The Two Eyes of the World: A bigger Sassanid Persia

[Collondi]

Hi, welcome to my first alt-history fic. This will be primarily focused on Persia, but for those of you Rome fans there will be plenty of focus on the Roman Empire too. This TL is partially inspired by this thread which I recommend you read. You may notice me in that thread, arguing that Rome would likely reconquer its lost territory. This was based on the logic that as of the fourth century the Roman army outnumbered the Persian army, with Diocletian's reign seeing around 600,000 legions vs ~150,000 in Persia. However, I failed to account for the fact that ITTL Persia's army would grow and Rome's army would shrink, which I think would even the scales. There are other problems to worry about, which I will explore. In that thread you'll find two opposing opinions, one that the conquest would result in the complete collapse of the Roman Empire, and the other that Rome would just recover and reconquer its land. I'll be taking a middle ground. Rome will recover, certainly intact but not nearly as strong as it used to be. For now I'll leave it at that. Also I haven’t quite decided which of these two names I prefer, so I’ll leave it up to a poll. I’ll take other suggestions as well.
Hope you enjoy!
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Chapter 1: the (re)birth of the Persian Empire (part 1)

The entire history of the world can be seen as states and empires struggling for dominance. Sometimes a state will reach a point where it runs out of rivals, where all kingdoms that could have defeated it have been vanquished. Such was the case with the Achaemenid Persian Empire and the Roman Empire, both of which dominated almost all of the known world in their golden age. However, there was a time where both the Persian Empire (albeit a different one) and the Roman Empire existed simultaneously. A time in which the two greatest empires in the world fought for power. This is the story of the two eyes of the world.

The Sassanids arrived at a time in which the glory of the Achaemenids had long faded. The Roman Empire had conquered Egypt, Anatolia, and the Levant, while Mesopotamia and Iran fell to the nomadic Parthians. Four centuries after its establishment, the Parthian Empire was on the decline. While the Parthian kings fought both each other and Roman invaders, many of the local nobles in Persia became independent, such as in Persis, the ancestral homeland of Cyrus and his Persian Empire, and the basis of the future Sassanian Empire.

Little is known about Sasan, the founder of the dynasty. He was likely a foreigner from the east who became the high priest of the city of Istakr, and he and his son Papak eventually created their own small kingdom in Persis. His son(1) Ardashir would soon take over, conquering and expanding the kingdom while the Parthian kingdom was divided among rival claimants. Sixteen years after Ardashir became king, the Parthian king Artabanus IV met him in a pitched battle with a larger force. Ardashir brought his sons with him into battle, and one son, the future Shapur the Great, would prove his skills. His quick cavalry maneuvering and skillful lance tactics helped Ardashir win a massive victory, killing Artabanus in battle. Following the victory Ardashir would crown himself King of Kings of Iran and would declare Shapur his heir. Historians consider this the official beginning of the Sassanid Empire (2).

Ardashir would go on to conquer the lands of the former Parthian Empire, as well as some territory in Bactria. In many ways this empire was a continuation of Parthia. It was a decentralized system in which Ardashir ruled only with the consent of his subject kings. He could only tax his subjects and couldn’t directly govern land he didn’t directly own (3). However, he would begin the process of centralization by taking control of specific economically important cities, which Shapur would greatly expand. This balance between the King of Kings and his subjects would become the defining conflict of Sassanid history.

Sassanid propaganda portrayed the state as the successor to the Achaemenid Empire. The only problem was that much of the former Achaemenid territory was now ruled by the Roman Empire. Luckily for the Persians, they arrived right as the Roman Empire began to enter what would come to be known as the Millenium Crisis (4), called so because it arrived almost exactly a millennium after the founding of Rome. The Roman state would find itself consumed in a perfect storm of events that would lead to military, economic, and political anarchy for decades, creating a perfect opportunity for conquest. The Romans would attempt to invade Persia twice but failed both times. Shapur was crowned in 15 S.E. (240 C.E.). He claimed to have killed the emperor Gordian in battle (though how true this is cannot be known) and soon secured control over Armenia, without much resistance from Rome. The Armenian prince Tiridates fled and was granted asylum in the empire’s capital, an act which constituted war.

Luckily the perfect opportunity would fall into Shapur’s lap. In 27 S.E. (252 C.E), one Cyriades/Mariades, an aristocrat in Antioch, seems to have stolen or embezzled money and was banished from the city as a result. Mariades would flee to Persia, where he asked Shapur to help him retake Antioch and declare himself emperor, in exchange for providing valuable insider information. Shapur began his invasion in the spring of the following year, likely having spent years mobilizing. Shapur took an unusual route for his invasion. The Romans likely expected an attack on the nearby cities of Carrhae and Edessa (5), especially since the very first city captured in the campaign was Nisibis (6), located on the road to the cities. Instead, he marched upstream along the Euphrates, going around whatever defenses they must have built there and directly into the heart of Syria. The Romans thought he just wanted a few cities on the border, but he wanted the entire east. Along the way he did not wait for sieges of enemy cities to finish before marching forward, suggesting he either had a numerical advantage or liked to take risks.

The Romans would fight each other over the question of who would lead their army. The commander of a force from multiple provinces would normally be the emperor or at least appointed by the emperor, but the emperor was distracted by a civil war. In addition, whoever beat Shapur had a shot at declaring themselves emperor and taking the throne. At this critical moment in which the Romans should have been mobilizing for war, they bickered and even fought battles over who should lead. Eventually governor of Syria Coele Pomponius Laetianus won out, but in doing so he lost his men’s respect.

He was forced to meet Shapur in battle at Barbalissus, a small town on the north coast of the Euphrates, commanding a force of 60,000. It was ideal terrain for Shapur, a flat plain with no defenses, but had Laetianus let Shapur advance any further, he would have entered Syria itself, and the already unpopular commander would have lost all support. Such a large force needed a skilled commander to keep control of. Laetianus had gotten command by dubious means, making him somewhat unpopular, and had rushed his men to reach Barbalissus in time. What didn’t help is that this may have been his first time commanding an army. What also didn’t help was that Shapur was a master of fear tactics. His archers fired volleys into the army, his heavy-armored cavalry used hit-and-run tactics, and he brought with him war elephants atop which sat archers, which would have been a horrifying sight for a soldier who had never seen one before. All this seems to have caused Laetianus to lose command and control of his own force. His charges failed, and his men began retreating without being given orders to. With no defenses to flee to, the pursuing Sassanid cavalry massacred the Romans almost totally. Laetianus himself died in battle. (7)

With half the eastern army obliterated, almost nothing stood between Shapur and Syria. Though the war was far from over, the possibility of a Persian conquest was all too real (8).

1. The family tree at this point is disputed, as are many of the details here. I’ve simplified things for the sake of brevity, there’s plenty of resources online for more information on this.
2. I’m going to be using Sassanid Era for dates, meaning Ardashir’s crowning is year 1. I’ll also provide the OTL years. The crowning happened in 226 A.D. so just add 225 to the S.E. year to get the Gregorian calendar conversion. Sassanid Era seems to have existed OTL but wasn’t widely used, instead Iranians preferred to use regnal years, or the number of years since the most recent king has been in power (Zoroastrians still do this technically). Syrians aren’t used to regnal years, so ITTL after getting conquered they adopt Sassanid Era as a replacement for Seleucid Era. Sorry for the spoilers.
3. It’s somewhat analogous to medieval European feudalism.
4. Crisis of the Third Century. Honestly Millennium Crisis sounds cooler and I hope it catches on, but I'm not much of a trendsetter.
5. Around modern Harran, Turkey
6. Modern Nusaybin, Turkey
7. ITTL, because this war is so significant, chronicles record it better. OTL, we know almost nothing about the battle of Barbalissus, besides the fact that it happened and probably was a decisive victory for Shapur. Everything else, including who commanded the Roman army, is made up. Also, if Laetianus seems overly incompetent, obviously the sources might embellish, but also, I tried to create a character whose motivations made sense while also explaining OTL mysteries like why it took so long for the army to respond, and why the battle was such a massive defeat.
8. This is technically the POD. While not much will change between 253 and 260, Shapur’s goal is to conquer the east. I’ll explain it in more detail later.
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Feel free to give any feedback, suggestions, or comments!

 

[Collondi]

Chapter 2: The (re)birth of the Persian Empire (part 2)

Map of the Persian invasion in the early 250's. Black is the army led by Shapur, green is the army led by Pabag, blue is the army led by Peroz, and red is the army led by Hormizd.

Immediately following the battle of Barbalissus there was very little actual opposition to Shapur. He first secured the cities he had bypassed on the Euphrates, then invaded Syria. There he split his army into multiple detachments to take cities as rapidly as possible. The main force was led by Shapur himself, into Syria Coele, specifically towards Antioch. Geographically, the Lake Antioch Basin directly east of the city was surrounded on all sides by mountains with few passes, making it easily defendable even for a highly outnumbered force. There were only two roads into the Basin that Shapur could reach, through Immae from the east and Armenaz from the south. He spent several days attacking both passes both day and night, eventually exhausting the garrison while the Persians armies alternated between attacks.

He arrived at Antioch itself, one of the largest cities in the Roman Empire. It was wedged between a mountain and a river and had powerful walls that were finally being put to the test. Getting bogged down in a siege here would have allowed the Roman army time to recover. However, Shapur didn’t need a long siege to capture the city. While accounts that Antioch was caught by surprise during a performance may be exaggerated, they might not have been sufficiently prepared. The King of Kings first took the nearby coastal cities and blockaded the Orontes River, cutting off all food sources. For weeks he shot arrows from the mountaintops into the city. Here, the “traitor” Mariades becomes relevant. It seems that Mariades’s exile had been indicative of a wider trend of factionalization and political instability in Antioch, and probably everywhere else as well. It seems Mariades still had numerous connections within the city’s elite and was able to arrange for the ruling city council to be overthrown. The new council, now loyal to Mariades, surrendered.

