Shapur I's victory relief at Naqsh-e Rostam

Shapur I's victory relief at Naqsh-e Rostam is located 3 kilometers north of Persepolis. It is the most impressive of eight Sasanian rock carvings cut into the cliff beneath the tombs of their Achaemenid predecessors.[1]

This carving depicts a famous scene in which the Roman Emperor, Valerian, is kneeling before Shapur I and asking for mercy. Shapur defeated Valerian at the Battle of Edessa, in which the entire Roman army was destroyed and Valerian became Shapour's prisoner. This was the first and only time a Roman emperor was taken prisoner. The Emperor Philip the Arab is depicting standing and Gordian III is dead at the feet of Shapur's horse.[1] There is a Greek inscription of five lines underneath the horse, but it is damaged. It is believed that there were also two inscriptions, now destroyed, in Middle Persian and the Parthian language.[2]

References
  1. Mehrdad Kia, The Persian Empire: A Historical Encyclopedia (ABC-CLIO, 2016), vol. 1, s.v. "Naqsh-e Rostam", pp. 29–31.
  2. The history of pre-Islamic literature of Persia, Ahmad Tafazzoli and Zhale Amoozgar, p 87, Sokhan publications, Tehran, ISBN 964-5983-14-2

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