|
|||
|
|
|||
|
With the help of this list and what little is known from the epigraphical and literary sources we may approximately reconstruct the composition of the army which was defeated at Edessa. However such a study is irrelevant to the present paper. After the description of Valerian's army Shapuhr proceeds: "and in this region of Carrhae and Edessa took place a big battle between ourselves and Valerian the Emperor and we took by our own hands36 the Emperor Valerian, and the rest: his prefects, men of senatorial rank and leaders who commanded this army, all of them we took by our own hands and sent them to Persis." Then begins a third section of the war-report, the description of Shapuhr's invasion of Syria and Asia Minor. He says namely "and (after the victory over Valerian) we burned, devastated, took as captives and conquered the province of Syria and the province of Cilicia and the province of Cappadocia." There follows a list of captured cities all in Asia Minor, with only two exceptions, Alexandretta and Nicopolis, see below, p. 40. It looks as if Shapuhr avoided mention a second time of cities which he captured in the second campaign. The presumption was that they were never lost but remained in the hands of the Persians. Finally Shapuhr tells how he transported the prisoners of war to his own country and settled them there to work in his own domains37 and in the domains of his forefathers . After this third campaign Shapuhr does not mention any further military successes. In conclusion he speaks vaguely of his other military expeditions which showed his bravery and brought him glory. But he says he has not mentioned these exploits in this document. He wanted, he says in the last sentence, the account, as compiled, to be published in order to remind posterity of his glory, bravery, and rule.38 II. Literary Evidence While the first and the third campaigns of Shapuhr can be easily identified and dated with the help of our Greek, Latin, and Oriental sources, the identity and date of the second campaign are more difficult to ascertain. No Roman emperor is named in the account of Shapuhr and no more or less exact date can be derived from the events mentioned in the account. As for identification no battle of Barbalissus is ever mentioned in the other sources. Nevertheless the order in which Shapuhr enumerates his campaigns makes it certain that this one took place in the years between the death of Gordian and the capture of Valerian, that is to say between 244 and 259/60 A.D. Have we means to connect this second campaign with events narrated in our literary sources, and are we able to assign a more or less probable date to it? Let me review briefly our meager literary |
|||
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Created by the Digital
Documentation Center at AUB
in collaboration with Al
Mashriq of Høgskolen i
Østfold, Norway. 981217 MB - Email: hseeden@aub.edu.lb |
of the Greek text I take to
be a mistake for 
perhaps a misreading
of the scribe.