SHAPOUR. 
379 
his own name upon that which he destined to record the most brilliant 
of his successes: and that the city of Shapour accordingly, was the 
memorial of the defeat, captivity, and servitude of the Emperor 
Valerian. 
The architect of such a work would naturally select his ornaments 
from the subject in which his plan originated; and the sculptures at 
Shapour might therefore be supposed to contain some prominent allu¬ 
sions to the Roman war. The triumphs of that war are almost unre¬ 
membered in the history or the traditions of the Orientals; and the 
only records of the victories of Sapor, which are left in Persia, are the 
sculptures on the rocks of Shapour and Nakshi Rustam: and though, 
like every other work, of which nothing is known, they are referred by 
the modern Persians to the fabulous exploits of Rustam the Her¬ 
cules of their country, the internal evidence of their design is suffi¬ 
cient to appropriate them to their real and historical objects. 
That in fact the triumphs of the house of Sassan, are represented 
both at Shapour and at Nakshi Rustam , can hardly be contested. 
That in one of the sculptures, the royal figure on horseback is Sapor 
himself, and that the Roman suppliant before him is the Emperor 
Valerian, is probable almost from the first view of the delineations; 
is strengthened by the history of the spot where they are found; 
and is confirmed by the identity of the principal figure here, with 
one bearing an inscription in the name of Sapor,* * at Nakshi 
Rustam. 
Such a subject would naturally be suggested to the artists of Sapor, 
and while the Roman chariot and standard among the fragments, 
and the Roman dress of the suppliant alike mark in the sculpture the 
humiliation of Valerian, the Sassanian costume of the Prince on 
* The figures are the same, not in detail, but in general circumstance. Both are en¬ 
graved in this volume, plates x. xx. See the explanation of the inscription taken from 
Niebuhr, tom. ii. pi. xxvii. De Sacy, p. 31, &c. see also p. 69. 
* • 3 c 2 
