to capture the Roman outposts of Sinjara (Sinjar) in present-day northern Iraq and Amida (present-day Diyarbakir) in southeastern Turkey. The Romans struck back in 363 CE. The Roman emperor Julian marched toward Mesopotamia. Despite initial military victories against the Persians, Julian received a mortal wound in the Battle of Samara (present-day Iraq) that killed him three days later. Julian’s successor, Jovian (r. 363–364 CE), signed a peace treaty that returned to Shapur the five provinces that the Sasanian monarch Narseh had lost.

  The excerpts below highlight the accomplishments of Shapur II, his wars with the Romans, and his public appearance at the head of the Sasanian armies. Shapur’s two inscriptions on a doorpost in the ruins of the Achaemenid royal complex, Persepolis, in southern Iran contain a number of important facts. For example, in the second inscription, a reference is made to the judge of the cities of Javed Shapur and Kabul, which indicates that the area of Kabul in present-day Afghanistan was under Sasanian rule at this time. The location of a city called Javed Shapur is uncertain.

  Shapur II Fights the Roman Emperors Julian and Jovian

  … [A]round high noon, the Persians, marshaled en masse unexpectedly fell upon those in the rear of the Roman army. Although they were at the time in disarray and were confounded by the sudden assault, they still met it gamely, the Emperor making his accustomed rounds and arousing the legions to courageous action. (29) When all had come to close quarters, he met his brigadiers and tribunes and mingled with his soldiery. In the very heat of the battle he was struck by a sword, placed on a shield, and carried aloft to his tent. He lasted until midnight and then died, having nearly reduced the Persian power to utter destruction.

  Meanwhile, the Emperor’s death being kept a secret, a Roman army had conquered to such an extent that fifty of the most powerful satraps fell, in addition to a countless host of ordinary Persians. However, when the Emperor’s death became known the majority of the Romans withdrew to the tent where the corpse lay, although some continued to fight and conquer the enemy. … (30) Jovian, having put on the purple and assumed the diadem, held fast to the march homeward. When he had come to the fortress of Suma the Persian cavalry attacked his men. Quite a few elephants were brought in and molested the right wing, on which were stationed the Jovians and Herculians. (These are names of legions established by Diocletian and Maximian. …)

  … The Romans then advanced for four days, harassed on all sides by the foe, who pursued whenever they saw the Romans on the move and fled whenever the Romans stood their ground against them. Having opened up some space apart from them the Romans decided to cross the Tigris. Accordingly they tied together bottles, through which they had somehow strung bands, and riding upon these they made the crossing. After they had gained the opposite bank, then their leaders also in addition to the rest passed over safely. Yet not even so did the Persians withdraw but along every piece of the way kept threatening them with a large number of men. The Romans were in constant danger, oppressed both by the ills that ring them and by their lack of provisions besides.

  31. Although this was the army’s condition, the Persians still were making overtures concerning peace, having dispatched the Surenas and others of those who held authority among them. Jovian received their talk of peace favorably and sent Salustius the Pretorian prefect together with Arintheus to confer on the matter. A bilateral thirty-year treaty was concluded whereby the Romans agreed to cede to the Persians the nation of the Zabdiceni, as well as the Cardueni, the Rhemeni, and the Zalini, plus all the forts (fifteen in number) around these, with their inhabitants, properties, animals, and all paraphernalia; and to hand over Nisibis, but without its inhabitants. … The Persians took over besides the greater part of Armenia, allowing the Romans to keep only a little bit of it. On these terms a treaty was made and was ratified by both parties’ written instruments. The Romans were granted a visa to journey back home in such fashion that, doing no damage inside the Persians’ territory, they in turn were set upon by no Persian ambusdade.

  Source: Zosimius, Historia Nova: The Decline of Rome, Book 3, translated by James J. Buchanan and Harold T. Davis (San Antonio: Trinity University Press, 1967), 26–33. Reprinted with permission.

  Sasanian Military Uniforms and Arms

  1:11 Leaving this place as well, the whole army had come to a district called Maranga, when near daybreak a huge force of Persians appeared with Merena, general of their cavalry, two sons of the king, and many other magnates. 12. Moreover, all the companies were clad in iron, and all parts of their bodies were covered with thick plates, so fitted that the stiff joints conformed with those of their limbs; and the forms of human faces were so skillfully fitted to their heads, that, since their entire bodies were covered with metal, arrows that fell upon them could lodge only where they could see a little through tiny openings opposite the pupil of the eye, or where through the tips of their noses they were able to get a little breath. 13. Of these some, who were armed with pikes, stood so motionless that you would think them held fast by clamps of bronze. Hard by, the archers (for that nation has especially trusted in this art from the very cradle) were bending their flexible bows with such wide-stretched arms that the strings touched their right breasts, while the arrow-points were close to their left hands; and by a highly skilful stroke of the fingers the arrows flew hissing forth and brought with them deadly wounds. 14. Behind them the gleaming elephants, with their awful figures and savage, gaping mouths could scarcely be endured by the faint-hearted; and their trumpeting, their odour, and their strange aspect alarmed the horses still more. 15. Seated upon these, their drivers had long-handled knives bound to their right hands, remembering the disaster suffered at Nisibis; for if the strength of the driver proved no match for the excited brute, and he turned upon his own people (as happened then) and crushed masses of them to the ground, they could with a mighty stroke cut through the vein where the head is separated from the neck. …

