Shapur I — The Persian King Who Captured a Roman Emperor | Naqsh-e Rustam

In 260 AD, on the plain of Edessa, the Sasanian King of Kings Shapur I did what no enemy of Rome had ever done — he took a reigning Roman emperor alive. Valerian, ruler of the Roman Empire, became a Persian prisoner. And Shapur carved the humiliation in stone. At Naqsh-e Rustam in Iran, beneath the ancient tombs of the Achaemenid kings, Shapur's victory relief shows it all: the dead emperor Gordian III trampled under the royal horse, Philip the Arab kneeling to beg for peace, and Valerian standing captive, his wrist grasped by the King of Kings. IN THIS VIDEO: 0:00 The relief at Naqsh-e Rustam — frozen in stone / 0:24 Who was Shapur I / 0:52 The Sasanian superpower / 1:16 First campaign: Gordian III dies at Misiche (244) / 1:50 Second campaign: the sack of Antioch / 2:10 Edessa 260 — Valerian captured alive / 2:32 The fate of Valerian — the Emperor's Dam / 2:56 Shapur's own inscription — the Ka'ba-ye Zartosht / 3:20 Why Naqsh-e Rustam — in the shadow of Darius / 3:44 Reading the relief — three emperors, one stone / 4:08 The empire at its height — Taq Kasra / 4:28 Faith and tolerance / 4:44 Death in 270 — legacy in stone / 5:04 Stone speaks. HISTORICAL NOTE: All facts verified against Shapur I's own trilingual inscription at the Ka'ba-ye Zartosht (c. 262 CE), the Naqsh-e Rustam relief (post-260 CE), and modern scholarship. Narration: ENGLISH (Urdu subtitles burned in). This video uses AI-generated visuals plus one real photograph of the Naqsh-e Rustam relief. All historical facts verified. If you love the secrets of history, LIKE, SHARE and SUBSCRIBE to WonderVerse History! #ShapurI #NaqshERustam #SasanianEmpire #Valerian #RomanEmpire #AncientPersia #PersianHistory #Edessa260 #AncientHistory #WonderVerseHistory