Shapur III King of Sasanian Empire [60534]

  General Notes:

http://www.rpi.edu/~holmes/Hobbies/Genealogy/ps31/ps31_273.htm


THIRD WAR WITH ROME . There were no decisive results, and an obscure peace followed. Persian power was at its zenith at the death of Shapur II. His immediate successors, Ardashir II (379\endash 383) and Shapur III (383\endash 388), were weak, however. Shapur concluded a peace with Rome (384) whereby Armenia was partitioned between Rome and Persia. Bahram IV (388\endash 399), probably the son of Shapur III, succeeded. He placed his brother on the throne of Armenia. Bahram was killed in a mutiny and was succeeded by his son, Yazdgird I.


<http://www.bartleby.com/67/273.html>


http://fabpedigree.com/s096/f144936.htm



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shapur_III


Shapur III was the eleventh Sassanid King of Persia from 383 to 388. Shapur III succeeded his brother Ardashir II in the year 383.

Memorials of Shapur's Reign
Shapur III left behind him a sculptured memorial , which is still to be seen in the vicinity of Kermanshah . It consists of two very similar figures, looking towards each other, and standing in an arched frame. On either side of the figures are inscriptions in the Old Pahlavi character, whereby we are enabled to identify the individuals represented with the second and the third Shapur. They are identical in form, with the exception that the names in the right-hand inscription are "Shapur, Hormizd , Narses ," while those in the left-hand one are "Shapur, Shapur, Hormizd ." It has been supposed that the right-hand figure was erected by Shapur II and the other afterwards added by Shapur III; but the unity of the whole sculpture, and its inclusion under a single arch, seem to indicate that it was set up by a single sovereign, and was the fruit of a single conception. If this be so, we must necessarily ascribe it to the later of the two monarchs commemorated, i.e. to Shapur III, who must be supposed to have possessed more than usual filial piety, since the commemoration of their predecessors upon the throne is very rare among the Sassanians .


Death
Shapur III died in 388, after reigning a little more than five years. He was a man of simple tastes, and was fond of spending his time outdoors in his tent. One version says that, on one such occasion, when he was thus enjoying himself, there was a violent hurricane which blew the tent under which he was sitting. The falling tent-pole struck him fatally on his head resulting in his death a few days later. However, though most of his subjects believed in the authencity of this story there were whispers that he could have been the victim of a conspiracy hatched by his courtiers.

Shapur married.