Beate Dignas & Engelbert Winter - Kaveh Farrokh

256 9 Exchange of information between West and East
in Iran, primarily in the modern provinces Fārs and Hūzistān, there were
numerous architects, technicians and craftsmen, 53 who during the following
period participated in the building projects of ˇ Sāpūr I. Their skills were
important for the construction of bridges, dams, roads and palaces. One
of the most famous building projects was most certainly the dam of Sostar
(Shushtar), which Tabarī mentions and which was located on the river
Karun in the province of Hūzistān. Its ruins can still be seen today and
attest not only to the grandeur of the monument but also of ˇ Sāpūr I’s efforts
to make use of Roman experts on irrigation systems in order to exploit the
fertile soil of this region for everybody’s benefit. 54
Both Tabarī and the Chronicle of Seert also mention the foundations
of cities by the Sasanian king. Analogously to other Sasanian foundations
of cities the king often chose names that testified to his victories. 55 In
most cases the name of the king was part of the name of the city. Many
of the Roman captives came from the Syrian metropolis Antioch. The
majority of these were deported to the city Veh-Antiok- ˇ Sāpūr (= ‘ ˇ Sāpūr
made [this city] better than Antioch’). The city later developed into the
intellectual centre Gundē ˇ Sāpūr (= ‘the weapons of ˇ Sāpūr’). In this case
ˇSāpūr restored and extended an existing settlement, which was renamed to
become Gundē ˇ Sāpūr soon after 260. 56
Yet another remarkable example is Bīˇsāpūr (= ‘the beautiful [city of]
ˇSāpūr’), which the king founded in the Persis after his victory over Valerian.
57 The city was modelled on the plan of a Roman military camp. Its
first inhabitants were mostly Roman soldiers who had been taken captive
in the year 260. It looks as if the foundation was an attempt to integrate
the captives and to facilitate their life far away from their home country.
In fact, we do not hear of confrontations between the Iranian population
and the new settlers. 58
In Bīˇsāpūr, the ‘Sasanian Versailles’, 59 one notices a remarkable influence
of Western craftsmen on Iranian art. Many of these were among the Roman
prisoners but there were also volunteers, who had been attracted by the good
pay and the exceptional prestige of the royal project – the royal buildings
made up a quarter of the whole city. 60 Above all the Western influence
53 Schwaigert 1989: 19–20 and 23–33.
54 Ghirshman 1962: 137 with fig. 174 and O’Connor 1993: 130 with fig. 106; in general cf. Rahimi-
Laridjani 1988.
55 On the Sasanian foundations see Metzler 1982: 183–212.
56 Potts 1989: 323–35 and Sayılı 1991: 1119–20; on the history of the city cf. Abbott 1968: 71–3; Schöffler
1979: 28–9; Shahbazi 2002a: 131–3; Richter-Bernburg 2002: 131–3.
57 Ghirshman 1962: 138–9. 58 Metzler 1982: 226. 59 See Ghirshman 1956–71.
60 Porada 1980: 197 and Lieu 1986: 479.