3
The Second and Third Campaigns of Shapur I against the Roman Empire

3.1.1.
Khosrov II of Armenia was murdered at the instigation of the Sassanians (after 244)

Agathangelos, History of the Armenians (I), 23–35 (Thomson 1976, pp. 41–51): see Appendix 2, pp..

Moses Khorenats’i, History of the Armenians (II), 76–7 (Thomson 1978, pp. 221–5): see Appendix 2, pp..

3.1.2.
Nisibis captured by the Persians (252?)¹

al-Tabari, p. 826 (Nöldeke, pp. 31–2): see Appendix 1, p. .

Eutychius, Annales, ed. Cheikho, pp. , 10–110, 4 (Arabic):² see Appendix 1, pp. .

3.1.3.
The murder of Khosrov II of Armenia and flight of Trdat (Tiridates) to the Roman court(?)

Agathangelos, Hist. Arm. (I), 36 (Thomson, 1976 pp. 51–3): see Appendix 2, p. .

Moses Khorenats’i, Hist. Arm. (II), 78 (Thomson, 1978 pp. 225–6): see Appendix 2, pp..

Zonaras XII, 21, pp. 589, 24–590, 3 (iii, p. 137, 2–6, Dindorf): At this time³ the Persians once more began hostile moves and brought Armenia under their control. Tiridates, the king of the Armenians, fled but his uncles⁴ hurried over to the Persians.

(Lieu)

3.1.4.
Shapur's second campaign against the Roman Empire (252)

(Gk), lines 10–19: And the Caesar (Philip I?) lied again and did injustice to Armenia.⁵ We (11) marched against the Roman Empire and annihilated a Roman army of 60,000 men at Barbalissos.⁶ The nation of Syria and whatever nations and plains that were above it, we set on fire and devastated (12) and laid waste. And in that campaign (we took) (the following) fortresses and cities from the nation of the Romans:⁷ the city of Anatha with its surrounding territory (Parthian only: BYRT’rwpn or BYRT’kwpn with its surrounding territory) Birthan in Asporakos with its surrounding territory, (13)—Sura,⁸—Barbalissos,— Hierapolis,— Beroea,—Chalcis,—Apamea, (14)—Rephaneia,⁹—Zeugma,— Ourima,—Gindaros,—Larmenaz, (15)—Seleucia,—Antiochia,¹⁰— Cyrrhus,¹¹— another city by (the name of) Seleucia,¹²—Alexandretta, (16)—Nicopolis,— Sinzara,—Chamath,—Ariste,¹³— Dikhor, (17)—Doliche,¹⁴—Doura,— Circesium,¹⁵—Germanicia,¹⁶ —Batna,¹⁷—Chanar;¹⁸ (18) and from Cappadocia:¹⁹ the city of Satala with its surrounding territory,—Domana,— Artangil,— Souisa, (19)—Phreata, a total of thirty-seven cities with their surrounding territories.

(Lieu)

Oracula Sibyllina XIII, 108–30: (For lines 89–102, see below, 3.1.5.)

The Syrians will perish frightfully.

For the great wrath of the Most High will come upon them,

110 and immediately a revolt of enterprising Persians.

Syrians, mingling with Persians, will destroy the Romans.

Nevertheless they will not conquer by divine will.

Alas, many natives of the East will flee with all their possessions to men speaking strange tongues.

115 Alas, the earth will drink the dark blood of many men.

For this will be the time when the living will at some time bless the dead with their mouths, and will pronounce death as fair but it will flee from them.

As for you, wretched Syria, I weep for you with great pity.

120 To you too will come a fearful attack by arrow-shooting men, which you never expected to befall you.

The fugitive of Rome will come, brandishing a great spear, crossing the Euphrates with many thousands, who will put you to the torch and maltreat everything.

125 Wretched Antioch, they will never call you a city after you have fallen under the spears through lack of judgement.

Having despoiled you and stripped you of everything, he will leave you roofless and uninhabited. Suddenly anyone who sees you will weep for you.

To you Hierapolis will be a triumph, and you Beroea.

130 At Chalcis you will weep over newly fallen sons.

(Lieu)

Philostratus (FGrH 99F): see under Malalas (XII, p. 297, 10–18), 3.2.2.

Zosimus I, 27, 2: At the same time²⁰ the Persians invaded Asia, ravaged Mesopotamia and advanced as far as Antioch. Finally they took that city which was the metropolis of all the east. They massacred some of the inhabitants and carried the remainder into captivity, returning home with immense plunder, after they had destroyed all the buildings in the city, both public and private, without encountering any serious resistance. And indeed the Persians could have easily conquered the whole of Asia, had they not been so overjoyed at their excessive spoils as to be contented with keeping and carrying home what they had acquired. (Anon., revised Lieu)

Zosimus III, 32, 5: see 3.3.1.