As a reward for his efforts, he was given control of Antioch as promised and recognized as emperor. Shapur’s strategy of rushing past Mesopotamia into Syria was risky, and he may not have been expecting to truly conquer the region yet. This is evidenced partly in how he ran his conquests. He sacked cities which did not surrender to him and looted those which did, which changed once victory became almost assured. This way even if his campaign failed, he would still profit.

Apart from Shapur, one army was led by Pabag, Shapur’s hazarbed. At this point the title meant leader of the royal guard, but Pabag also seems to have taken on a role as military commander. At Hierapolis, he split off and continued north on the Euphrates, before turning back near Anatolia and circling back to capture Germanicea and Cyrrhus. Another cavalry contingent was led by the argbed or head of the stables Peroz. After helping take Lake Antioch, he marched south along the Roman Road, conquering and looting until he reached Emesa. There, a local priest named Sampsigeramos organized a militia and actually succeeded in repelling the Persians. Though it may have had to do with Peroz not wanting to go too far from the main force, it was nonetheless an impressive victory. Afterwards he declared himself emperor and assumed the new name Uranius Antoninus. Further north, Hormizd, Shapur’s son and the king of Armenia launched his own campaign at this time. He invaded Cappadocia and took cities, primarily Satala. Though he would later lose the city, he demonstrated his promise and skills to his father.

Persian sources naturally downplay and ignore Roman victories, but here archaeology helps us. Sometime between 30 and 32 (255-257), one Roman army, probably led by Emperor Valerian, exploited the weakness that the entire Sassanian supply line moved along the Euphrates River and managed to reconquer much of the middle Euphrates region. Shapur’s campaign must have been jeopardized by this, and he was forced to retreat.

Archaeology has uncovered the siege of Dura-Europos and showed us how brutal and advanced siege warfare was in this period. Dura-Europos was naturally defended on three sides by cliffs, meaning only the western side needed walls. These western walls were fifty feet tall, with two layers. Recently the space between them was filled with sand, engulfing several local churches. In 28 S.E (253), the Palmyrenes had successfully defended it, and in 32 (257) it was being used as the basis for the reconquest of the middle Euphrates, so Shapur laid siege. It’s possible the entire campaign relied on capturing the city as quickly as possible, but the city walls held firm and its inhabitants refused to negotiate. The Persians began tunneling underneath, intending to collapse the ground underneath the walls. In many of these tunnels the Romans dug countermines and fought the Sassanids underground. In one case, a Roman occupied mine was filled with toxic gas created by mixing Sulfur and pitch, killing everyone inside. After several attempts to undermine and ramp over the walls, the city finally fell and was thoroughly looted.

After successfully defending his territory, Shapur went on the offensive again. In 33 S.E (258), He marched north of the Euphrates to Carrhae and Edessa where he defeated Valerian. Part of the Roman force had to hide behind Edessa’s walls, where Shapur laid siege. Valerian, meanwhile, came back with a force of 70,000 men, but was hesitant to go against Shapur, both because of his fierce reputation, and because his own men were stricken with plague, especially his Moorish cavalry. The details of what happened next are vague, but it seems Shapur hid much of his army and allowed the Edessan force to beat his besieging army back. Valerian, now confident, marched against Shapur, who feigned retreat. Just as the Romans entered the plains between Edessa and Carrhae (the very same plains where Crassus was defeated three centuries earlier), they were ambushed and kept in place until the rest of Shapur’s army showed up. Just like that, the King of Kings had arranged a pitched battle on the best possible terrain.

The battle was extremely one-sided. The Sassanid skirmishers, archers, and cavalry slowly exhausted the ill-prepared army. Shapur’s used his cavalry advantage to great effect, overwhelming the Roman cavalry. They slowly enveloped the Romans, slaughtering them in massive numbers. Valerian and many of his men likely managed to escape but had to hide in the walls of Edessa. There they were trapped in a siege, but there simply wasn’t enough food to feed the locals and the soldiers. Valerian was forced to negotiate. Shapur demanded that he negotiate in person, but during the negotiations he was taken captive. For the very first time, a Roman emperor was taken as a hostage.

Valerian’s successor Gallienus was never able to pay the ransom. While Roman sources report Valerian being tortured and used as a footstool, it’s more likely he was allowed to live the rest of his life peacefully in Persia. The once mighty emperor was put in charge of local bridge construction. As for the rest of the 70,000 men, those who weren’t killed were taken captive. Many of them also defected to Shapur and joined his army.

The dual total military victories at Barbalissus and Edessa had resulted in the complete death, capture, or defection of around 130,000 men. With the Romans so devastatingly defeated, it would be hard to continue fighting at all. But even now, the Romans were not yet done fighting.
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Feel free to give any feedback, suggestions, or comments!

 

[Collondi]

Chapter 2.5: The POD

So, I feel the point of divergence for this timeline needs a bit more explaining, so I’ve devoted a part specifically focused on it. For this section I will break kayfabe and just talk objectively about both OTL and TTL.

As I mentioned, the POD is that Shapur decides to conquer the Roman East rather than just loot and depopulate it like OTL, which you may have guessed from the title. The military events I’ve described so far are mostly as OTL with only a few changes, made up details, and embellishments (because again the sources ITTL are less vague and more descriptive). Hopefully it should be clear by now that this conquest was entirely possible.

So why didn’t he OTL? It’s a common misconception that the only thing which stopped Shapur OTL was being beaten by Odaenathus. While he is a good general, he couldn’t do much more than harass Shapur’s troops and even that is probably exaggerated by sources. I came across the answer to this question on the paradox forum of all places, where user Semper Victor has compiled a history of Sassanid Persia from its founding to the 4th century, which has proved extremely helpful so far. Obviously, I use other sources too and I disagree with it in a few parts, but I recommend reading it to get an idea of the OTL history. Check it out. Anyway, I’ll quote them on this matter.

“As for Šābuhr I’s retreat and the lack of territorial conquests, probably the main cause was a structural one: the very nature of the Iranian state and its army. As I wrote in previous posts, the Sasanian army was a very different entity from Rome’s professional army. It was basically the assembly of the Iranian nobility under the leadership of their šāhānšāh, with the addition of the armed followers of each of the nobles and the king (who was probably seen as a primus inter pares by the wuzurgān) and the allied and vassal peoples. This military organization reflected closely the social and political fabric of the Iranian empire, and in this respect little had changed since Arsacid times, despite the continuous efforts by Ardaxšir I and Šābuhr I to strengthen the crown.

This meant that in order to mount an offensive of the magnitude of the one launched in the campaign season of 253 CE, Šābuhr I would’ve needed to bargain with the Iranian nobility and gain them to his cause. The real reason for the aggressiveness and effectivity of the Sasanian empire during the reigns of its two first kings is that they were exceptionally able individuals who possessed the charisma as well as the military and political skills needed to gather the unruly Iranian nobility around their leadership. In this sense, Šābuhr I’s campaign of 253 CE was the first full scale Iranian invasion of the Roman Middle East since the early reign of Marcus Aurelius, almost a century ago, and that invasion although it had been very successful at the start, had ended in defeat.

One thing was to gather the forces of the nobility and the subject kings for a defensive campaign (like against Severus Alexander and Gordian III), and another things was to launch an invasion that probably was seen by them as an outright aggression only for the king’s benefit , despite the fact that Šābuhr I had good reasons to launch it and that he was probably justified in describing it as a preemptive strike. But probably he had to work hard at selling that to the Iranian nobility, and despite all, the nobles probably set clear limits to their involvement: a short campaign, no lengthy sieges or actions that could cause heavy losses amongst their ranks, and no annexations (they would’ve had no intention to act as occupation forces for territories that probably would have become a royal domain, and anyway they couldn’t remain absent from their estates in Iran for long periods of time). If the king wanted annexations, he would’ve needed to garrison them himself with his own royal forces, and probably that was too much to ask from the relatively small amount of troops under Šābuhr I’s direct control.

But apart from these issues, there’s yet another factor that could’ve played a part at least as important in the decision to retreat. There’s not a proper surviving Iranian written literary tradition until the VI century CE, but Iran enjoyed a very lively tradition of oral history through the work of the gosān, the traveling minstrels that composed many epic verse works that became a permanent fixture of Iranian culture. After the Islamic conquest of Iran, in the X-XII centuries this rich tradition was put in writing in New Persian by several authors, especially Ferdowsī, but also in lesser known works belonging to the Sistani cycle or epics, like the Garšaspnāma. These epic poems present an idealized version of the Iranian past, but based in real history. And they all show a shocking lack of concern and interest for events in the West. Alexander the Great is a relatively minor character in the Šāhnāma, and Ferdowsī devotes very little space to the Sasanian wars against Rome (as a matter of fact, to Ferdowsī, Alexander, the Seleucids and the Romans were all Rumi, inhabitants of Rum without further distinction). Even when dealing with the campaigns of Šābuhr I, Firdawsī conflates them with the campaigns of Šābuhr II against Constantius II and Julian, making an utter mess of it all. It’s true though that the traditions compiled in these works are mainly based in the traditions of eastern Iran (Sistan and Khorasan), but their utter lack of interest about the West is obvious. On the contrary, these traditions devote endless pages to the fights between Iran and Turan (the mythological term to describe the nomadic peoples of Central Asia) and show a constant fascination with India as a land of untold riches, mystery and learning (all Iranian heroes undertake in their youth a travel to India as a rite of passage before returning to Iran).”

So how do we create a timeline that reconciles these issues? It’s not hard to see why Shapur himself would want this. Semper Victor goes on to speculate that while Iran as a whole may not care much about the East, Persis, the ancient homeland of the Achaemenid empire and also Shapur’s homeland, did care about what they considered to be getting revenge for Alexander’s conquests. It’s easy to see why he might want to be seen as a new Cyrus and undo Alexander’s legacy, not to mention the economic and political benefits. But how would he get the other kings and nobles on board?

