Sykes' History of Persia - Heritage Institute

XXXVI SHAPUR I., CAPTOR OF VALERIAN 433
and Asia. It was commemorated in stone
Europe ^
by the victor both at Persepolis and at Shapur, and
as long as the Sasanian
dynasty lasted it was never
forgotten.
Moreover, legend has magnified the Emperor's down-
fall. The chroniclers who wrote nearest to the period
state merely that he grew old in captivity and was treated
as a slave ; it may be noted that the fetters on his arms
are clearly visible in the famous bas-relief. Later writers
inform us that he was shown to gazing multitudes, clad
in the imperial purple and in chains, and this is not
improbable. More doubtful, though still possibly true, is
the statement of Lactantius (writing about a.d. 312) that
the hapless old man served as a mounting block to his
ungenerous conqueror, and that his body was flayed after
his death and the skin kept as a trophy.
The Second Phase of the Campaign^ a.d. 260.—The
traitor Macrianus after carrying out his dastardly scheme
assumed the purple, and marched off to fight for the
Empire with Gallienus, Valerian's son. Shapur, who
must have possessed considerable originality, still further
complicated matters, and heightened the impression of his
power, by investing a certain Cyriadis, a citizen of Antioch,
who was a refugee in his camp, with the royal purple and
the title of Caesar ; his is the third figure in the bas-reliet
already mentioned.
After this investiture, Shapur once more crossed the
Euphrates and seized Antioch. On this occasion he
traversed the passes of the Taurus, and the whole of
Asia Minor lay
at his mercy. He captured Caesarea
Mazaca, the greatest city in Cappadocia ; but, probably
from lack of a standing army, again made no attempt to
organize and administer, or even to retain, his conquests.
He merely murdered and ravaged with barbarous severity.
Indeed it appears that, satisfied his lust
having
of destruction,
Shapur of his own free will turned his back on
Cappadocia, which, with Syria, he might have added to
his empire, and made for the Euphrates, leaving behind
^ Even in Trebellius PoUio, Gallieni Duo, § i, we read, "Erat ingens omnibus moeror,
quod imperator Romanus in Perside serviliter teneretur."
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