Shapur II

Shapour II (sometimes called Large the ) is an emperor of the dynasty Sassanide in Perse which reigns of 309 with 379. During its reign, the Sassanide Empire saw a second golden age after that which had taken place during the reign of Shapur Ier (241-272).

Wire posthumous of Ormuzd II, it reigns initially under the supervision of his/her mother and large of the kingdom. It pushes back a peace proposal of the emperor Constance II (356), it seizes Amida (359) but must face an invasion of the emperor Julien. On died of this one, it imposes a peace on the emperor Jovien. This peace ensures the Persian domination on the Arménie and the North-East of the Mésopotamie. Its reign is marked by terrible persecutions against the Christians, suspects of sympathies towards Rome rejoined with Christianity under Constantin 1st, and a reinforcement of the Mazdéisme. With its death one period of serious dynastic disorders starts.

Childhood

When the king Hormizd II (302-309) died, the Persan leaders killed his oldest son, plugged the second and imprisoned the third (Hormizd, which is then flees with Byzance). The throne was reserved for the son not born yet from one of the women of Hormizd II, which was of Jewish origin. Shapur II would be thus the only king of the history to be crowned in utero : the crown was placed on the belly of his/her mother. The child, named Shapur, had thus been born king; the government was exerted by his/her mother and other characters high-placed of the Empire. When Shapur II reached the age to control, it proved to be one of the largest kings of the dynasty.

Conquests

In 337, right before the death of the Emperor Constantin Ier (324-337), Shapur II broke the peace treaty concluded in 297 between Narseh (293-302) and the Emperor Dioclétien (284-305), which had been respected during forty years. A one duration conflict of twenty-six years started then in two series of wars, the first taking place from 337 to 350. Shapur II then tried to conquer, with varied successes, the large fortresses of the Roman Mésopotamie: Singara, Nisibis (which it attacked three times in vain) and Amida (Diyarbakir).

The Roman Emperor Constance II (353-361) was always overcome on the battle field. Nevertheless, Shapur II did not make almost any progress; the military capacity of its kingdom was not sufficient for a durable occupation of the conquered territories. At the same time, it was attacked in the east by wandering tribes, among which the Chionites are quoted. After a prolonged fight (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 start the second series of the wars against Rome, which were a larger success. In 359, Shapur II conquered Amida after a seat of soixante-treize days, and it took Singara and other fortresses the following year (360). In 363, the emperor Julien (361-363), with the head of a strong army, advanced to the capital of Shapur, Ctésiphon and beats an army sassanide higher than the battle of Ctésiphon, but was mortally wounded during its retirement. Its successor Jovien (363-364) concludes a ignominieuse peace, by which the districts of the Tigre and Nisibis (a total of five Roman provinces) were given to Persians, and the Romans promised not to interfere more in Arménie. This great success is represented by sculptures in the rock not far from the town of Bishapur in Perse; under the shoes of the horse of the king to lie the body of an enemy, probably Julien and a begging Roman, the Jovien emperor, requires peace.

Shapur II invades Arménie then, where it made captive King Arsacès III, faithful combined Romans, for treason and forced it to commit suicide. It then tried to introduce the Zoroastrisme in Arménie. The noble Armenians resisted to him successfully, secretly supported the Romans, who sent King PAP, wire of Arsacès III, in Arménie. The war with Rome threatened to burst again, but Valens sacrificed PAP, being arranged to make it assassinate in Tarsus where it had found refuge (374). Shapur II had brought prisoners of number since the Roman territories under its domination, whose majority settled in Susiane. It rebuilds Suse (Élam) after having killed its rebellious inhabitants.

With its death in 379, the Persian Empire was stronger than front, considerably larger than at the time when it reached the throne, the Eastern enemies were pacified and Persia had taken the control of Arménie.

Contributions

Under the reign of Shapur II, the gathering of the Avesta was finished, the Hérésie and the Apostasie were punished and the Chrétiens persecuted. This was in reaction to the christianization of the Romain Empire since the emperor Constantin. He was successes in his battles in the east of the country, and the town of Nishapur to the Khorasan (then in Parthie) was rebuilt by him.

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