Well, I think it would take a little reframing, and that is where our friend Mariades comes in once again. Shapur could portray the war not as a territorial conquest, but as propping up a friendly regime in the west, which also pays tribute (a tribute that looks suspiciously like taxes if you squint hard enough). By making Mariades the Roman emperor (or at least the emperor of Syria), they can prevent future invasions and ensure peaceful relations. Given that the destructive invasion of emperor Caracalla was still fresh in everyone’s mind, I assume they wouldn’t be opposed to that. Even if in reality Mariades isn’t much different from the other Kings and Emperors Shapur controls, he’s still autonomous enough that Shapur wouldn’t be making himself too powerful for the other kings’ tastes. Also, the more victorious Shapur is, the more credible he becomes in the eyes of the nobles, which could allow him to claim some territory for himself. It'd still be hard to sell, but doable IMO.

Cities in Syria could be garrisoned with a mix of Persian forces temporarily and native Syrians, especially soldiers that defected to Shapur. It might sound illogical to use Roman soldiers to defend Roman provinces, but based on the very limited evidence we have, we can assume there was a distinctly pro-Persian faction in the East at that point. Roman controlled cities like Dura-Europos have had pro-Persian battle murals (1), and as we’ve seen even cities as far as Antioch have Persian support.

Now you should at this point be familiar with the fact that the Sassanid state is somewhat feudal, and its cohesion relies on cooperation between the King of Kings and his subjects, which could break down under a weaker ruler, and it doesn’t even have a standing army. How then, can it defend its territory? And isn’t it dangerous to leave Syria so politically autonomous? I guess you’ll have to stay tuned to find out.

1. It is worth noting that in the mural I’m referring to here, it’s not certain whether the victors being depicted are Sassanids or whether the losers being depicted are Romans.
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Feel free to give any feedback, suggestions, or comments!

 

[Collondi]

Chapter 3: the (re)birth of the Persian Empire (part 3)

For reference, a map of cities in the Roman near east, without any of my MSpaint scribbles on them. Credit to Constantine Plakidas on Wikipedia for the map. It's technically inaccurate because it's from later on and has Dioceses, but it's close enough. Sorry about the quality, it wouldn’t let me upload the picture unless I compressed the hell out of it

Emesa, 28 S.E. (253)

As the sun set, Shapur took a walk outside to clear his head and plan. He wasn’t wearing armor, but surely he must be too far from the city and out of range of arrows. This wasn’t Shapur the king of kings, it was his son, Shapur Mesanshah (meaning king of Mesene). In many ways, he was very similar to his father, and he dreamed of the day he could be crowned Shapur II and surpass the legacy of his father. He was only the second son, but just like his grandfather Ardashir, Shapur intended to choose the most militarily capable of his sons as his heir. This war was Shapur’s chance to prove himself to his father.

He was at Emesa, one of the wealthiest cities in Syria, where men worshipped the sun. Some priest was heading the city’s resistance, and now he had to endure another siege. He didn’t understand why these Romans resisted so much. Sieges were so dull, men just sat around for days. The summer heat had been particularly brutal this year and had claimed many lives. He looked at the setting sun, wondering how the Emesenes could worship something so cruel.

Shapur fantasized about the thrill of battle, the action, the excitement, the risk. But his father didn’t trust him enough for all that yet. Maybe one day, when he became king. For now, he looked forward to when he could massacre the inhabitants of Emesa.

But he reminded himself of why he had gone on this walk. He needed to make plans. He wasn’t as confident as he had once been that he would be the heir. His hotheaded younger brother Hormizd had launched his own invasion into Cappadocia. His father loved it, and now he was praising that brat instead of Shapur. But Shapur was determined to march all the way to Egypt to win back his father. If that didn’t work, he would just have to have Hormizd be taken care of. He was already planning, thinking about how he would deal with him. When he enters the messy world of Persian politics, he needs to have figured out who to trust and who to kill.

But those thoughts were cut short by a 60 mph stone flying directly at his head.

About 300 meters away, on top of the walls of Emesa, a drunk soldier named Julius “Eagle-eye” Felix had just won a 2,000 denarius bet that he could hit the random Persian soldier he saw in the distance with his sling (1).

The following morning, when everyone realized what had happened, the soldiers in Emesa came out and attacked the Sassanids. One of the weaknesses of the Sassanid army was that they tended to rely too hard on their commander, and despite the fact the Sassanid army outnumbered the Emesenes, they immediately retreated once they learned their commander had died. After his victory, the priest declared himself emperor Uranius Antoninus, becoming popular not just because of his victory but because he was a descendant of the Emesene kings of old, as well as a distant cousin of former emperor Severus Alexander.

When news of the dead Shapur reached the alive Shapur, he was furious over the death of his most capable son. In fact, against the advice of his advisors he is said to have sworn to burn Emesa to the ground. Uranius knew just how dire his situation was. He did not have the resources to defeat the Persian army, so he offered to negotiate.

Fortunately, Shapur calmed down and realized that, with Valerian launching a counter invasion to his north, it wasn’t wise to get bogged down in a siege when they were offering surrender. So he negotiated, agreeing to recognize Uranius’s legitimacy and spare the city, if Uranius recognized Shapur as his king. But this mercy came at a high cost. The soldiers who killed Shapur Mesanshah would be executed, and the Sassanids demanded heavy payments of gold and important artifacts. The most important of these was the black stone of Emesa, a highly sacred stone, possibly meteorite, that was worshipped as a symbol of their sun god Elagabal. As revenge for the Emesenes taking away the son he loved most, he would take away the sun they loved most (2). But despite losing such an important religious artifact, the negotiation with Shapur was generally celebrated as both sides having made peace while avoiding bloodshed.

Edessa, 33 (258)

After Valerian’s capture, he had left behind an army of 50,000 which was now under the effective control of one Macrianus the elder, who had overseen managing supply lines and finances and was one of the few high-ranking officials who had avoided capture. He was forced to retreat into Anatolia. Since someone now needed to call the shots, he became the de facto emperor, though he couldn’t claim the title officially because he had a deformity in one of his legs.

After his crushing victory, Shapur wasted no time. He left an army to continue the sieges of Edessa and Carrhae and rushed off. From Edessa he took the fastest route possible to the Cilician gates, a pass in southern Anatolia which, once under Shapur’s control, would block Roman armies from entering Syria.

They marched with remarkable speed even for the Persians. The Romans were given false intel that Shapur was heading south and that he was suing for peace, so they were unprepared to deal with him. Cilicia was also an interior province, meaning it had a relatively small army stationed there that was only meant to keep the peace. Cities like Mopuseta surrendered immediately, and the siege of Adana reportedly lasted a week. The man chosen to lead them was Callistus, nicknamed Ballista, who was a member of Valerian’s praetorian guard. Realizing his men weren’t prepared to defend Tarsus, he was forced to retreat to the narrower mountain pass near Seleucia and let the city be besieged without a fight.

Callistus defended the pass fiercely, but like he did at the Antioch basin, Shapur used his superior numbers to wear down the Romans. He had his archers alternate between sleeping and firing volleys of arrows at the Romans at night, so the Roman army never got to sleep. Callistus eventually had to escape by ship, and Shapur promptly laid siege to every city from Tarsus to Selinus, almost 175 miles of coastline. Selinus’s capture was especially symbolically important, as it was where Trajan had died. But spreading his troops so thin and not yet having a functioning navy gave Callistus an opportunity. He landed his men near Pompeiopolis and took the army besieging the city by surprise, killing several thousand. By the time Persian reinforcements arrived his men were back in the sea. It didn’t change much, and it certainly didn’t stop Shapur from taking the entire coastline, but it did help morale.

During this time Macrianus was busy with his own campaign. In the year 29 (254), Hormizd, Shapur’s third son, king of Armenia, and an ambitious prince looking to prove himself, captured Satala. Orontes, an Armenian bureaucrat, was put in charge of the city. Later in 31 (256) Valerian took back the city and forced Orontes to flee, but since the emperor was far too preoccupied to pay attention to a single city, several of his key supporters remained in control of the city. After Edessa, Orontes snuck back in via oxcart, messaged Hormizd, and took back control of Satala when the Armenian army arrived. Macrianus was busy dealing with Hormizd when he received news that Shapur was invading, but he had no reinforcements to spare.

By spring of 34 S.E. (259), the Persians had conquered all they intended to hold. Campaigning in Cappadocia continued, but it was now about weakening the Romans by burning down Anatolia, looting it, and most importantly, taking its population as captives. Shapur left Hormizd in charge of the Cappadocian campaign.

Caesarea Mazaca, the largest city in Cappadocia, was the first target. Its inhabitants held out for several grueling months under the leadership of Demosthenes, an influential Cappadocian patrician, known for his oration skills. Eventually the Sassanids kidnapped a doctor and tortured him into revealing a passage into the city, and the besiegers snuck in at night. Demosthenes managed to escape the city; the rest didn’t. The residents of Caesarea were thoroughly slaughtered. The city was known its large Jewish population, many of whom helped resist the Sassanids. Both Shapur and Hormizd were religiously tolerant and were generally seen in a positive light in Jewish scripture, but Jewish or not, the Persians always made an example of those who didn’t surrender to them. And so, among those massacred in Caesarea were reportedly 12,000 Jews (3).

Macrianus and Callistus didn’t have nearly enough men to pose a serious threat to Shapur. All they could do was try to harass the Persians and fight a guerilla war until Gallienus could bring reinforcements. Reinforcement, however, proved difficult to provide. After Edessa Gallienus had to defeat the usurper Ingenuus, and after that he had to defeat the usurper Regalianus. After that, he embarked with his men to Anatolia, only to receive word that he had left the Rhine frontier undermanned and an Alemannic army of 30,000 had broken through and invaded Italy itself. They were barely repelled by a militia from the defenseless city of Rome and were now laying siege of Mediolanum. It was too serious of a threat for the emperor to ignore. He beat the army back at the battle of Mediolanum, but by this point it was well into the summer of 34 S.E (259). By the time he got to Anatolia campaign season would be over and he would have had to wait until spring of 35 to attack, almost two years after the battle of Edessa, and that was assuming nothing else went wrong.

