Beate Dignas & Engelbert Winter - Kaveh Farrokh

5 ˇ Sāpūr I at war with Rome 77
In general, the coins of Severus Alexander are based on older types, which
the emperor Trajan issued in order to celebrate his successes in the East and
which were later also used by Marcus Aurelius as well as Lucius Verus. 24 The
choice of these motifs illustrates the aim to depict Severus Alexander as the
same triumphant victor over the Persians. After the war in the East further
coins were issued whose legends Victoria Augusti, Iovi Propugnatori, Marti
Propugnatori or Pax Aeterna Augusti make it clear that the outcome of the
Persian War was to be seen as a victory. 25 This type of propaganda emerged
immediately after the events of 233 and was taken up and rhetorically
embellished by later authors. An analysis of the source material has thus
shown that the outcome of the first Roman–Sasanian confrontation is far
from clear. 26 It is neither possible to talk about a splendid Sasanian victory
nor to view the Roman emperor as a triumphant victor over the Persians.
It rather looks as if each side withdrew their armies and thereby ended the
first Roman–Sasanian War because both sides had suffered considerable
losses. The Romans retained their positions along the middle Euphrates.
5: ˇSāpūr I (240–72) at war with Rome
The second Sasanian ruler ˇ Sāpūr I (240–72) scored a number of prestigious
military as well as diplomatic successes against Rome. In numerous
triumphal reliefs he boasts of his victories over his Western opponent. The
depicted relief cut into the rock at Bīˇsāpūr synchronises the successive confrontations
with the Roman emperors Gordian III, Philip the Arab and
Valerian within one scene (fig. 6). 27 ˇ Sāpūr’s report of his achievements that
was inscribed on the Kaba-i Zarduˇst in Naqˇs-i Rustam (2) also informs
us about these wars and describes the events from a Sasanian perspective
soon after they took place. First, let us turn to the reign of Gordian III
(238–44).
The ˇ Sāpūr Inscription on the Kaba-i Zarduˇst at Naqˇs-i Rustam ( ˇ SKZ ),
§§ 6–7 The Parthian text
(§ 6) And as soon as we had become the ruler of the territories, the emperor Gordian
conscribed a force taken from the entire Roman Empire, the Gothic and German
peoples and marched into Āsūrestān against the Empire of the Aryans and against
us; and a great frontal attack took place along the borders of Āsūrestān – in Miˇsīk.
(§ 7) And the emperor Gordian was killed, and we destroyed the Roman army;
and the Romans proclaimed Philip emperor.
24 Gricourt 1965: 319–26. 25 RIC iv2 nos. 164; 201; 324; 652.
26 Wiesehöfer 1982: 445 and 1986a: 373–4.
27 MacDermot 1954: 76–80; Gajé 1965: 343–88; Mackintosh 1973: 183–203;Göbl 1974; Herrmann 1980;
Meyer 1990: 237–302; for an overview over the Sasanian rock reliefs see Vanden Berghe 1984; also
Herrmann 2000: 35–45.