Eutychius, Annales, p. , 4–5, ed. Cheikho (Arabic):²¹ see Appendix 1, pp..

3.1.5.
Antioch betrayed by Mariades (or Kyriades)²² to Shapur I (253?)²³

Oracula Sibyllina XIII, 89–102:

Then when a wily man comes, upon a bier,²⁴

90 appearing as a bandit from Syria, an undistinguished Roman, and will stealthily approach the race of Cappadocians and will besiege and (suddenly) fall on them, insatiable for war.

As for you, Tyana and (Caesarea) Mazaka, there will be captivity.

You will be plundered and your neck will be placed under the yoke because of him.

95 And Syria will wait for men who had fallen, nor will Selenaie, the sacred town, be saved.

But when a brutal man will flee for protection (?) from Syria across the Euphrates’ streams, in anticipation of the Romans, no longer resembling the Romans, but overweening

100 arrow-shooting Persians, then the leader of the Italians will fall in the ranks, struck by gleaming iron, abandoning his dignity, and his sons will also perish in addition to him.

(Lieu)

SHA triginta tyranni 2: This man (i.e. Cyriades=Myriades), rich and well-born, fled from his father Cyriades when, by his excesses and profligate ways, he had become a burden to the righteous old man, and after robbing him of a great part of his gold and an enormous amount of silver he departed to the Persians. Thereupon he joined King Sapor and became his ally, and after urging him to make war on the Romans, he brought first Odomastes²⁵ and then Sapor himself into the Roman dominions; and also by capturing Antioch and Caesarea he won for himself the name of Caesar. Then, when he had been hailed Augustus, after he had caused all the Orient to tremble in terror at his strength or his daring, and when, moreover, he had slain his father (which some historians deny), he himself, at the time that Valerian was on his way to the Persian War, was put to death by the treachery of his followers. Nor has anything more that seems worthy of mention been committed to history about this man, who has obtained a place in letters solely by reason of his famous flight, his act of parricide, his cruel tyranny, and his boundless excesses.

(Magie, iii, pp. 67–9)

Malalas XII, ed. Stauffenberg, pp. (CSHB pp. 295, 20–296, 10): Under this emperor (i.e. Valerian), one of the magistrates of Antioch the Great by the name of Mariades was expelled from the city council (boule) at the contrivance of the entire council and citizen body. He was found wanting in his administration of the chariot races, for whenever he was leader of the faction, he did not purchase horses but kept for his own benefit the public funds destined for the circus. He departed for Persia and offered to betray Antioch the Great, his own native city, to Shapur the king. This Shapur, the king of the Persians, came with a large force through the limes of Chalcis²⁶ and occupied and devastated the whole of Syria. He captured Antioch the Great in the evening and plundered it, tormented it and set it on fire. Antioch then was in her three hundred and fourteenth year (=AD 265/6?).²⁷ However, he decapitated the magistrate (i.e. Myriades) for his betrayal of his native city.

(Lieu)

Anonymous continuator of Dio Cassius, frag. 1, FHG IV, p. 192): When the king of the Persians came before Antioch with Mariadnes (i.e. Mariades), he encamped some twenty stadia (from the city). The respectable classes fled the city but the majority of the populace remained: partly because they were well disposed towards Mariadnes and partly because they were glad of any revolution; such as is customary with ignorant people.

(Lieu)

3.2.1.
Some incidents related to the fall of Antioch (253? or 260?)

Libanius, oratio XI, 158: For one thing, when the Persians came upon them, our ancestors did not think fit to save themselves by flight, but they held their ground, holding fast to their fatherland, more firmly than the Lacedaemonians did to their shields….

(Downey, 1959 p. 669)

Idem, oratio XXIV, 38: So let every one of his successors acknowledge the debt he owes him (i.e. Julian). Our womenfolk too would agree that it was due to him that all this region does not belong to Persia. We build no walls, we import no stocks of corn, we do not live with fear to keep us company, nor are we afraid that any such disaster will befall us as occurred in the days of our ancestors, when they were attacked as they sat in the theatre by archers who had occupied the mountain top.

(Norman, i, pp. 519–21.)

Idem, oratio XV, 16: We may have no noble buildings—the age-old insolence of the Persians that fired all that stood in its path has seen to that….

(Norman, i, p. 157)

Idem, oratio LX, 2–3, pp. , 3–313, 2, ed Foerster (ap. John Chrysostom, de Sancto Babyla contra Julianum et gentiles, ed. Schatkin, XVIII/98 and XIX/ 106): When the king of the Persians (i.e. Shapur I) the ancestor of the one who is waging war against us (i.e. Shapur II), had taken the city (of Antioch) by treason and set it on fire, he proceeded to Daphne and was about to do the same when Apollo made him change his mind. He threw away his torch and paid homage to Apollo for he (i.e. the god) had so apparently mollified and reconciled him. 3. This general, leading an army against us, nevertheless thought it safer and better for his reputation to preserve the temple and the beauty of the statue quelled his barbaric rage.²⁸

(Dodgeon)

Ammianus Marcellinus XX, 11, 11: (AD 360) Therefore on the tenth day from the start of the siege,²⁹ when the confidence of our men began to fill the town with alarm, it was decided to bring up a vast battering-ram which the Persians, after having used it before to subdue Antioch, had brought back and left at Carrhae.