What made things worse was that the Persians had invited barbarians to raid into Anatolia. The Goths and Borani had already been raiding the northern coast and sacked Trapezus and Chalcedon, but the war left the Roman army distracted and allowed them to pillage and loot Anatolia to an extent far greater than they ever had before. The Roman army was already stretched thin and could only watch as they plundered cities in the northwest virtually unopposed.

Map of the Persian invasion of Anatolia. In black is Shapur's army as he invades Cilicia. In green is the same army, this time not under Shapur's command, and this time looting and plundering rather than conquering. In red is the Armenian army, led by Hormizd. In blue are the various black sea tribes looking to also get in on the action.

There is a lot of historical debate over how successful the Anatolian campaign really was. Cilicia and Eastern Cappadocia were conquered, but most of Cappadocia wasn’t. But did they intend to conquer it in the first place? Given how heavily they plundered the area, they probably didn’t, and Persian nobles who had grown tired of the war would have likely opposed it. Roman sources written decades afterwards tend to report that Macrianus successfully defended his territory and fought the Persians bravely. This could be dismissed as Roman propaganda, if it wasn’t for the fact that eastern sources are strangely silent about Anatolia. They normally describe Shapur’s campaigns in detail but tend to skip over Anatolia. It’s possible Hormizd did suffer significant losses, not from any one battle except Pompeiopolis, but through raids and guerilla warfare. In fact, the mountainous terrain of Cappadocia would have made it easy to harass and demoralize the Persians. But it can’t have been that bad, as Hormizd was given the title of “the brave” for his campaign, as well as made the heir to the throne. Regardless of the costs, they had accomplished their goals.

Meanwhile, Shapur began the process of conquering the south, which mostly just involved cleaning up. Uranius had already negotiated for much of Palestinia to surrender peacefully, and they didn’t really have the resources to defend themselves. The province of Arabia was mostly ignored besides its coast, as Shapur wanted to skip directly to Egypt.

In Egypt, the population was divided. Many were against this foreign invasion, but plague, political unrest, and economic downturn had hit Egypt hard even compared to the rest of the Roman Empire, and many hoped the Persians could help restore order.

The governor was Lucius Mussius Aemilianus, and he had received an army reportedly 60,000 men strong, though that number was probably inflated and may have been closer to 40,000. Even though he knew this wouldn’t be enough, he could neither afford nor get access to more men. Dealing with local riots alone cost him quite a lot, and it left his men quite demoralized. Aemilianus had to rely heavily on Roman shipments of money, supplies, and reinforcements from Italy, where Gallienus was hoping to keep Egypt from falling under Sassanid control until the end of the year, when he could launch his counterattack. To ensure Aemilian’s loyalty, Gallienus appointed a co-commander named Theodotus to watch over him. One of the leading men opposed to Aemilianus was a garrison commander named Timagenes, who secretly wrote to Shapur, but Shapur ordered him not to betray Aemilian yet.

Though Shapur had numerical superiority, he lacked a navy, which meant Egyptian sieges were slow. The inhabitants couldn’t be blockaded and starved, either they had to negotiate or overwhelm the walls. Like Callistus had done at Pompeiopolis, Aemilianus could transport his army freely by sea and catch the Persians by surprise, which allowed him to defeat the Persians at Tanis. Still, he captured cities at a slow pace.

To solve his naval problem, Shapur turned to the island of Cyprus. During Shapur’s invasion, much of the fleet in Syria escaped to Cyprus, which became their new naval base. Aemilianus had taken much of the local garrison to reinforce his men. This gave the locals an opportunity to rebel, with Shapur’s support. He helped a local named Androcles, who would later become the infamous “tyrant of the seas,” gain power. In exchange for a large sum of money, Androcles took over the Roman ships stationed there, as well as various merchant ships in the Aegean. Though this wasn’t enough to defeat Rome navally, Androcles was able to launch raids and capture supplies being shipped to Egypt. Shapur had also started spreading rumors about having constructed his own grand fleet. In reality, he had made a few ships, and was using sailors from the Caspian Sea and Persis to launch occasional raids, but they weren’t experienced enough in naval combat. Still, this worried Aemilianus, who believed time wasn’t on his side.

At the suggestion of Timagenes, he decided to meet Shapur in battle at Heliopolis (Modern Cairo), near Babylon fortress. He knew he would be outnumbered, as he was attacking an army of 30,000 with an army of 25,000. To maximize his odds, he would catch the Sassanids by surprise at night, which would also make their archers, a significant portion of their army, useless. 15,000 men would attack directly, while 10,000 men, led by Timagenes, who hid in the hills to the east, would go behind and cut of the Sassanids’ escape. Shapur, however, found out about the ambush and planned accordingly. He would enter a feigned retreat, while Timagenes would betray Aemilian and stay put. Then, the Persians would turn around and catch the Romans by surprise.

Aemilian, however, suspected someone was leaking his plans. A week before the ambush was scheduled, he let his men know they would launch the ambush that very night. Possibly suspecting Timagenes, or also to throw Shapur off, he had Timagenes garrison Babylon Fortress, while his second in command Theodotus controlled the smaller force.

The plan worked, and on the night of the attack Shapur truly was caught off-guard. He also hadn’t fully prepared, believing he had plenty of time left. As a result, his retreat was more disoriented than he had expected, with Aemilian hot on his tail. Meanwhile, Theodotus’s men were rapidly approaching from the other direction. Shapur knew he needed to act fast, because if he was attacked from both sides the battle would quickly be over.

He ordered his men to stop retreating, stand firm, and had his entire lance cavalry charge directly into Aemilian’s center. Instead of fighting a war on two sides he knew he couldn’t win, he would focus almost all his strength into Aemilian’s army, while leaving his rear vulnerable.

What little rearguard Shapur had was quickly overwhelmed by Theodotus, so quickly that he suspected a trap. He believed that there were more cavalry hiding in the night waiting to ambush him if he advanced. As a result, his attack was slow and cautious, far too cautious to take full advantage of the remarkable opportunity that could have, with the benefit of hindsight, won the battle right then and there.

Meanwhile, Aemilian’s army suddenly found itself facing the full brunt of Shapur’s attack. For unknown reasons, whether it was confusion over the nighttime obscuring communication, uncertainty about the status of Theodotus’s force, fear over the infamous Persian cavalry, or simply Aemilian’s already demoralized force giving up, the army began retreating within the hour.

With them dealt with, Shapur could turn his cavalry around and attack Theodotus in full force. Once Theodotus was dealt with, he turned around again to finish Aemilian off. Aemilian attempted to hide his men in Babylon fortress, only to find that the traitorous Timagenes had locked them out, leaving the Romans to their fate. In the end, exposing his flank has cost Shapur thousands of men, but his victory cost the Romans two thirds of their men (4).

The next morning, a defeated Aemilian committed suicide while Theodotus fled with the rest of his men to Africa. With Egypt now defenseless, emperor Gallienus was forced to sue for peace. In addition to recognizing Sassanid control of Egypt, Syria, Palestinia, Arabia, Cilicia, and a slice of Cappadocia, he was forced to pay a sum of 20,000 pounds of gold upfront with an extra 3,500 annually (5). Peace between Rome and Persia would be guaranteed for at least 20 years.

The war had lasted for seven years. It was certainly costly for the Sassanids, and though estimating losses on their end is more difficult, scholars have suggested between 40,000-50,000 out of a force numbering an upwards of 150,000. For the Romans, if Shapur’s army size reports are to be believed-and none of the claims he makes seem to be outrageously exaggerated-the total amount of Roman soldiers who were killed, captured, deserted, or defected to Shapur would be over 165,000. This was almost a third of the entire Roman army, combined with a loss of almost a third of its land. Such a devastating defeat would be enough to destroy any empire even without the numerous other issues plaguing the empire, and yet it would persist, its inhabitants hoping they can one day strike back at the Persians even harder.
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A lot of work, computer issues, and writing issues conspired against me releasing this earlier. I’ll try to release future updates sooner, but no promises. In the next few updates there won’t be nearly as much war stuff, except for some campaigns in India and the Caucasus but they won’t be this intense, most of it will focus on consolidation and the way the new Sassanid state develops.

As always, any thoughts, questions, comments, feedback, or anything else are appreciated!

1. We’re rewinding the timeline a little bit to before the battle of Edessa to talk about Emesa and Uranius Antoninus, since I kind of glossed over them last time. Now, you may be wondering; did this really happen IOTL? Well, while multiple sources attest that Uranius won a military victory at Emesa, only one gives any detail about how that was achieved, which is the byzantine chronicler, John Malalas. He claims that king Shapur met up with Uranius to discuss terms but was killed by a slingshot. Most historians dismiss this outright, since obviously this couldn’t have happened. However, a commander being sniped is one of the few plausible explanations for how a far outnumbered force could defeat a professional army. IOTL, extremely little is known about prince Shapur Mesanshah, only that he likely died sometime around the 250’s or 260’s. Malalas could have gotten the prince confused with his more famous father. That means its plausible the events I’m describing did happen, though this specific scenario might not be the most likely, I just wanted to have some fun.

2. Sorry about the pun, I couldn’t resist. Anyway, Uranius didn’t repel the Persians like I claimed in the last update, at least not totally, he had to submit to Shapur. I’m still getting the hang of things so there may be a few retcons here and there. What this means is that there actually is OTL precedent for the entire premise of this TL, and although we know almost nothing about Uranius, we can learn some things, like the fact that despite being subordinate to a Persian king, he was still a popular emperor.

3. Shapur’s relationship with the Jews is a subject to be explored in future updates, and this massacre will certainly not be forgotten

4. I feel like my explanation of battles in the last update was very lackluster and was hoping to improve that in this update. I’d like some feedback on my battle descriptions. Was it captivating? Was it too hard to follow along with what is happening where?