  Source: Ammianus Marcellinus, Vol. 1, Book 29, 1, 1–5, A.D. 359, translated by John C. Rolfe (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1936).

  Inscription of Shapur II at Persepolis (I)

  In the month of Spandarmad, in the second year of the Mazda worshipping lord Shapur, King of Kings of Iran and non-Iran, who is a scion of the Gods (311 A.D.). At that time, when Shapur the Saka king, of Sind, Seistan and Turan, up to the edge of the sea, son of the Mazda worshipping lord Ohrmazd King of Kings of Iran and non-Iran, who was a scion of the Gods, departed (bore homage) from the court of His Majesty, he
went on this road, between Istakhr and Seistan and graciously came (here) to Persepolis. Then he had lunch in this building. With him were Vahram son of Nahv Ohrmazd, the Seistan councilor, Narseh the magus, of the Varāz (family), Vēn son of Rēv Mithra, satrap of Zarang, Narseh the scribe, and other Persian and Saka knights, people of Zarang, messenger(s) from the provinces, and chiefs. He caused great rejoicing, and ordered rites performed for the Gods. He gave blessings to his father and ancestors. Then he offered blessings to Shapur the King of Kings, to his own soul, and also to him who built this structure. May God remember (them?).

  Source: Richard N. Frye, “The Persepolis Middle Persian Inscription from the Time of Shapur II,” Acta Orientalia 30 (1966): 83–95.

  Inscription of Shapur II at Persepolis (II)

  (It is) in the month of Tir of the year 18 on the day of Ohrmazd, that I Seleucus, the judge of Javedshapur and Kabul have come to Persepolis. This inscription, written above, which Shapur the Saka king ordered engraved; was ordered by me to be examined. Then I gave a blessing, namely, that Shapur, the King of Kings, be the best of men, immortal and with eternal rule. And that Shapur the Saka king live long and always perform acts which seem good to the Gods and to Shapur the King of Kings. That I also (the slave) do that which to the Gods and to His Majesty Shapur the King of Kings may appear pious. And from here may I arrive in safety to the court of His Majesty (Pl.), and may I see His Majesty (Sing.) Shapur the King of Kings in piety and health. And may I return in piety (and) health to Kabul.

  Source: Richard N. Frye, “The Persepolis Middle Persian Inscription from the Time of Shapur II,” Acta Orientalia 30 (1966): 83–95.

  Shapur II and Emperor Constantius

  5.1. … [T]he king of Persia was still encamped in the confines of the frontier tribes; and having now made a treaty of alliance with the Chionitae and Gelani, the fiercest warriors of all, he was on the point of returning to his own territories, when he received Tamsapor’s letter, stating that the Roman emperor begged and entreated for peace. 2. Therefore, imagining that such a step would not be attempted unless the fabric of the empire were weakened, he swelled with still greater pride, embraced the name of peace, and proposed hard conditions; and dispatching one Narseus with gifts as his envoy, he sent a letter to Constantius, in no wise deviating from his native haughtiness, the tenor of which, as we have learned, was as follows: 3. “I Sapor [Shapur], King of Kings, partner with the Stars, brother of the Sun and Moon, to my brother Constantius Caesar offer most ample greeting.

  “I rejoice and at last take pleasure that you have returned to the best course and acknowledged the inviolable sanction of justice, having learned from actual experience what havoc has been caused at various times by obstinate covetousness of what belongs to others. 4. Since therefore the consideration of truth ought to be free and untrammeled, and it befits those in high station to speak as they feel, I shall state my proposal in brief terms, recalling that what I am about to say I have often repeated. 5. That my forefathers’ empire reached as far as the river Strymon and the boundaries of Macedonia even your own ancient records bear witness; these lands it is fitting that I should demand, since (and may what I say not seem arrogant) I surpass the kings of old in magnificence and array of conspicuous virtues. But at all times right reason is dear to me, and trained in it from my earliest youth, I have never allowed myself to do anything for which I had cause to repent. And therefore it is my duty to recover Armenia with Mesopotamia, which double-dealing wrested from my grandfather. That principle shall never be brought to acceptance among us which you exultantly maintain, that without any distinction between virtue and deceit all successful events of war should be approved. 7. Finally, if you wish to follow my sound advice, disregard this small tract, always a source of woe and bloodshed, so that you may rule the rest in security, wisely recalling that even expert physicians sometimes cauterize, lance, and even cut away some parts of the body, in order to save the rest sound for use; and that even wild beasts do this: for when they observe for what possession they are being relentlessly hunted, they give that up of their own accord, so as afterwards to live free from fear. 8. This assuredly I declare, that if this embassy of mine returns unsuccessful, after the time of the winter rest is past I shall gird myself with all my strength and with fortune and the justice of my terms upholding my hope of a successful issue, I shall hasten to come on, so far as reason permits.”

