The wars in the East brought about a long truce (from 350 to 358), interrupted only by small predatory excursions. But by the time negotiations were opened on the Roman side (356-358) Sapor had concluded peace with his enemies in the East, and offered terms which it was quite impossible to accept. In 359 and 360 hostilities were resumed with energy, and Sapor took several important fortresses. Another interval of repose ensued; but in 363 a change came over the whole conduct of the war.
[363-379 A.D.]
Vigorous, ambitious, and proved in arms, Julian, now sole emperor, determined to follow the example of Trajan, Septimius Severus, and Carus, and march straight upon the enemy’s capital. On the 5th of March he left Antioch, went first to Mesopotamia, and thence proceeded rapidly down the Euphrates. He ravaged Persian territory with fire and sword, took several cities after a short siege, among them Mahoz Malka, one of the royal cities close to Ctesiphon. He even reached Seleucia; but realising that he was not able to take the strongly fortified city of Ctesiphon on the far side of the Tigris by storm, he turned to retreat along the left bank of the river. Here for the first time Sapor’s troops began to annoy him seriously. None the less he would certainly have led the army back into Roman territory without heavy loss, but he was mortally wounded in an engagement on the 26th of June, 363.
Jovian, who was chosen emperor by the army after Julian’s death, was by no means equal to the difficult position in which he found himself, and conducted both the war and the negotiations in such a manner as ultimately to bring about a shameful peace. After the death of his dreaded enemy, Sapor behaved with equal adroitness and moderation. He obtained the retrocession of the districts to the left of the Tigris, which Galerius had won, and part of Mesopotamia, including Nisibis and Singara. The Romans with much difficulty secured permission for the inhabitants of these cities to depart elsewhere. The cession of Nisibis was the heaviest blow of all, for in all subsequent wars it was a strong point of departure to the Persians for offensive and defensive purposes.
More shameful even than these cessions was the stipulation that the Romans should withdraw their support from King Arsaces of Armenia, who had sided with them and given him up to Sapor. The king, however, did not find Armenia easy to conquer. He got Arsaces into his power, but that did not give him possession, still less permanent possession, of the country, split up as it was by many natural divisions and ruled by numerous and almost independent feudal lords. The Christians of Armenia inclined in the main to the Romans; the Zoroastrians, of whom there were still large numbers, to the Persians; while the varying private interests of the great barons, who would have preferred to have no master over them, constituted a third factor in the situation. The Romans supported, first secretly and then openly, Papa, the son of Arsaces, who had taken refuge with them, but only that they might use him as a tool to convert Armenia into a Roman province. In Iberia (north of Armenia) the adherents of the two empires likewise came into collision. At the end of five years the country was practically once more in a state of war. In 371 the Persian king came to open hostilities with the Roman troops in Armenia, both parties trying to acquire the country by force or fraud. But however often the negotiations between them came to naught, the pressure of circumstances (in the case of the Romans, the troubles with the Goths) and the dictates of reason prevented the outbreak of a general war.
ARDASHIR II TO BAHRAM IV
[379-420 A.D.]
Sapor II, who by even late tradition is held in honour as a mighty king, died towards the end of the summer of 379, and was succeeded by his brother, Ardashir II. The elevation of this old man to the throne may have been due to the same kind of motives as had prompted the coronation of the infant Sapor. As prince-satrap of Adiabene (a part of ancient Assyria) he had taken an active part in the suppression of Christianity as long before as 344, and again in 376. After his accession, however, the persecution ceased, perhaps by deliberate intention, perhaps out of mere oriental indolence. Even the capital could have its bishop again. But, having taken forcible action against the great nobles and put several of them to death, Ardashir was deposed by them in 383 or 384.
His successor, Sapor III, the son of Sapor II, had no sooner ascended the throne than he despatched ambassadors to Constantinople, and there concluded a settled peace (384). He reigned only a short time, being murdered by the nobles in 388 or 389.
His son (or possibly brother) and successor, Bahram IV, who bore the surname of Kerman Shah, “king of Carmania,” because as prince he had ruled that province, remained on friendly terms with the Romans and was clement towards the Christians. In 390 the two empires divided Armenia between them by treaty, in such a manner that by far the greater part became a vassal state to Persia and the remainder to Rome. There were many complications still to come, but this division nevertheless remained in force down to Arab times. Bahram IV also died a violent death, being slain by the arrows of “evil-doers,” in the summer of 399.
THE RULE OF YEZDEGERD I
His successor, Yezdegerd I, a son of Sapor II or Sapor III, seemed to have been designated as heir to the throne or otherwise invested with some sovereign dignity even during the life-time of Bahram IV, for his name appears on coins in conjunction with the king’s.
For all that he was far from being a Christian, and did not scruple to visit with severe chastisement the blind zeal which led Bishop Abda of Susiana to violate Zoroastrian sanctuaries. But the measure of toleration which he extended to Christianity was enough to rouse the hatred of the Persian priesthood, while the warlike nobility were probably ill pleased by his earnest desire to maintain peace with Rome. In the summer of 408 he concluded a firm treaty of peace and alliance, by which he seems to have undertaken a formal guarantee for the reign of the emperor Theodosius II, then a minor. He set a trustworthy vassal king over Persian Armenia in the person of his son Sapor. We have every reason to regard him as a skilful ruler for his time and country. But he was not well pleasing to the god of Persia. Wherefore he caused him to die suddenly in marvellous wise in far Hyrcania. We prosaically interpret this miracle to mean that he was murdered by the despotic nobles (probably late in the summer of 420); even as his three predecessors had been violently deprived of their sovereignty, and two of them murdered.
After his death, his son Sapor hastened from Armenia to the capital, no doubt intending to become king of the empire, but was murdered by the great nobles, for the latter were so exasperated against Yezdegerd that they resolved to exclude his sons from the succession. They chose a distant relative of his, Chosroes by name, to be their king. But another son of Yezdegerd, Bahram by name, contested his claim to the throne. During his father’s life-time this son had lived, presumably in a sort of banishment, with al-Mundhir (Alamundaros) the Arab king of Hira (west of the Euphrates and on the borders of the desert), a powerful vassal king. The latter supported Bahram’s pretensions with all his might, and this is probably the first time that the Arabs effectively interfered in the course of Persian history.
THE ARABS AID IN WAR WITH ROME
[420-457 A.D.]
Mundhir, with vast hordes of Arabs behind him, was soon at the gates of the capital, which lay only three or four days’ journey distant from Hira, and no doubt the rightful heir to the throne could count upon a party among the Persians. A compromise was therefore effected between the disputants, Chosroes withdrew his claim, and Bahram ascended the throne, but under promise to rule differently from his father and to do the will of the nobles and priests. Bahram V, who bears the surname of Gor, “the wild ass,” is a favourite with Persian tradition, which tells absolutely fabulous stories of him. He was young when he became king, and to the end of his days he was jovial and much addicted to women. The change of policy was immediately signalised by two things—the outbreak of a systematic persecution of the Christians, and a war with Rome. Both sides could easily find pretexts for war, but it is most likely that the Persian nobles urged it on; the Romans would certainly not have entered on the struggle merely on account of the persecution.