5. For comparison, the largest sum of money promised to Atilla the Hun OTL was 6,000 pounds of gold upfront and 2,100 annually

 

[Collondi]

A map of the Sasanian Empire around 40 S.E. (265 C.E.). In green is land directly controlled by the Sasanian monarchy, while other colors are used for vassals, tributaries, and dependencies. In the next update I'll go more in depth about how the kingdom works and look at each of these regions

 

[Collondi]

Before we begin, I wanted to give a quick note that I felt was too important to shove into the footnotes, which is about sources. You may have noticed that my narrative has been based on the kind of information that would be available to scholars ITTL. By far my biggest primary source so far has been Shapur’s own inscription at the Ka'ba-ye Zartosht (SKZ for short), where he details his own court and campaign against the Romans. Besides that, it’s mostly accounts from the Romans and the occasional Islamic scholar. We don’t have many sources IOTL.

Why? Well, it’s because of the Muslims. The Persians had a deep oral tradition which is how they preserved most of their history. Much of that was lost in the Islamic conquests. However, we know they did keep written historical records, such as the “Book of Kings” commissioned by Khosrow I. The reason we don’t have those is also because of the Muslims. They didn’t bother preserving texts they saw as Zoroastrian heathenry.

ITTL, they have most of the same sources as OTL, but the Book of Kings and others are better preserved, giving us a Sasanian account of their own history, albeit riddled with propaganda and historical revisionism. We also have Syrian chroniclers recording Sasanian history, albeit with their own biases. While historiography is still fragmented and with problems, it’s a lot better than OTL.

What this means for this TL is that even if I’m describing info from before the POD, that doesn’t mean it’s OTL, and my interpretations of OTL figures shouldn’t be taken as a historical record. A lot of it is made up or extrapolated from shaky-at-best evidence. I didn’t want to make dozens of footnotes explaining each one, so if you have any questions about where an idea came from, please ask and I’ll explain.

Anyways, this will be a tour, where we’ll look at each territory not directly controlled by Shapur, AKA all the non-green regions on the map (except Cyprus and Cyrenaica, which aren’t part of the empire but are more like dependencies/tributaries. Also, the Kushano-Sassanian empire, which is a whole other can of worms I won’t open yet. They’ll be looked at more in the future). I realized I needed to pause the narrative and lay some groundwork, otherwise things would have gotten confusing. I recommend having the map I made in another tab or something while reading this. Enjoy!
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Chapter 4: Lords and Caesars of Eran and Aneran

Between 35 S.E. (260) and 45 S.E. (270), Shahanshah Shapur I presided over what had become the world’s largest kingdom in only a few decades. His full title became “King of Kings and Caesars of Iran and Not-Iran.” The new Sasanian Empire differed from its Arsacid predecessors in several ways. Most importantly, it was more centralized, with more territory under the direct control of the Shahanshah or by appointed Satraps, essentially governors. However, it wasn’t far removed from its decentralized Parthian roots. It continued to be a hodgepodge of vassals.

Though later chronicles always claim there were seven great houses of Iran due to the number seven’s Zoroastrian religious significance, there were at this point five autonomous vassal kingdoms, the houses of Waraz, Suren, Andegan (Espahbad), Karin, and Mihran, in order of best to worst relations with the Shahanshah. Some of these houses were well established for centuries, others came into existence during the turbulent fall of Parthia, others have mysterious origins. These kings were functionally independent, with their own taxes, laws, and trade policies, and their combined army was far larger than the Sasanians’. What bound them to the Shahanshah was the need for a higher authority to mediate disputes, the need for a common military leader to defend Iran, and most importantly, their culture and religion. Zoroastrian tradition is steeped in ideas of the dichotomy between order and chaos, and the eternal war between the two. The king of kings was an arbiter of order, and to revolt against him was to be an agent of chaos, something that was literally sacrilegious. If they disapproved of the reigning Shahanshah, they would support the claim of a rival from the same house who promised to align with their interests. Only in periods of severe crisis did they consider deposing the reigning house. This didn’t change much in the transition from Parthian to Sasanian, as both Ardashir and Shapur sought to increase their own power without infringing on the rights and privileges of the houses. How much favoritism each house enjoyed in this period depended entirely on what role they played in the rise of Ardashir.

House Suren was one of the oldest houses in Iran and an honored house in Parthia, one of the prestigious houses of Parthian times. They originated in Sakastan and had once held a vast, nearly autonomous region to the east, making them the most powerful and respected of the families. Since then, their power and territory had waned, but their legacy remained, and they still had a little more respect and territory than most houses. Of course, they kept their pretentiousness. Suren was one of the very first allies of the Sasanians, back when they controlled only Persis. In fact, some scholars argue the house of Sasan was originally an offshoot of Suren. Because they played a crucial role in elevating Ardashir, they were the second most favored house. Their domain was also a major supplier of tin.

House Varaz/Waraz was the second house to ally Ardashir. Their family name meant “wild boar,” a symbol of warfare and military victory in Iranian society. During the civil wars in the fall of the Parthian empire they were likely a minor noble house which, through skilled generalship, was able to conquer its own fiefdom and become a royal house. They very quickly gained a reputation for military prowess. Their king Dehen, who submitted to Ardashir, was an extremely capable and valuable commander, and he was critical in helping conquer the Kushan empire. Because of this house Waraz would be the favorites of the Sasanians, with numerous family members being given important positions, especially as military commanders, and each Warazid commander would reinforce their reputation, creating a cycle. Being on the northeastern frontier, they also played an important role in defending Persia from steppe nomads. Their land was also quite fertile and produced high-quality wine.

Moving west, House Karin was another house known to have been well established and respected in Parthia, and was, according to legend, an offshoot of the Arsacids. During the Sasanian rise, the Karinids were divided between the brothers Peroz and Gog, who were too busy fighting each other for control to get involved, making them one of the only two known houses that didn’t support Ardashir. Still, they continued to be respected. Media, the territory they controlled, was in the center of overland trade routes and the location of several ancient cities, making them quite rich. Partly because of this, they were very politically powerful. The Karin had a reputation for being very well connected politically, with their finger in every pie. Ardashir, lord of house Karin (no relation to the Shahanshah Ardashir), was reported in Syrian chronicles to have poisoned several of his enemies, including his own father Gog. Unequivocally they were the most politically influential house.

The other house that didn’t support Ardashir was Mihran, formerly house Esfandiar. Esfandiar was one of the prestigious houses of the Parthian era. During Ardashir’s rise, they were a staunch opponent, refusing to give up their support of the Arsacids. We don’t know how many other houses opposed Ardashir, because his policy towards them was simple: not only did he eliminate them and take their land, but he completely erased them from the historical record. Mihran was no exception, and they were destroyed. However, the other houses were highly offended by this callous destruction of a prestigious centuries-old house. Caving to pressure, Shapur eventually granted Ashstad, lord of Esfandiar, back most of his family’s former territory. He also forced them to change their name to Mihran, probably to try and erase their history. They were still hated by the Shahanshah and left significantly weakened, and with their territory on the coast of the Caspian Sea now ruled by the lords of Andegan. Most of their territory was the arid plains and desert of central Iran, valuable for pastures and trade roads. During this period the house would lay low, biding its time and building alliances for when it can once again become a massive player in Persian politics.

The newest of the houses were the lords of Andegan. They would later become known as house Espahbad, meaning general, connecting themselves to old Parthian generals. Andegan was a town on the very eastern edge of Mihranid rule. During the war between the Sassanids and Mihranids, they revolted and conquered much of the Caspian Sea coast, heavily contributing to Ardashir’s victory. Because of this, despite not being a royal house, they were treated as such by the Sasanians, and would work to build their legitimacy for decades. Of all the houses, they were the poorest, as their land on the south coast of the Caspian Sea was some of the least valuable, most underdeveloped land in the empire. However, they would develop it themselves. With the founding of cities like Nishapur in the province of Parthia, they began to profit off a growing maritime trade between the Caucasus and the east, and founded port cities, where a fishing industry also developed.

All these houses still considered themselves Parthian, and exerted so much influence that the Sasanian empire is often referred to as a confederation rather than a single state. Each house would send representatives the city of Isfahan, on the border between Khuzestan and Media, to make collective decisions. The influence of these houses can be seen in later histories, where both houses Mihran and Espahbad would erase their defeat and illegitimacy, respectively, from the royal records completely. Fundamentally, the Persian Empire was still Parthian.

“Aneran” was the name of the conquered regions outside of the Persian heartland, Namely Kush, the Caucuses, the levant, and Egypt. These regions were seen as “second-class” among the Persian nobility. When Ardashir and Shapur conquered land, they almost always claimed it as their own royal domain to increase their house’s power. During his Roman wars, the Sasanian nobility grew uncomfortable at the idea of Shapur personally claiming all the new territory and expanding his power too much. They also weren’t interested in being given the land themselves, especially if they had to defend it militarily. They had no standing army to garrison cities with. A compromise was reached, where Shapur got to claim Armenia and Egypt, but each former Caucasian kingdom or Roman province would be ruled by an appointed king or “Caesar” (who was not allowed to claim the titles of Augustus or Imperator). Most of the Roman and Caucasian administration was kept intact.