  9. After this letter had long been pondered, answer was made with upright heart, as they say, and circumspectly, as follows:—

  10. “I, Constantius, victor by land and sea, perpetual Augustus, to my brother King Sapor, offer most ample greeting.

  “I rejoice in your health, and if you will, I shall be your friend hereafter; but this covetousness of yours, always unbending and more widely encroaching, I vehemently reprobate. 11. You demand Mesopotamia as your own and likewise Armenia, and you recommend lopping off some members of a sound body, so that its health may afterwards be put upon a firm footing—advice which is rather to be refuted than to be confirmed by any agreement. Therefore listen to the truth, not obscured by any juggling but transparent and not to be intimidated by any empty threats. 12. My praetorian prefect, thinking to undertake an enterprise conducing to the public weal, entered into conversations with a general of yours, through the agency of some individuals of little worth and without consulting me, on the subject of peace. This we neither reject nor refuse, if only it take place with dignity and honour, without at all prejudicing our self-respect or our majesty. 13. For at this time, when the sequence of events (may envious ears be placated!) has beamed in manifold form upon us, when with the overthrow of the usurpers the whole Roman world is subject to us, it is absurd and silly to surrender what we long preserved unmolested when we were still confined within the bounds of the Orient. 14. Furthermore, pray make an end of those intimidations which (as usual) are directed against us, since there can be no doubt that it was not through slackness, but through self-restraint that we have sometimes accepted battle rather than offered it, and that when we are set upon, we defend our territories with the most valiant spirit of a good conscience; for we know both by experience and by reading that while in some battles, though rarely, the Roman cause has stumbled, yet in the main issue of our wars it has never succumbed to defeat.”

  15. This embassy having been sent back without obtaining anything—for no fuller answer could be made to the king’s unbridled greed—after a very few days it was followed by Count Prosper, Spectatus, tribune and secretary, and likewise, at the suggestion of Musonianus, the philosopher Eustathius, as a master of persuasion; they carried with them letters of the emperor and gifts, and meanwhile planned by some craft or other to stay Sapor’s preparations, so that his northern provinces might not be fortified beyond the possibility of attack.

  Source: Ammianus Marcellinus, Vol. 1, XVII, 5, 1–4, XVII, 5, 13–15, A.D. 358, translated by John C. Rolfe (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1936).

  36. THE REIGN OF KHOSROW ANUSHIRAVAN (531–579 CE): EXCERPTS FROM THE HISTORY OF TABARI

  The excerpt below from The History of Tabari describes the life and accomplishments of the Sasanian monarch Khosrow I Anushiravan, who ruled from 531 to 579 CE. The empire that Khosrow I inherited from his father, Kavad I, had been shaken by social revolt from within and humiliating defeat at the hands of invading nomadic groups from without. A major revolt led by the popular religious leader Mazdak demanded fundamental reforms in the existing social and economic institutions of the empire. The Sasanian state had also been humiliated by the Hephthalites, a nomadic group from Central Asia who defeated Sasanian armies and killed Khosrow’s grandfather, the Sasanian monarch Peroz. As a charismatic leader who was committed to governmental reforms, Khosrow adopted a carrot-and-stick approach. He crushed the Mazdakite movement and defeated the Hephthalites with support from the Western Turk state in Central Asia. At the same time, he introduced badly needed reforms that addressed the grievances of the empire’s subj
ect classes, particularly the peasantry. The first excerpt below is from the multivolume History of Tabari, which recounts the challenges and accomplishments of Khosrow I. Writing in Arabic, Tabari uses the Arabic form of Khosrow’s name, which was Kisra.

  Then there assumed the royal power Kisrā Anūsharwān, son of Qubādh [Kavad], son of Fayrūz [Peroz], son of Yazdajird [Yazdegerd] (II), son of Bahrām (V) Jūr. When he became king, he wrote letters to the four Fādhūsbāns, each of whom was governor over a region of the land of Persia, and to their subordinate officials. The text of his letter to the Fādhūsbān of Azerbaijan is as follows: