I wish my Shapur I
dirham was better than the one I posted. There is somebody on this
forum who recently posted a wonderful
dirham of that great shah.
Shapur is my favorite
Sassanian king. When he was young, he was an idealist. He made
peace with the
Romans under Philip the Arab, built the new city of Bishapur and much developed south-western
Iran with the
help of the
Romans. He respected and protected religious minorities, like Jews and Christians, at a time when
Trajan Decius and Valerian launched all-out persecutions against them. He gave Mani the right to teach and preach anywhere in
his empire, and never let the mobedhs (the ayatollahs of
his time) dictate him
his decisions.
