v38_0331 - SASANIAN - SASANIAN KINGDOM - SHAPUR I Drachme

SASANIAN - SASANIAN KINGDOM - SHAPUR I

(241-272)

Sapor I (or Shapour) is the son of Ardashir I (224-241) whom he succeeded. He was the most implacable enemy of the Romans. He first had to evacuate Mesopotamia in 241 before signing a very advantageous peace treaty with Philip the Arab, the assassin and successor of Gordian III in 244/245. At the beginning of the reign of Valerian I, he invaded Syria for the first time in 253/254 before capturing the emperor in 260. Valerian I would have remained a prisoner of his conqueror for several years, serving as a stepping stone before ending up impaled. He had to evacuate Antioch after the proclamation of Macrianus and Quietus in 260. After 261, Odenath, king of Palmyra, opposed the progress of Sapor, but he was assassinated in 266 or 267. Zenobia his wife and Vaballath his son continued first the policy of Odenath, then seceded from the Roman Empire. Sapor, at the time of his death in 272, was preparing a new campaign against the Romans.