In the kingdom of Iberia, king Hamazasp III “the Great” was propped up by the Sasanians, a member of the old Pharnavazid dynasty that had been replaced by the Arsacids. Georgia was not subdued easily. For centuries they had exploited a Roman-Parthian rivalry to maintain independence, now they were fully subdued. The last straw happened when he converted to Manichaeism, a new religion from the still-living prophet Mani, promoted by Shapur (more on that in the future), which intentionally combined aspects of other religions. He received a religious dream, compelling him to invite a Manichean to his court. He was said to have debated his own advisors on theology and was quite a learned man who impressed even the Manichaeans with his theological intellect. He eventually converted himself and promoted the religion throughout the empire. The nobility saw this as a blatant attempt to erase Iberian culture, and briefly overthrew him in 40 S.E. (265), only for him to regain power with Sasanian help, though crushing this rebellion would leave Iberia thoroughly devastated. Archaeology shows a quite thorough massacre of the elites who at any point had opposed the Persians. After the initial rebellion, the kingdom quickly became loyal. Hamazasp created a powerful Manichean church, which much of the former noble estates was donated to. He helped pave the way for Iberia to become a center of Manichaeism (1).

Colchis/Lazica was the most Romanized Caucasian kingdom. In the year 29 (254), Gothic naval raiders attacked Pityus, but a local commander named Successianus was able to inflict devastating defeats on them. Emperor Valerian noticed his effort and made him praetorian prefect. This was the highest position a Lazican had ever reached, making him popular among his people. However, in his absence, the Goths returned and thoroughly sacked the coast. When Shapur conquered it, it was a poor backwater, its economy dead from the sacks and collapse of black sea trade. Worse, Successianus had been promoted far above his capabilities, and he failed to juggle his many new responsibilities. He was among those captured along with Valerian. However, what puzzles historians is that Shapur appointed Successianus as the Lazican king. This may have been a sign of mercy towards the Romans, or he wanted to prevent a rebellion like in Iberia by appointing a popular king. Either way, he was more competent as king of Lazica, and helped to rebuild the damage.

In the former Roman territory, “The Persian Caesars,” as the Romans called them, were mostly independent. They appointed their own successors if the Shahanshah approved them, had their own laws, trade policies, and army. Essentially, though they were on a tighter leash, they were incorporated into the same “confederation” system as the Great Houses.

There’s a common misconception that the levant was disloyal and rebellious, for two reasons. The first is hindsight, as many look at later history and use it to make assumptions about earlier history. The second is that Roman chroniclers loved to describe how corrupt and debauched the Persian reign of terror was, with the Shahanshah beheading, torturing, and enjoying seeing Syrians wallow in their misery. In reality, Sasanian rule was generally accepted. They brought political and economic stability the Romans could no longer provide, plus more autonomous rule. However, what made the Persians nervous, and what would bring issues down the line, was that they didn’t have the same Zoroastrian belief in cosmic order that kept the Great Houses loyal. But we’re getting ahead of ourselves.

Cilicia was the northernmost province, ruled by Diomedes. It had fertile plains to the east and rugged hills to the west, and was surrounded by mountains where the only passes were through the Cilician gates north of Tarsus and the thin coastline, making it ideal for geographic defense. It was economically closely tied to Armenia. Prince Hormizd invested heavily in Cilicia, recognizing its potential for trade. There was also a Zoroastrian community, a holdover from Achaemenid times, which experienced a renaissance in Roman territory with Hormizd’s support. However, like everywhere else in the Roman Empire, Cilicia was impacted by the Millenium Crisis. Because of the declining economy, bandits grew more powerful and took to hiding in the hills, and their numbers began growing with refugees fleeing the collapsing Cappadocia. Before the region could recover and grow, a long war had to be fought with bandits, especially in the west, where the Isaurians were establishing independence.

Syria was the largest Caesarian province, led by Maryada, or Mariades in Roman sources. It was the second most looted region besides Cappadocia, but recovery was fast. Maryada created a senate and government that mirrored the Principate of Rome. Despite centuries of Roman rule, the Syrians easily adapted from the Roman “first citizen” emperors back to the absolute monarchy of the Persians, showing that not much had changed since the Seleucid Empire. It had a rich economy, producing grain, wine, oil, fruit, and was the home of several large cities like Antioch that were centers of textile manufacturing. These products were increasingly exported to Persia rather than the Mediterranean. Most of this took place on the coast, with the population getting more nomadic the further inland you went. Maryada, in cooperation with the Persians, would begin constructing outposts along roads to Mesopotamia to defend the roads from Arabs, which promoted economic growth. This, plus population growth and climate change, would make Syria grow, prosper, and urbanize for centuries to come. Syria was both ethnically and religiously diverse. Thanks to Shapur bringing the prophet Mani with him on campaign, Manichaeism was starting to spread, as well as Zoroastrianism thanks to Hormizd. But one religion that had been around for a while in relative obscurity began to grow fast: Christianity, a religion centered around a Jewish prophet the Romans had crucified centuries ago. Christians now made up a sizeable minority in Syria, especially among the urban poor. In time, this religion would create massive problems for the Persians, but for now they didn’t care who their Roman subjects worshipped.

To the south, Phoenicia was Syria’s rival. They were ruled by Uranius, who unlike Maryada presented himself as a divine monarch, albeit subordinate to Shapur. He was celebrated for his victory against the Persians, which he attributed to divine support of the sun god Elagabal. The Phoenician religion, which would come to be known as Helicism, was enforced by Uranius and would spread rapidly throughout the levant partly due to his support. Though the black stone they prayed to had been taken, they still prayed east towards Persepolis where the stone was kept, and the most devout even made pilgrimages there. Monotheists, primarily Jews and Christians, were persecuted, but Uranius encouraged the growth of new sects that syncretized with Helicism, treating the sun as an extension of God/Yahweh. In fact, what made this cult so popular was its ability to syncretize with every religion, whether polytheistic or not. Among Christians, this new split was deeply controversial and led to intense bickering about God’s true nature, as monotheists tended to. Economically, Phoenicia wasn’t as strong as Syria, but they specialized in glass and dyes, especially the lucrative purple. They also enjoyed much of the same economic growth as Syria.

The city state of Palmyra, ruled by Odaenathus, also retained its independence for a little while. It was quite unique and impressive, a caravan city state on an oasis in the middle of a desert road. Its zenith was gone, however. The Sasanians preferred to direct trade north through Armenia or south around Arabia, weakening their only economic source. In addition, climate change and population growth meant the city could no longer support its own population, culminating in a large-scale riot in 47 S.E. (272), after which the city would shrink before being quietly absorbed into Phoenicia in 59 (284).

A century earlier, the province of Judea was thoroughly depopulated in Hadrian’s cultural genocide, as he forced the Jews into diaspora and repopulated it with Roman pagans. Under the Sasanians, Shapur created a Jewish vassal kingdom, with cities like Jerusalem reconstructed, including the Third Temple of Jerusalem. He was directly mirroring Cyrus the Great, and for his efforts he was the second non-jew to be declared Messiah. Not everyone supported this, as many remembered the massacre of Caesarea, and fiercely debated whether someone who had killed 12,000 jews could be a messiah. Appointed as king was Herod Alexander, descendant of Herod the Great and part of the Herodian dynasty. Despite their liberation, most of the diaspora’d Jews had made lives for themselves outside Judea, so only the more devout returned. Among those who didn’t return home, it became quite common to make pilgrimages to Jerusalem to see the Third Temple at least once in their lives. Rebuilding the kingdom came with some problems. First, two thirds of the population were pagan Romans that had been settled there. Shapur explicitly forbade persecuting them, but they weren’t allowed in government positions and were given extra taxes, something that bred resentment. Second was the spread of Helicism, especially among syncretic Jews, which became far more of a problem with Uranius promoting the faith and persecuting orthodox Jews. Judea was deeply divided between Helic and Orthodox Jews, as well as pagans. All this led not only to deep internal tensions, but external tension with Phoenicia as well. Since founding the kingdom of Judea was Shapur’s PR project, he didn’t want violence breaking out, so he endorsed the orthodox Jews but ordered everyone to get along (2).

Last was the province of Arabia, where Timagenes was made Caesar as a reward for his help during the war. The fact that an Egyptian was made Caesar shows how closely this province was tied to Egypt, both politically and economically. In the Roman Empire, this province was integrated relatively late and was a peripheral province, mostly ignored and underdeveloped. Under the Persians, Arabia grew as a trading crossroads that connected Syria, Egypt, Arabia, and the Arabian Sea (OTL Red Sea). It benefitted from the growth of Arabian Sea trade. In particular, the city of Petra was renovated to become the administrative center of Arabia, as well as a major military base. This allowed it to grow quickly, and it soon became what Palmyra once was: a caravan metropolis in the desert, and a major trade hub among multiple roads. Its star rising fast. Its interconnectedness also made Arabia a religious and cultural melting pot, with a unique blend of Hellenic, Egyptian, and Arabian culture. It had a pantheon full of gods from each of those regions, as well as Christians, Jews, Manicheans, and others.

All these religious, economic, and political developments would intersect not only with each other, but with the emerging Persian Empire. The most impressive thing about it was not its size, but its ability to string these regions into a cohesive empire.

1. Hamazasp is an interesting but very obscure historical figure. All of this is OTL up until his overthrowal. To my knowledge he was the only king to have adopted Manichaeism besides a Lakhmid king and apparently Zenobia according to some sources.

2. This was a problem the Jews had OTL, though ITTL it’s worse. Also, I should note that these religions aren’t necessarily seen as rigid, exclusive, or intolerant of one another the same way we see religions today. The lines between them are very blurry.
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These updates have gotten longer than I initially planned them to be, but it generally feels unnatural trying to break them up into parts. Next update will tour the rest of the empire and Shapur’s economic development. Depending on how long it takes I might also talk about religion, the court, or the army.

As always, any thoughts, questions, comments, anything else, are appreciated!

 

[Collondi]

Chapter 5: Shapur’s last decade

Shapur I was one of the most successful kings not just in Sasanian history, but in the entire history of Persia. He and his father had led the small territory of Persis to conquering a fractured and collapsing kingdom and turning it into a massive, prosperous empire.

He could never keep himself off his horse for long, and shortly after the Roman war he went on extensive campaigns in the central Asian steppe, possibly up to the Chorasmian Sea (Aral Sea). There he extracted tribute and took more captives. But this was his last war. He and his father had spent practically their entire reign on a horse, conquering and campaigning, but now was the time for consolidation.

