In AD 260, Shapur I captured Roman emperor Valerian at Edessa—the first Roman emperor known to have been taken captive in battle, not the only one. Lactantius claimed Shapur used him as a footstool before having him flayed, his skin dyed red and hung in a temple. The Naqsh-e Rostam relief still shows Shapur grasping Valerian by the wrist. Al-Tabari claimed Valerian and other Roman prisoners built a dam at Gundeshapur, later associated with Band-e Kaisar. No rescue or ransom mission by Gallienus is recorded, while Julian's later Persian campaign invoked Valerian's captivity.
Valerian captured by Shapur I: the first Roman emperor taken captive in battle
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Key facts
- Shapur I captured Roman emperor Valerian at Edessa in AD 260. Valerian was the first Roman emperor known to have been taken captive in battle, not the only Roman emperor ever captured.
- Lactantius claimed Shapur used Valerian as a footstool and then had him flayed, with his skin dyed red and displayed in a Persian temple.
- Al-Tabari claimed Valerian was sent with Roman prisoners to build a dam at Gundeshapur; the structure is traditionally associated with Band-e Kaisar.
- The Naqsh-e Rostam relief depicts Shapur I on horseback holding the standing Valerian by the wrist.
- No rescue or ransom mission by Gallienus is recorded.
- Julian later campaigned in Persia and invoked Valerian's captivity, contradicting the claim that he never mentioned him.
Sources
Valerian - an epic story mostly lost to historycointalk.com
Emperor from 22 October 253 AD to spring 260 AD. He was taken captive by the Persian Emperor, Shapur I after the Battle of Edessa, becoming the ...
Eastern Mediterranean 260: Capture of Valerianomniatlas.com
Valerian marched east to deal with this threat but was defeated and captured by Shapur at Edessa. This humiliation—the first time a Roman emperor had been taken ...
Valerian (emperor)en.wikipedia.org
Valerian is known as the first Roman emperor to have been taken captive in battle, captured by the Persian emperor Shapur I after the Battle of Edessa.
VALERIAN & SHAPUR, 260 A.D. The defeat and capture of ...granger.com
In a historic 4th-century Sassanian cameo, King Shapur I triumphs over Roman Emperor Valerian in 260 A.D. The image captures the moment of defeat and capture, ...
Shapur, King of Persia, Humiliates the Roman Emperor ...getty.edu
After a series of wars against the Romans, Shapur defeated Valerian at Edessa in AD 260 and kept him captive for the rest of his life.
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 ...
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.
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 ...
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