Abstract In 260 CE the Sasanian king of kings, Shapur I, defeated and captured the Roman emperor Valerian, but by the mid 260s the strategic situation in Mesopotamia appeared to favour the Romans, now commanded by the Palmyrene leader Odaenathus. Why did the Sasanians experience this reversal? This article seeks to offer possible answers by consulting a broad array of sources from across western Eurasia. It begins by surveying Greek and Roman texts for evidence of Shapur’s involvement in the war against Odaenathus. Through this, it is demonstrated that there is an absence of reliable evidence that Shapur campaigned in person against Odaenathus and in fact indications to the contrary. The article then considers whether this puzzle can be explained by looking beyond the Greek and Roman sources and by considering developments in other parts of western Asia. Consulting Sasanian inscriptions, reliefs, Kushano-Sasanian coins, and Sasanian and Samanid literature, it is argued that Shapur was preoccupied in Central Asia and/or the Indus. In pursuing this methodology, the paper considers the benefits and challenges of applying a broader geographical and inter-disciplinary lens to the subject of Roman-Persian relations.
Byron Waldron (Wed,) studied this question.