What Shapur excelled at the most was propaganda. He carved several inscriptions depicting and describing his own successes in battle. In fact, he carved more than any other Shahanshah, showing not just his propaganda skills but also just how prideful he was, with one inscription dedicated to how far he shot an arrow. He very intentionally portrayed himself as a new Cyrus the Great and his empire as a resurgent Achaemenid Empire (1). Both oral and written accounts of Cyrus’s conquests were promoted during this period. Achaemenid history, which was mostly preserved orally, was so long ago that memory of it had become hazy, making it a blank canvas that Shapur could apply his propaganda to. He portrayed the Parthians as barbarian tyrants, and also tried to erase his own family’s connections to Parthia, going so far as to deliberately omit Sasan, his great-grandfather and the man the empire is now named after, from his own inscriptions because of his Parthian heritage. It’s important to remember that the Sasanians were a new dynasty, still trying to establish legitimacy.

He also promoted cultural unity among Iranians. It was during this time when the distinction between Eran (Iranians) and Aneran (not-Iranians) began to form. Iranians included Armenians and Caucasians, despite those people seeing themselves as distinct, and those within Persia proper. Not-Iranians included Mesopotamian, Roman, and Eastern subjects.

Shapur’s religious policies generated controversy, but to understand that we first need to understand Zoroastrianism. To give an oversimplified summary, Zoroastrianism was a religion centered around the supreme deity Ahura Mazda and the duality between good and evil. These two were locked in a cosmic war, and adherents needed to follow a set of rituals and moral principles to fight evil. The sun and fire were worshipped, and in certain temples sacred fires were constantly kept burning. It was not a unified religion, but a series of split, disorganized traditions. There also was no centralized church. The Great Houses controlled their local churches, and each house had their own dedicated fire temples.

All that changed when Ardashir came to power. He strove to unite the Zoroastrianism under one church and one faith. All fire temples in the empire were extinguished, as Ardashir claimed they hadn’t been founded legitimately. His message was clear: only the Shahanshah controlled the church. By uniting the church and state, Zoroastrianism became one of the main ways he could control his country. He proclaimed his dynasty to be “from the seed of the gods.” He hired Zoroastrian scholars from around the empire, most prominently the high priest Tosar, to create a unified “orthodoxy.” He massively expanded the church and centralized its hierarchy. Ardashir created a single unified religion out of the scattered traditions, he was the founder of Zoroastrianism as we know it. Religion was part of how his dynasty would secure legitimacy.

One of the more troublesome new assertions in orthodox Zoroastrianism was the iconoclasm. The priests believed that gods like Ahura Mazda should not be depicted, and religious imagery should not be worshipped in place of the gods. The only exceptions were the fires in each fire temple.

Ardashir didn’t enforce Zoroastrianism as the state religion. Other religions were tolerated. This had been the norm since the dawn of Iranian history, so it wasn’t considered major at the time to simply continue this policy.

Shapur followed in his father’s footsteps. In fact, he improved them. Not only did his conquests bring money which accelerated the expansion of religion, but he also began funding and sending priests to the levant, growing the religion in former Roman territory. And yet, at the same time he patronized one of the most influential heretics in Iranian history.

The prophet Mani.

Mani was born in Mesopotamia and raised in a Jewish-Christian sect. According to legend, in his early twenties, he received religious visions, and upon trying to explain them to his elders he was banished. From then on, he devoted his life to travelling and spreading his new religion, Manichaeism. He went east, converting the king of Turan, and convincing Peroz, Shapur’s brother, to introduce the prophet to the Shahanshah. Shapur was known for his interest in religious scholarship. Consequently, he took a liking to Mani, and although he himself didn’t convert, he brought Mani into his court and allowed him to proselytize, while also being the king’s medic and astrologist. Mani accompanied Shapur during his Roman campaigns, proselytizing in Syria. He became quite close to the crowned prince Hormizd, who he tutored and discussed theology with. Hormizd grew to admire the prophet. Eventually, Mani asked to leave the court so he could continue to dedicate himself to his religion full-time.

Manichaeism intentionally mixed aspects of Christianity, Zoroastrianism, and Buddhism and “perfected” them. This made it highly adaptive, and able to syncretize in different environments, allowing it to spread far and wide. Like Zoroastrianism, it was dualistic, with a war between the worlds of good/light and evil/darkness. The material world was made of darkness with bits of light imprisoned in it, in fruits, vegetables, juice, water, etc. It was the duty of Manichean monks known as “the elect” to help the light escape the material world by following a strict moral code of asceticism, celibacy, and non-violence (including harvesting plants), which gave them the ability to free this light by eating it. Non-monks, known as “hearers,” followed a less strict moral code, committing sins like picking fruit to care for the Elect.

Some Persian nobles converted, most notably the Iberian king Hamazasp. The favor Mani enjoyed from Shapur made his own priesthood and administration uncomfortable. Mani’s biggest rival at court was an influential high priest named Kartir. Kartir came from humble, obscure origins, and like Mani, he rose to prominence because of his charisma and strong beliefs in Zoroastrianism. Shapur promoted him to high priest because, again like Mani, his religious rhetoric captivated the Shahanshah. He came with Shapur during his Roman campaigns, during which he fought bitterly with Mani, when the two weren’t bickering, Kartir helped renovate Roman Zoroastrian temples and convinced the king not to harm Zoroastrians during sackings, and to free those who had accidently been taken prisoner or converted while imprisoned.

Kartir was not yet as powerful as he would come to be, but he led a growing faction. He, along with several of Shapur’s priests, generals, and administrators, grew concerned over Mani. Why should heretics like him be allowed to lead believers astray? Wasn’t it the Shahanshah’s job to protect the faith? Mani’s heresy, as well as the rise of other religions like Christianity and Buddhism, forced them to reconsider the nature of Zoroastrianism and kingship. According to their Zoroastrian doctrine, heathens were promoting Evil and allowing it to overtake Good. As they became more radical, they began pressuring the Shahanshah to ban heathenry outright.

In 46 (271), only a year before his death, Shapur finally caved. He began persecuting Manichaeans, and banished Mani, forcing him to travel east.
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As described in the last chapter, vassals controlled most Persian territory. To increase their power without angering the magnates, Ardashir and Shapur focused on developing their own land economically. The Sasanian economy was extremely lassaiz-faire, with the Shahanshah only caring about profiting from levies. Because they could only directly profit from their own land, they especially developed trade roads going through their estates. Practically every trade route passed through at least one royal province.

The collapsing Roman Empire meant external trade had declined. Though the silk road still provided luxuries to places like Syria, it wasn’t as lucrative as it had once been. Internal trade, meanwhile, was stronger than it had ever been. Levantine goods were now flowing into Persia, rather than the Mediterranean. Persia already had heavy Hellenic influence, and the levant already had heavy Persian influence, but this new trade dynamic helped the cultures cross-pollinate even more. Like emperor Hadrian, Shapur toured his domains, and ordered the building of dams, bridges, and irrigation to spur productivity. He and Ardashir became known as “the city builders,” as he developed numerous cities in royal domains to encourage economic growth. Several of the cities he made would be powerful trading centers for centuries.

Captives from Central Asia or Rome (especially Cappadocia) became royal slaves and were deported to these cities. Some lived in the cities and built infrastructure, others were given farmland in the suburbs they were tied to. These cities thus had a strict hierarchical class system between the ruling nobility, artisans/traders, and slaves. They built Roman-style architecture, and they retained and even spread their religion and culture (2).

There were three instrumental centers of Sasanian power and bureaucracy, all three of which were regional breadbaskets. First and most importantly was Mesopotamia, which enjoyed heavy development. Dozens of cities were refounded here, chief among them Ctesiphon, the empire’s capital. The agricultural productivity, crucial trade roads, and taxes made Mesopotamia the Shahanshah’s cash cow. Second, controlling the eastern flank, was Persis. Here Bishapur was founded, where former emperor Valerian was kept captive. The once mighty emperor was now in charge of bridge construction and was supposedly used as a footstool. Persis was especially the center of the Zoroastrian clergy. Last, on the eastern flank, was Egypt. Like the rest of the former Roman provinces, the administration of Egypt was kept intact, with only the very top layer being replaced with Persians. Egypt was the center of Persian trade in the Mediterranean, which at this stage was still in its infancy. Prior to its conquest, Egypt had been one of the provinces hit hard by the millennium crisis, with the city of Alexandria especially suffering from plague, riots, economic downturn, and a sacking, and had now lost three fourths of its population. Alexandria was thus renovated and renamed “Piravashapur.” Though this was the city’s “official” name, most Egyptians simply kept calling it Alexandria, and soon it would get a new, unofficial name.

The province of Khuzestan, being the connector between Persis and Mesopotamia, especially enjoyed heavy development. Here, among other cities, Gondeshapur was founded (3), one of Shapur’s largest cities. It had a rich economy based on rice and sugar plantations. In addition, after his conquests, Shapur brought here scholarly texts of all kinds from as far as India to Egypt, and commanded that they be copied and studied, turning Gondeshapur into Iran’s biggest center of scholarship.

Another important province was Parthia, the old homeland of the Parthians, on the empire’s northern frontier. Steppe nomads were a persistent threat to Persia for its entire history, owing partly to the fact that there were zero natural defenses from the steppe. As such, the city of Nishapur was founded, an administrative center and military fortress. It also helped develop trade flowing in from the Kushans and China and had lucrative turquoise mines.
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Shapur had three living sons, Bahram, Hormizd, and Narses (4). Like his own father, Shapur involved his own children heavily in the business of war and politics from a young age. During his wars, he made them generals, and had them compete, promising that he would make the most skilled warrior out of his children his heir. Afterwards, he let them govern the largest, most important provinces in the empire, using them as trustworthy administrators while also training them in governance. As a king, taking this approach successfully trained them to each be competent and skilled. As a father, making them compete bred resentment between the siblings, who saw each other as rivals.

