Shapur II
The tenth Sasanian emperor (309-379) · Historical Figures · Died at 70
Shapur II is read about 429 times a day, in 61 languages.
Counted to 16 September 2026, not since.
The middle day of the days counted, so one week of news cannot move it. The line under it is the last 361 days, one point a day.
Something wrong?Crowned at birth and dead at seventy after a reign longer than any other Sasanian king, Shapur II turned a threatened empire into the dominant power of his age - first by putting down Arab tribes at sixteen, then by grinding Rome to a stalemate and bringing Armenia to heel.
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Photos 10
"The Coronation of the Infant Shapur II", from the Shahnameh of Shah Tahmasp, c. 1525-1530
Nakhal Fort and the Hajar Mountains
Gilded silver plate showing a king (identified as Shapur II) hunting a deer whilst riding a stag, in the British Museum
Map showing Julian's journey from Constantinople to Antioch (in 362) and his Persian expedition (in 363), ending with his death near Samarra
Sasanian relief of the investiture of Ardashir II showing Mithra, Shapur II, and Ahura Mazda above a defeated Julian, lying prostrate
Shapur II coinage of Sindh. Such coins were minted in Sind, Baluchistan and Kutch in India, as well as coins of his successors down to Peroz I, although the Sasanians probably did not rule there directly.
Taq-e Bostan: high-relief of Shapur II and Shapur IIIFamily
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Shapur II became King of Kings of the Sasanian Empire in 309, taking the title the day he was born - his father Hormizd II had just died. At sixteen he launched campaigns against Arab insurrections and crushed them. What followed was the military resurgence that opened the first Sasanian golden age: territorial expansion, a hard religious policy that completed the collection of the Avesta and persecuted Christians in response to Constantine's Christianization of Rome, and a tightening grip on the east and on Armenia. He held the throne until 379, seventy years start to finish, longer than any monarch in Sasanian history. His three immediate successors could not match him. By the time Shapur died at seventy, the empire was stronger than it had ever been.
Historical Figures born in the 300s 6
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