(Yonge, p. 237, revised)

Idem, XXIII, 5, 3: For it happened one day at Antioch, when the city was in perfect tranquillity, a comic actor being on the stage with his wife, acting some common scene from daily life, while the people were delighted with his acting, his wife suddenly exclaimed: ‘Am I dreaming or are the Persians here?’ The audience immediately turned round and then fled in every direction while trying to avoid the missiles which were showered upon them. The city was burnt and a number of her citizens killed, who, as is usual in time of peace, were strolling about carelessly, and all the places in the neighbourhood were burnt and laid waste. The enemy, loaded down with plunder, returned without loss to their own country after having burnt Mareades who had wickedly guided the Persians to the destruction of his fellow citizens. This event took place in the time of Gallienus.

(Yonge, p. 325, revised)

Eunapius, vitae Sophistarum VI, 5: (AD 358) see Chapter 8, pp..

3.2.2. A Persian column defeated at Emesa (?)

Oracula Sibyllina XIII, 147–54:

And again the ordered world will become disordered with
men perishing
by famine and war. The Persians for the toil of Ares (i.e.
war)
will again make inroads, raging against the Ausonians (i.e.
Romans)
150 And then there will be a flight of Romans. Immediately
afterwards
the last priest of all (i.e. Sampsigeramus?) sent by the sun will come,
appearing out of Syria and will accomplish everything by
treachery.
And then there will be a city of the sun (i.e. Emesa?)
Around it
the Persians will undergo the fearful threats of the Phoeni
cians (i.e. Emesenes).

(Lieu)

Malalas, XII, ed. Stauffenberg, pp. (pp. 296, 10–297, 20 CSHB): (After the capture of Antioch, Shapur) took possession of the eastern part (of the Roman Empire) and subjected it to torment, fire and plunder and killed everyone until he came to Emesa, a city of Phoenice Libanensis. A priest of Aphrodite by the name of Sampsigeramus³⁰ came out to meet him with a rustic force of slingers. Shapur, the king of the Persians, when he noticed the priestly robe, ordered his army not to shoot at them nor to fall upon them nor to fight with them; and he received the priest as an envoy. He had earlier requested the king to receive him as envoy of his territory. While Shapur the king was seated on a high platform and engaged in discussion with the priest, one of the rustic slingers let fly a stone which hit Shapur in the forehead and he died on the spot. Pandemonium broke out [p. 390] when his army heard that he had died. Thinking that the Romans were coming upon them, they all fled to the limes, with the rustic slingers and Sampsigeramus in pursuit.³¹ They vanished, leaving behind their booty. They were met while passing through the limes by Enathos (i.e. Odaenathus), an ally of the Romans who was the king of the barbarian Saracens and ruled over Arabia, who had a wife called Zenobia, a Saracen queen. Enathos destroyed all of the entire Persian army of Shapur, according to the statement of Domninus, the learned chronographer. However, the most learned Philostratus (FGrH 99F) had something different to say about Shapur, the king of the Persians. He said that he seized Syria and put Antioch the Great and many other cities to the torch. He also seized Cilicia and put to the torch Alexandretta, Rhosus, Anazarbus, Aigai, Nicopolis, and many other cities of Cilicia and then returned to Persian territory via Cappadocia, and he (Philostratus) said that Enathos, the king of the Saracens, met him, coming to him as an ally and killed him. Domninus, on the other hand, is more reliable in asserting that Shapur dispatched a satrap by the name of Spates to Armenia with a large army.³²

(Lieu)

3.2.3.
Inscriptions commemorating the victory of Emesenes over Shapur I (?)³³

IGLS 1799 (p. 277, found in Qal ‘at el-Haways, NE of Hamath, Greek): Year 564 (252/253 AD), the men were then exposed to Nemesis (?) (i.e. vengeful justice). But the hero invoked Kronos and victory was given to him. Neither the Barbarians nor anybody in the vicinity suffered injury for they settled (?) that they should suffer a just punishment for their crime those who….

(Lieu)

IGLS 1800 (p. 278, on the same rock, Greek): Read what is written and believe!

(Lieu)

IGLS 1801 (p. 278, on a nearby rock, Greek): The god of all power loves loyalty and wishes (?) that it exist in his presence.