The eldest son was Bahram, born around 5 years before Ardashir’s crowning (220). His mother was a lowborn concubine, making him equivalent to a bastard child. Despite this, Shapur may still have had hopes for the boy, as he had him educated in politics and warfare. However, their relationship still grew strained over time, especially as Shapur started to show favoritism towards his younger brothers. Neither father nor son had much love for each other. Bahram fiercely criticized his father’s policies, especially his promotion of Mani. One, likely apocryphal, Manichean source reports that after receiving visions, Mani warned Shapur that, if he ever became Shah, a pair of shears would cut Persia’s divine wings and plunge it into evil. He was the only son Shapur didn’t grant a dedicated fire temple to. He was made king of Gilan, an isolated province in the Alborz mountains, on the Caspian Sea coast. The Gilani were one of several tribes within Iranian territory who lived in areas too isolated to be fully incorporated into the empire, like the Daylamites. They often served as Sasanian mercenaries. Bahram was assigned a small, isolated, and relatively unimportant region, likely just to give him something to do. He was savvy however, and he bid his time in the shadows, making alliances with nobles disaffected by Shapur’s reign. That is when he wasn’t hunting, a common pastime.

The next son, Hormizd, born in 7 S.E. (232), was the chosen heir. He was his father’s favorite, having demonstrated his military capability in his invasion of Anatolia and having earned the title “the brave.” He was quite ambitious and idolized his father. Shapur made him king of Armenia, which was considered the crowned jewel of the empire, being historically a key strategic province against the Roman Empire, having several important trade roads, and most importantly the source of many skilled cavalry, making it a sizeable portion of the Sasanian royal army. It still had its own unique institutions and governance, making it very different from regular provinces. During the Parthian era, Armenia was divided between feudal lords who squabbled and fought, until the Sasanians arrived to keep the peace. Among the nobles were the relatives of the deposed Arsacid dynasty, many of whom had originally helped the Sasanians invade Armenia. One of the biggest challenges Hormizd faced was religious. Armenia was deeply Zoroastrian, but like everywhere else it had a decentralized series of traditions rather than a formal religion. Many of Armenia’s deep-rooted traditions were now considered heresy, especially idol worship. Idols and icons made up a significant portion of Armenian spiritual and material culture, and the Sasanians would soon find out that forcefully changing Armenian culture was not an easy task. For now, Hormizd focused solely on converting the nobility, while ignoring the rural peasants living in the highlands.

After Anatolia came under Callistus’s rule, Hormizd began raiding Cappadocia annually, arguing that since it had split off from Rome it was it was independent, meaning he technically wasn’t violating the treaty. It wasn’t like the Empire was in a position to respond. He deported even more captives, until the region was thoroughly depopulated. He also relocated Cappadocian Zoroastrians, who were apparently being persecuted under suspicion of cooperating with Persia.

The youngest, Narses, was born in 13 S.E. (238). He was in his twenties and also quite ambitious, and apparently earned a reputation for being pious. He was made governor of Sakastan. With the recent conquest of the Kushan Empire, there was a power vacuum in the east, which Narses filled by conquering and annexing the regions of Turan, Makran, and India going up and possibly past the Indus River. These conquests were probably done to impress Shapur, and yet Hormizd was still the favorite son. His territory now bordered the indo-scythian kingdom, which was undergoing a renaissance under king Rudrasena II. Relations between the two were cordial, with Rudrasena paying Narses tribute in exchange for peace. Unfortunately, very little is known about the eastern edge of the empire. The Indus River, like it had been for centuries, remained an important conduit of trade roads between India and Persia, with Sasanian irrigation projects promoting its prosperity. Other regions, like Makran and Turan, were less developed, and remained arid, remote deserts. The entire area had dozens of different tribes, which has historically made it difficult to control. Much of the region, especially in the rural areas, was still ruled by the same kings/chieftains, now subject to Narses. Narses was only interested in directly controlling the trade roads. Religiously the entire region was a blend of Hinduism, Buddhism, and Zoroastrianism, with the geography making promoting Zoroastrianism especially difficult.

To the north of Narses’s domain was Kushanshah, also known as the Kushano-Sasanian Empire. The once great Kushan Empire, which thrived off trade and supposedly had rulers that lived in luxury, had been conquered by Ardashir only a year after his crowning (in 227 C.E.). However, it took decades for Sasanian control to truly be established. There was considerable debate over how exactly these territories should be governed. On the one hand, provinces like Bactria were rich and powerful, but on the other hand they were far on the kingdom’s edge, away from any centers of power. Ardashir had decided to make one of his sons, also named Ardashir, a vassal king in Merv. The oasis city of Merv was the Persians’ main base of power in this region, functioning as a fortress, trading center, and regional capital. Shapur annexed Merv in 37 (262), along with the rest of the east, but soon he was confronted with the reality that governing the region directly was simply impractical. In 43 (268), he reinstated his brother Ardashir as governor of Bactria and Kush, making him the first Kushanshah of what historians would call the Kushano-Sasanian Empire. He was no mere governor; he had a great deal of autonomy and even minted his own coins. Shapur seems to have understood the potential threat this new vassal kingdom could pose, so he annexed Merv as the empire’s easternmost directly controlled stronghold, the city that would be responsible for keeping the Kushanshah in line.

East of Merv, Bactria was during Kushan times one of the most important centers of Kushan power, and the heartland of the new Kushano-Sasanian kingdom. It was highly urbanized, with extensive and highly complex irrigation networks that made it one of the most fertile regions in the empire. It was the major trade center linking China and Persia and profited immensely from the silk road. Though its zenith had passed with the fall of the Kushan Empire, the Sasanian conquest had only caused it to slightly decline. It was still just as powerful as ever. It’s this wealth that Shapur was interested in controlling directly, before deciding it was more trouble than it was worth. The locals were not particularly rebellious, the war that ended the Kushan Empire had not been the most violent. What posed an issue was that Bactria was a massive center of Buddhism, where the religion was entrenched in their society. Among the growing “heretic” religions, Buddhism was the one they most feared because of its tendency to spread along trade routes, most of which came from Bactria. In addition, the Buddhists loved their religious icons, which didn’t sit well with the iconoclast priesthood.

The Bactrian highlands to the south, while technically considered part of Bactria, were geographically very different. It was always a difficult region, with a harsh climate and independent locals, but it was important for the trade roads that connected Bactria with the Indus. These roads contain the major cities in the region, in specific basins and passes. They could not possibly hope to tax every rural village here, so once again Ardashir stuck to light control over only the important trade roads and cities. In fact, archaeologically there’s no evidence the Sasanians controlled the region at all.

East of Bactria the region of Gandhara was at the very fringes of the empire. It’s likely they were merely vassals/tributaries of Ardashir. In Punjab, the “little Kushans” remained, who were also vassalized. This Kushan rump state was in economic disrepair and forced to debase their currency. The city of Gandhara marked the very edge of Persia’s borders. It was something of a Buddhist “holy land” and center of monasticism. Culturally, this region was something of a land between worlds, with Central Asia, India, China, and Persia all converging here. Gandhara was responsible for spreading Buddhism into each of these regions. Economically, they were located on the only road to China. Despite the decline of the Silk Road, this still made them quite powerful, and they could leverage their position to, once again, strengthen Buddhism. Despite Ardashir being a devout Zoroastrian, he couldn’t ignore how entrenched Buddhism was. To keep his vassals and subjects loyal, he had to tolerate the faith, much to the chagrin of the Persian priesthood.

Shapur I died peacefully in 47 S.E. (272). He was in his 70’s and had ruled for 31 years. At the time of his death, he had a complex legacy. To many Persians, he was the warrior king who created a massive empire and restored prosperity. To radical Zoroastrian clergymen, he promoted heretics and allowed evil to sweep the empire. To the Romans, he was the largest threat they had faced since Hannibal (5). Powerful as Persia had become, immediately after Shapur’s death the cracks began to show. There was the increasingly zealous clergy, who were beginning to convince the nobility to join their crusade. Not even Shapur could ignore them anymore. Then there were the Shahanshah’s brothers Bahram and Narses, both of whom were competent, ruthless, and felt they deserved the throne. It was up to the newly crowned Hormizd I to fill the large shoes his father left behind.

1. Hence why I almost named this TL “The Neo-Achaemenid Empire,” though now I very much prefer the name I did settle on. I’m not very good at naming things.
2. IOTL, they also brought Christianity and helped it spread in Persia. ITTL, the vast majority of captives are from Cappadocia rather than Syria, where Christianity wasn’t as prevalent. That means Christianity has far less of a foothold in Persia proper
3. One of my favorite obscure historical facts is that IOTL this city was populated with captives from Antioch and named “Shapur’s better Antioch.” Unfortunately, that doesn’t happen ITTL.
4. I have to make a correction. Back in chapter 3 I said one of Shapur’s sons, Shapur Mesanshah, might have been killed in battle against Uranius Antoninus in 254. However, he was attested to be alive in 262, so either he was resurrected, or I was wrong. I’m not retconning it, just know that IOTL it was probably some general who got sling-shotted, rather than a prince. Really, I just wanted to give poor prince Shapur an interesting story, since as we’ll see, all three of his brothers have their own role in the next few decades of Sasanid history, whereas he dies before getting to join in on the fun.
5. There will be more to say about Shapur’s legacy that I’m intentionally withholding right now, because a lot of it has to do with political events after his death.
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Compared to OTL, the Sasanian central monarchy is richer and more powerful. Yes, they gave away most of the conquered land, but Shapur still kept the northern half of Mesopotamia, Armenia, and Egypt, which is a significant improvement from OTL. Not to mention how they benefit from Levantine trade and taxes, as we've discussed. So far, though, there haven't been many direct political changes. Most of those will come in the decades after Shapur's death.

But before we explore that, we're first going to turn west and look at the changes in the Roman Empire, and seeing just how much worse things could possibly get.