In 260 CE, Sasanian king Shapur I captured Roman emperor Valerian after taking Carrhae and winning at Edessa. His trilingual Res Gestae at Naqsh-e Rostam, below Ka'ba-ye Zartosht, boasts that he took Valerian "with our own hands" and deported Roman officials and soldiers to his empire. The relief at Naqsh-e Rostam—not Naqsh-e Rajab—shows Shapur gripping Valerian's wrist while Philip the Arab kneels before his horse. Valerian remained in Persian captivity until his death, and his son Gallienus became sole emperor.
Shapur I's capture of Emperor Valerian recorded in inscriptions and a rock relief
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Key facts
- In 260 CE, Shapur I captured Valerian after the Battle of Edessa, following the capture of Carrhae.
- Shapur's trilingual Res Gestae at Naqsh-e Rostam, below Ka'ba-ye Zartosht, says he took Valerian "with our own hands" and deported Roman officials and soldiers; it does not list the provinces represented in Valerian's army.
- The equestrian relief showing Shapur gripping Valerian's wrist while Philip the Arab kneels is at Naqsh-e Rostam, not Naqsh-e Rajab.
- Valerian was the only Roman emperor captured alive by a foreign power and never returned to Rome.
- Eutropius records that Valerian grew old in captivity at Artaxata.
- Valerian's son Gallienus, already co-emperor, became sole emperor after Valerian's capture.
Sources
cambridge.org
Linked in video description
Shapur Ien.wikipedia.org
In 260, during his third campaign, he defeated and captured the Roman emperor, Valerian. He did not seem interested in permanently occupying the Roman provinces ...
Shāpūr I | History | Research Starters | EBSCOhostebsco.com
Shāpūr I devastated the Roman cities of Dura Europus and Antioch in 256 C.E. and captured Roman emperor Valerian in 260 C.E., who died in Sāsānian captivity.
Valerian (emperor)en.wikipedia.org
Valerian was Roman emperor from 253 to spring 260 AD. He rose to power during a particularly unstable period during the Crisis of the Third Century and ...
Shapur, King of Persia, Humiliates the Roman Emperor ...getty.edu
After a series of wars against the Romans, Shapur defeated Valerian at Edessa in A.D. 260 and kept him captive for the rest of his life.
Shapur I, Valerian and Rome's Great Persian Rivkinzercoins.com
Shapur I captured Valerian, Roman emperor from AD 253 to 260. Valerian is the only Roman emperor known to have been captured alive by a foreign ...
Roman, Persian, and Christian Responses to the Emperor ...classicalstudies.org
The earliest account of Valerian's captivity is the Res Gestae Divi Saporis, a trilingual inscription that proclaims the deeds of the Persian king Shapur. Here ...
The Roman Emperor as Persian Prisoner of Warbrill.com
The capture of the emperor Valerian (r. 253–260) by the Sasanian Persians in. Syria is an iconic defeat in the history of the Roman Empire, an event which.
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