(Lieu)

3.2.4. Repair to the walls of Batnae by a Prefect of Osrhoene (after 256?)

Petersen, TAPA 107 (1977), p. (Greek inscription found in a cave formerly used as a shelter on the modern highway between Birecik and Urfa): Aur(elius) Dasius, the most distinguished […] prefect of Osrhoene rebuilt the city wall at Batnae and refurnished in that place a public hostel and a shady shelter so that those who take refuge in it because of the heat might rest and find some relief.

(Lieu & J.C.Morgan)

3.2.5.
Transfer of troops to Arabia (259?)

PAES III, A, no. 10, pp. (Latin inscription from Qal‘at es Zerqa which may have originally been at el-Hadid: The Emperors Augustuses (Valerian and Gallienus?) who had transferred […name of unit(s)…] from Palestine to Arabia for the protection (of the country?),³⁴ also constructed a camp from foundation at a suitable site through Aurel[ius Theo], Legate of the Augustuses….³⁵

3.2.6.
Shapur's third campaign against the Roman Empire (260?): (a) The Persian view

S KZ (Gk) lines 19–37: In the third contest, when we marched against Edessa and Carrhae and had the cities laid under siege, (20) Caesar Valerian came upon us. There was with him a force of seventy thousand men from the nations of Germania, Raetia, Noricum, Dacia, Pannonia, (21) Moesia, Istria, Hispania, Mauritania, Thracia, Bithynia, Asia, Pamphylia, Isauria (22) Lycaonia, Galatia, Lycia, Cilicia, Cappadocia, Phrygia, Syria, Phoenicia, (23) Judaea, Arabia, Mauritania, Germania, Lydia and Mesopotamia. (24) A great battle took place beyond Carrhae³⁶ and Edessa between us and Caesar Valerian and we took him prisoner with our own hands (25) as well as the other commanders of the army, the Praetorian Prefect,³⁷ senators and officials. All these we took prisoner and deported (26) to Persis. We also burnt, devastated, and pillaged Syria, Cilicia, and Cappadocia.

On this third campaign we also conquered from the Empire of the Romans their city of Samosata³⁸ with its surrounding territory, the city of Alexandria³⁹ with its surrounding territory,— Katabolon⁴⁰ (28),—Aig (e)ai,—Mopsuestia,— Mallos,—Adana, —Tarsus, [—mp. Augousta (?),—],—Zephyrion,⁴¹ (29),— Sebaste, —Korykos,—Agrippiada,⁴²—Kastabala,—Neronias, (30)— Flavias,— Nicopolis,—Kelenderis,⁴³—Anemourium, (31)— Selinus,—Myonpolis,— Antiochia,—Seleucia,—Dometioupolis,⁴⁴ (32)—Tyana,⁴⁵—Meiakarire,— Comana,—Kybistra,—Sebastia, (33)—Birtha,—Rhakoundia,—Laranda,— Iconium; all these cities (34) together with their surrounding territories are thirty-six (in number).

We led away into captivity men from the Empire of the Romans, non-Iranians, and settled them into our Empire of Iranians, in Persia (35), in Parthia, in Susiana and in Asorestan (=Assuristan) and in every other nation where our own and our fathers’ and our forefathers’ (36) foundations were.

And we searched out (for combat) many other lands and we acquired great renown for bravery, and many heroic deeds (we performed) which are not engraved here beside the preceding. For this reason we commanded (37) this to be engraved, that whoever comes after us will realize this renown, this courage, and this sovereignty of ours.

(Lieu)

3.3.1.
The third campaign of Shapur and the capture of Valerian: (b) The Roman and Byzantine view⁴⁶

Lactantius, de mortibus persecutorum 5: Not long afterwards, Valerian also in a state of frenzy lifted his impious hands to assault God, and, even though his time was short, shed much righteous blood. But God punished him in a new and extraordinary manner, that it might be a lesson to future ages that the adversaries of Heaven always receive the just recompense of their iniquities. He was made prisoner by the Persians and lost not only that power which he had exercised without moderation, but also the liberty of which he had deprived others. He squandered the remainder of his days in the abject form of slavery: for whenever Shapur, the king of the Persians, who had made him prisoner, chose to get into the carriage or to mount on horseback, he commanded the Roman to stoop and present his back; then, placing his foot on the shoulders of Valerian, he said, with a smile of reproach, ‘This is true, and not what the Romans depicted on their tablets and walls.’⁴⁷ Valerian lived for a considerable time under the well-merited insults of his conqueror; so that the Roman name remained long the scoff and derision of the barbarians: and this also was added to the severity of his punishment, that although he had an emperor for his son, he found no one to avenge his captivity and most abject and servile state; neither indeed was he ever demanded back.⁴⁸ Afterward, when he had finished this shameful life under so great dishonour, he was flayed, and his skin, stripped from the flesh, was dyed with vermilion, and placed in the temple of the gods of the barbarians, that the remembrance of a triumph so signal might be perpetuated, and that this spectacle might always be exhibited to our ambassadors, as an admonition to the Romans, that, beholding the spoils of their captive emperor in a Persian temple, they should not place too great confidence in their own strength.⁴⁹

(Fletcher, pp. 302–3, revised)

Eusebius, Historia ecclesiastica. VII, 13: But not long afterwards, Valerian underwent slavery at the hands of barbarians, and his son (i.e. Gallienus), succeeding to the sole power, conducted the government with more prudence, and immediately by means of edicts put an end to the persecution against us (i.e. Christians).

