Narseh was the seventh Sasanian King of Kings of Iran from 293 to 303.
Rock relief of Narseh in Naqsh-e Rostam
Ruins of the Paikuli tower in present-day Iraqi Kurdistan.
Detail of Galerius attacking Narseh on the Arch of Galerius at Thessaloniki, Greece.
Gold dinar of Narseh, phase 1.
Shapur I was the second Sasanian King of Kings of Iran. The precise dating of his reign is disputed, but it is generally agreed that he ruled from 240 to 270, with his father Ardashir I as co-regent until the death of the latter in 242. During his co-regency, he helped his father with the conquest and destruction of the city of Hatra, whose fall was facilitated, according to Islamic tradition, by the actions of his future wife al-Nadirah. Shapur also consolidated and expanded the empire of Ardashir I, waged war against the Roman Empire, and seized its cities of Nisibis and Carrhae while he was advancing as far as Roman Syria. Although he was defeated at the Battle of Resaena in 243 by Roman emperor Gordian III, he was the following year able to win the Battle of Misiche and force the new Roman emperor Philip the Arab to sign a favorable peace treaty that was regarded by the Romans as "a most shameful treaty".
1840 illustration of a Sasanian relief at Firuzabad, showing Ardashir I's victory over Artabanus IV and his forces.
Rock-face relief at Naqsh-e Rostam of Shapur (on horseback) with Philip the Arab and Emperor Valerian
The Humiliation of Emperor Valerian by Shapur I, pen and ink, Hans Holbein the Younger, ca. 1521. At the time it was made, the above rock-face relief was unknown in the west.
Relief showing Shapur I on horseback, followed by his sons and nobles