(Lawlor and Oulton, p. 228)

Eusebius, vita Constantini IV, 11, 2: see below, 6.2.5.

Julian (Emperor), de Caesaribus, 313C: Next entered Gallienus and his father (i.e. Valerian), the latter still dragging the chains of his captivity, the other with the dress and languishing gait of a woman. Seeing Valerian, Silenus cried, ‘Who is this with the white plume that leads the army’s war?’ Then he greeted Gallienus with, ‘He who is all decked with gold and dainty as a maiden.’ But Zeus ordered the pair to depart from the feast.

(Wright, ii, p. 361)

Aurelius Victor, liber de Caesaribus 32, 5: For when his father (i.e. Valerian) was conducting an indecisive and long war in Mesopotamia, he was ambushed by a trick of the king of the Persians called Shapur and was ignominiously hacked to death in the sixth year of his reign⁵⁰ while still vigorous for his old age.

(Lieu)

Festus, breviarium 23, p. , 8–13: It is painful to recount the fortunes of Valerian, the unlucky monarch. He took power with Gallienus. Since the army made Valerian emperor and the Senate, Gallienus, it was Valerian who joined battle against the Persians in Mesopotamia and was vanquished and captured by Shapur, the king of the Persians. He spent the rest of his old age in ignominious servitude.

(Lieu)

Eutropius, IX, 7: Valerian, while he was occupied in a war in Mesopotamia, was overthrown by Shapur, king of Persia, and being soon after made prisoner, grew old in ignominious servitude among the Parthians (sic).

(Watson)

Jerome, Chronicon, s. aa. 258–60, p. , 12–19: Valerian, immediately after he had incited persecution against the Christians, was captured by Shapur, the king of the Persians, among whom he grew old in miserable servitude. (=Jordanes, hist. rom. 287) Shapur, king of the Persians, pillaged Syria, Cilicia and Cappadocia. Valerian was taken to Persia and Gallienus brought peace to us (i.e. Christians).

(Lieu)

SHA Valerian, 1, 1–4, 1 (the beginning is fragmentary):⁵¹…to Shapur, Velsolus, king of kings,⁵² ‘Did I but know for a certainty that the Romans could be wholly defeated, I should congratulate you on the victory of which you boast. 2. But inasmuch as that nation, either through Fate or its own prowess, is all-powerful, look to it lest the fact that you have taken prisoner an aged emperor, and that indeed by guile, may turn out ill for yourself and your descendants. 3. Consider what mighty nations the Romans have made their subjects instead of their enemies after they had often suffered defeat at their hands. 4. We have heard, in fact, how the Gauls conquered them and burned that great city of theirs; 5. it is a fact that the Gauls are now servants to the Romans. What of the Africans? Did they not conquer the Romans? It is a fact that they serve them now. Examples more remote and perhaps less important I will not cite. Mithridates of Pontus held all of Asia; it is a fact that he was vanquished and Asia now belongs to the Romans. 6. If you ask my advice, make use of the opportunity for peace and give back Valerian to his people. I do indeed congratulate you on your good fortune, but only if you know how to use it aright.’⁵³

2 Velenus, king of the Cadusii,⁵⁴ wrote as follows: ‘I have received with gratitude my forces returned to me safe and sound. Yet I cannot wholly congratulate you that Valerian, prince of princes, is captured; I should congratulate you more, were he given back to his people. For the Romans are never more dangerous than when they are defeated. 2. Act, therefore, as becomes a prudent man, and do not let Fortune, which has tricked many, kindle your pride. Valerian has an emperor for a son and a Caesar for a grandson, and what of the whole Roman world, which, to a man, will rise up against you? 3. Give back Valerian, therefore, and make peace with the Romans, a peace which will benefit us as well, because of the tribes of Pontus.’

3 Artavasdes, king of the Armenians,⁵⁵ sent the following letter to Shapur: ‘I have, indeed, a share in your glory, but I fear that you have not so much conquered as sown the seeds of war. 2. For Valerian is being sought back by his son, his grandson, and the generals of Rome, by all Gaul, all Africa, all Spain, all Italy, and by all the nations of Illyricum, the East, and Pontus, which are leagued with the Romans or subject to them. 3. So, then, you have captured one old man but have made all the nations of the world your bitterest foes, and ours too, perhaps, for we have sent you aid; we are your neighbours, and we always suffer when you fight with each other.’

4 The Bactrians, the Hiberians, the Albanians,⁵⁶ and the Tauroscythians refused to receive Shapur’s letters and wrote to the Roman commanders, promising aid for the liberation of Valerian from his captivity.

(Magie, iii, pp. 3–7)

Epitome de Caesaribus 32, 5–6: Valerian, while conducting a war in Mesopotamia, was vanquished by Shapur, the king of the Persians. He was captured shortly afterwards and grew old among the Parthians (sic) in ignoble servitude. For while he lived, the king of that province was wont to alight from his horse by putting his feet on the neck of Valerian, who was bent double.

(Lieu)

Orosius, adversus paganos, VII, 22, 3–4: …For Valerian, as soon as he had seized the power, ordered the Christians to be forced by tortures into idolatry, the eighth emperor after Nero to do so. When they refused, he ordered them to be killed, and the blood of the saints was shed throughout the length and breadth of the Roman Empire. 4. Valerian, the author of the abominable edict, the emperor of the Roman people, being immediately captured by Shapur, the king of the Persians, grew old among the Persians in the most humiliating slavery, for he was condemned to this menial service for as long as he lived, namely always by bending on the ground to raise the king as he was about to mount his horse, not by his hand but by his back.

(Deferrari, p. 316)

Zosimus I, 30, 1: Valerian, perceiving the empire in danger on every side, associated his son Gallienus with himself in the government and himself went to the east to oppose the Persians….

(Anon., revised Lieu)

Zosimus I, 36, 1–2: Valerian had by this time heard of the disturbances in Bithynia, but he dared not to confide the defence of it to any of his generals through distrust. He therefore sent Felix to Byzantium, and went in person from Antioch into Cappadocia, and he returned after he had done some injury to every city through which he passed. But the plague then attacked his troops, and destroyed most of them, at the time when Shapur made an attempt upon the east, and reduced most of it into subjection. 2. In the meantime, Valerian became so weak that he despaired of ever recovering from the present sad state of affairs, and tried to conclude the war by a gift of money. Shapur, however, sent back empty-handed the envoys who were sent to him with that proposal, and demanded that the emperor come and speak with him in person concerning the affairs he wished to negotiate. Valerian most imprudently consented, and, going incautiously to Shapur with a small retinue to discuss the peace terms, was presently seized by the enemy, and so ended his days in the capacity of a slave among the Persians, to the disgrace of the Roman name in all future times.

(Anon., revised Lieu)

Zosimus III, 32, 5: A short time afterwards, when the Persian fire had set all the east in flames, and the great city of Antioch was taken by the Persian army, which advanced as far as Cilicia, the emperor Valerian made an expedition against them, and though he was taken by them, yet still they did not dare to claim the sovereignty of those countries.

(Anon., revised Lieu)

Jordanes, Historia Romana 287 (p. 37, 14–16):=Jerome, Chronicon, s. a. 258. Evagrius, Historia ecclesiastica V, 24 (ed Bidez—Parmentier, pp. 218, 31– 219, 2): And in (the work of) Nikostratus, the sophist of Trapezus (FGrH 98), (the account extends) from Philip, the successor of Gordian, to Odenathus of Palmyra, and the ignominious expedition of Valerian against the Persians.

(Lieu)

Petrus Patricius, frag. 9, FHG IV, p. : Valerian, wary of the Persian attack when his army, particularly the Moors, was afflicted with the plague, amassed an immense amount of gold and sent ambassadors to Shapur, in the hope of bringing an end to the war through lavish gifts. Shapur heard about the plague and was greatly elated by Valerian’s request. He kept the ambassadors waiting, then dismissed them without success in their mission and immediately set out in pursuit.

(Lieu)

Petrus Patricius, frag. 13: see below, 5.4.2.

Agathias IV, 23, 7: Shapur was very wicked and bloodthirsty, quick to anger and cruelty and slow to mercy and forgiveness. Whether he had made use of this terrible punishment against others previously, I cannot be sure. But that he punished Valerian, the Roman emperor, in this way after taking him alive when he had made war on him and been defeated, many accounts testify. Indeed, the first rulers of Persia after the defeat of the Parthians, Artaxares and Shapur, were both wicked and abominable men, if indeed the one killed his own overlord and set up by force a usurper’s rule, while the other initiated such a dreadful punishment and terrible defilement.

(Cameron, 1969/70 p. 121)

Agathias IV, 24, 3: For, after killing their emperor, and thinking that there would now be nothing to stop him, he (Shapur) advanced further, ravaged Mesopotamia and then the land adjoining it, and plundered Cilicia and Syria, and pressing on as far as Cappadocia caused wholesale slaughter. Even the valleys and hollows of the mountain thickets he filled with corpses and levelled the spaces between the hills and flattened their projecting summits; then he rode across them, traversing the mountain ridges as though they were level ground.⁵⁷

(Cameron, 1969/70 p. 121)

Chronicon Paschale, p. 508, 1–2, CSHB: During the consulships of the aforesaid (i.e. Claudius and Paternus), Valerian Augustus was killed by Persians who had risen against him. He was in his sixty-first year.

(Lieu)

Chronicon miscell. ad…724 pertinens, CSCO 3, p. , 7–11 (Syriac): (Valerian) excited persecution against the Christians and was soon taken away as a slave among the Persians. His son (i.e. Gallienus) accorded peace to the Christians. Shapur, king of the Persians, devastated Syria and Cappadocia.

(Lieu)

Syncellus, p. 466, 8–15 (pp. 715, 16–716, 3, CSHB): During their (i.e. Valerian and Gallienus) reign, Shapur, the king of the Persians, laid waste to Syria and captured Antioch and also ravaged Cappadocia. The Roman army was afflicted by famine in Edessa and as a result was in a mutinous mood. Valerian, thoroughly scared and pretending that he was going into another battle, surrendered himself to Shapur, the king of the Persians, and agreed to betray the main body of his forces. When the Romans got wind of this, they escaped with difficulty and some of them were killed. Shapur pursued them and captured the great Antioch, Tarsus in Cilicia and Caesarea in Cappadocia.

(Lieu) Cedrenus, i, p. 454, 3–6, CSHB: Valerian and Gallienus reigned for fifteen years. This Valerian made war against Shapur the Persian and was captured in Caesarea with a force of twenty thousand men. He was flayed by Shapur and died. His son Gallienus established the first cavalry cohorts: for the majority of Roman soldiers till then were infantry.

(Lieu)

Zonaras XII, 23, pp. 593, 10–595, 6 (iii, pp. 140, 5–141, 25, Dindorf): Furthermore, the Persians, when Shapur was their king, overran Syria, ravaged Cappadocia, and besieged Edessa. Valerian hesitated to engage with the enemy. But, learning that the soldiers in Edessa were making vigorous sorties against the barbarians, killing many of them and capturing vast quantities of booty, he gained new courage. He went forth with the forces at his disposal and engaged with the Persians. But they, being many times more numerous, surrounded the Romans; the greater number (of the Romans) fell, but some fled, and Valerian and his retinue were seized by the enemy and led away to Shapur. Now that he was master of the emperor, Shapur thought that he was in control of everything; and, cruel as he was before, he became much worse afterwards.

Such was the manner in which Valerian was taken prisoner by the Persians, as recorded by some authors. But there are those who say that Valerian willingly went to the Persians because during his stay in Edessa his soldiers were beset by hunger. They then became seditious and sought to destroy their emperor. And he, in fear of the soldiers’ insurrection, fled to Shapur so that he might not be killed by his own people. He surrendered (not only) himself to his enemy but, as far as it was in his power, the Roman army. The soldiers were not destroyed but learnt of his betrayal and fled, and (only) a few were lost. Whether the emperor was captured in war by the Persians or whether he willingly entrusted himself to them, he was treated dishonourably by Shapur.

The Persians attacked the cities in complete freedom from fear, and took Antioch on the Orontes and Tarsus, the most notable of the cities in Cilicia, and Caesarea in Cappadocia. As they led away the multitude of prisoners they did not give them more than the minimum amount of food needed to sustain life, nor did they allow them a sufficient supply of water, but once a day their guards drove them to water like cattle. Caesarea had a large population (for four hundred thousand men are said to dwell in it) and they did not capture it, since the inhabitants nobly resisted the enemy and were commanded by a certain brave and intelligent Demosthenes, until a certain doctor was taken prisoner. He was unable to bear the torture inflicted upon him and revealed a certain site from which during the night the Persians made their entrance and destroyed everyone.⁵⁸ But their general Demosthenes, although encircled by many Persians who were under orders to take him alive, mounted his horse and raised aloft an unsheathed sword. He forced his way into the midst of the enemy; and, striking down very many, he escaped successfully from the city.

(Dodgeon)

3.3.2.
The Prophet Mani's participation in the campaigns of Shapur I⁵⁹

Alexander Lycopolitanus, contra Manichaei opiniones disputatio⁶⁰ 2, ed Brinkmann, p. , 19–22: Manichaeus himself is said to have lived during the reign of Valerian and to have accompanied Shapur the Persian king during his military campaigns….

(van der Horst and Mansfield, p. 52)

3.3.3.
Attempt by Kirder the Mobed to introduce Zoroastrianism to conquered Roman territory

KKZ, lines 11–13, cf. Back 1978:419–29 (Middle Persian): And from the first, I, Kirder, underwent much toil and trouble for the yazads and the rulers, and for my own soul’s sake. And I caused many fires and priestly colleges to flourish in Iran, and also in non-Iranian lands. There were fires and priests in the non-Iranian lands which were reached by the armies of the King of kings. The provincial capital of Antioch and the province of Syria, and Cilicia, and the districts dependent on Cilicia; the provincial capital of Caesarea and the province of Cappadocia, and the districts dependent on Cappadocia, up to Pontus, and the province of Armenia, and Georgia and Albania and Balasagan, up to the ‘Gate of the Alans’—these were plundered and burnt and laid waste by Shapur, King of kings, with his armies. There too, at the command of the King of kings, I reduced to order the priests and fires which were in those lands. And I did not allow harm to be done them, or captives made. And whoever had thus been made captive, him indeed I took and sent back to his own land. And I made the Mazda-worshipping religion and its good priests esteemed and honoured in the land.

(Boyce, 1984:113)

3.3.4.
Fulvius Macrianus refused to send help to Valerian

Anonymous Continuator of Dio Cassius, frag. 3, FHG IV, p. : Macrinus (sic) then was Count of the (Sacred) Largesse and (Prefect) of the annona (i.e. in charge of supplies) and because he was disabled in one foot, he took no part in the battle but was expecting the troops at Samosata and received them. Shapur then sent Cledonius, who was the ab admissionibus (i.e. the person who introduced the judges to the emperor) of Valerian, to urge him (i.e. Macrianus) to come to his emperor. However, he declined to go, saying: ‘Is anyone so insane that he would willingly become a slave and prisoner of war instead of being a free man? Furthermore, those who are ordering me to go from here are not my masters since one of them is an enemy and the other who is not master of himself

(i.e. a prisoner) can in no way be our master.’ He also urged Cledonius to remain and not to return. However, he said that he would not betray the trust of one who was his sovereign. On his return he was incarcerated with the prisoners of war.

(Lieu)

3.3.5.
Ballista rallied Roman stragglers and inflicted defeats on Persians in Lykaonia

Syncellus, p. 466, 15–23 (p. 716, 3–11, CSHB): The Persians became dispersed here and there by their greed (for booty). They were on the point of capturing Pompeiopolis on the coast, having laid waste much of Lykaonia, when Callistus (=Ballista) came upon them unawares with ships and a Roman force consisting of men who in their flight had chosen him as their leader. He captured the harem of Shapur with much wealth. Returning with his fleet to Sebaste and Corycus, he wiped out a force of three thousand Persians. Shapur was greatly distressed by this and he withdrew in haste and in fear, and Valerian sojourned among the Persians until the end of his life.

(Lieu)

Zonaras XII, 23, pp. 595, 7–596, 9 (iii, pp. 141, 26–142, 25, Dindorf): While the situation so favoured the Persians, they spread out over all the east subject to Rome and plundered it without fear. The Romans, however, in their flight appointed as their general one Callistus, so it is said. He saw that the Persians were spread out and attacking the lands without a thought for anyone facing up to them. He launched a sudden attack on them and completed a very great slaughter of the barbarians, and he captured Shapur’s concubines together with great wealth. Shapur was greatly pained by this and hastily turned to home, taking Valerian with him. Valerian ended his life in Persia, being reviled and mocked as a prisoner. But Callistus was not the only one then to triumph over the Persians, but also a Palmyrene called Odaenathus made an alliance with the Romans and destroyed many of the Persians. As they retreated, he attacked them along the Euphrates. Gallienus, in return for his generalship, appointed him as dux orientis. Amongst those who fell in the Persian army and were being stripped of their arms there are said to have been found women also, dressed and armed like men, and that such women were also taken alive by the Romans. And during his retreat Shapur came to a deep gorge, through which it was impossible for his baggage animals to pass. He ordered the prisoners to be killed and thrown into the gorge, so that when its depth was filled up with the bodies of the corpses, his baggage animals might make their way across. And in this way he is reported to have crossed the gorge.

(Lieu)

3.4.1.
Shapur bribed the Roman soldiers at Edessa to facilitate his return journey

Petrus Patricius, frag. 11, FHG IV, p. : Shapur, the Persian king, crossed the Euphrates with his army…[the soldiers] greeted each other and rejoiced that they had escaped the danger which had been repelled. He sent word to the soldiers in Edessa, promising to give them all the Syrian money he had with him, so that they would allow him to pass undisturbed and not choose a venture which would lead them to be subject to attack on both sides and bring him trouble and loss of speed. He said that he did not offer them these things out of fear but because he was eager to celebrate the festival in his own home and he did not want there to be any delay or any hold-up on his journey. The soldiers chose to take the money without risk and to permit him to pass.

(J.M.Lieu)

3.4.2.
The settlement of Roman prisoners by Shapur in Persian territory

Chronicle of Se’ert 2, ed. Scher, PO 4, pp.: see Appendix 1, p. .