The Shapur II's Arab campaign took place in 325, against numerous

Arab Arabs (, , ; , , ) are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in West Asia and North Africa. A significant Arab diaspora is present in various parts of the world. Arabs have been in the Fertile Crescent for thousands of years ...

tribes, due to the Arab incursions into the

Sasanian Empire The Sasanian Empire (), officially Eranshahr ( , "Empire of the Iranian peoples, Iranians"), was an List of monarchs of Iran, Iranian empire that was founded and ruled by the House of Sasan from 224 to 651. Enduring for over four centuries, th ...

. Shapur II defeated all the Arab tribes during his campaign

Arab incursions

During the childhood of Shapur II,

nomads made several incursions into the Sasanian homeland of Pars, where they raided Gor and its surroundings. Furthermore, they also made incursions into Meshan and

Mazun Mazun may refer to: * Mazun (Sasanian province) *Sohar Sohar () is the capital and largest city of the Al Batinah North Governorate in Oman. An ancient capital of the country that once served as an important Islamic port town on the Gulf of Om ...

Shapur II's campaign

At the age of 16, Shapur II led an expedition against the Arabs. According to

al-Tabari Abū Jaʿfar Muḥammad ibn Jarīr ibn Yazīd al-Ṭabarī (; 839–923 CE / 224–310 AH), commonly known as al-Ṭabarī (), was a Sunni Muslim scholar, polymath, historian, exegete, jurist, and theologian from Amol, Tabaristan, present- ...

, he hand-picked 1,000 cavalrymen for the campaign, a possible reference to the '' pushtigban'' unit. He primarily campaigned against the Iyad tribe in Asoristan and thereafter he crossed the

Persian Gulf The Persian Gulf, sometimes called the Arabian Gulf, is a Mediterranean seas, mediterranean sea in West Asia. The body of water is an extension of the Arabian Sea and the larger Indian Ocean located between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula.Un ...

, reaching al-Khatt, a region between present-day

Bahrain Bahrain, officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, is an island country in West Asia. Situated on the Persian Gulf, it comprises a small archipelago of 50 natural islands and an additional 33 artificial islands, centered on Bahrain Island, which mak ...

and

Qatar Qatar, officially the State of Qatar, is a country in West Asia. It occupies the Geography of Qatar, Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it shares Qatar–Saudi Arabia border, its sole land b ...

. He then attacked the Banu Tamim in Hajar mountains. After having dealt with the Arabs of

eastern Arabia Eastern Arabia () is a region stretched from Basra to Khasab along the Persian Gulf coast and included parts of modern-day Bahrain, Iraq, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia (Eastern Province, Saudi Arabia, Eastern Province), and the United Arab ...

, he continued his expedition into western

Arabia The Arabian Peninsula (, , or , , ) or Arabia, is a peninsula in West Asia, situated north-east of Africa on the Arabian plate. At , comparable in size to India, the Arabian Peninsula is the largest peninsula in the world. Geographically, the ...

and

Syrian Desert The Syrian Desert ( ''Bādiyat Ash-Shām''), also known as the North Arabian Desert, the Jordanian steppe, or the Badiya, is a region of desert, semi-desert, and steppe, covering about of West Asia, including parts of northern Saudi Arabia, ea ...

, Furthermore, he also deported some Arab tribes by force; the Taghlib to Bahrain and al-Khatt; the Banu Abdul Qays and Banu Tamim to Hajar; the Banu Bakr to Kirman, and the Banu Hanzalah to a place near Hormizd-Ardashir. The Zoroastrian scripture

Bundahishn The ''Bundahishn'' (Middle Persian: , "Primal Creation") is an encyclopedic collection of beliefs about Zoroastrian cosmology written in the Book Pahlavi script. The original name of the work is not known. It is one of the most important extant ...

also mentions the Arabian campaign of Shapur II, where it says the following: "During the rulership of Shapur (II), the son of Hormizd, the Arabs came; they took Khorig Rūdbār; for many years with contempt (they) rushed until Shapur came to rulership. Colonies of Persian officials and soldiers were settled in new garrisons along the Arabian coastlands of the

, especially in Oman's strategic coast in

Al Batinah Region Al-Bāţinah () was one of the regions ''( Mintaqat)'' of Oman. On 28 October 2011, Al-Batinah Region was bifurcated into Al Batinah North Governorate and Al Batinah South Governorate. The region occupied an important location on the coast of G ...

, including the tip of the Musandam Peninsula,

Sohar Sohar () is the capital and largest city of the Al Batinah North Governorate in Oman. An ancient capital of the country that once served as an important Islamic port town on the Gulf of Oman, Sohar has also been credited as the mythical birthp ...

, and

Rustaq Rustaq () is a town and Provinces of Oman, ''Wilayah'' (District) in Al Batinah Region of northern Oman. The wilayah is in the Western Hajar Mountains, in the Al Batinah South Governorate, south of the Batinah. Rustaq was once the capital of Om ...

. In order to prevent the Arabs to make more raids into his country, Shapur II ordered the construction of a defensive line near

al-Hira Al-Hira ( Middle Persian: ''Hērt'' ) was an ancient Lakhmid Arabic city in Mesopotamia located south of what is now Kufa in south-central Iraq. The Sasanian government established the Lakhmid state (Al-Hirah) on the edge of the Arabian Desert ...

, which became known as Wall of the Arabs (

Middle Persian Middle Persian, also known by its endonym Pārsīk or Pārsīg ( Inscriptional Pahlavi script: , Manichaean script: , Avestan script: ) in its later form, is a Western Middle Iranian language which became the literary language of the Sasania ...

: ''war ī tāzīgān'', in ''khandaq Sābūr'', "Ditch of Shapur"). In the accounts of the historians regarding Shapur's campaign against the

lands and his approach near the

city A city is a human settlement of a substantial size. The term "city" has different meanings around the world and in some places the settlement can be very small. Even where the term is limited to larger settlements, there is no universally agree ...

, as well as his mistreatment of the

Arabs Arabs (, , ; , , ) are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in West Asia and North Africa. A significant Arab diaspora is present in various parts of the world. Arabs have been in the Fertile Crescent for thousands of yea ...

, the

burning Combustion, or burning, is a high-temperature exothermic redox chemical reaction between a fuel (the reductant) and an oxidant, usually atmospheric oxygen, that produces oxidized, often gaseous products, in a mixture termed as smoke. Combust ...

of cities, and the flooding of

water Water is an inorganic compound with the chemical formula . It is a transparent, tasteless, odorless, and Color of water, nearly colorless chemical substance. It is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known liv ...

sources, there are undoubtedly significant exaggerations. These embellishments stem from Persian sources that have been greatly overstated. However, the "Roman historians" narratives about this event do not support this claim. sources mention that Shapur was given the title "Dhū al-Aktāf" because he supposedly dislocated the shoulders of the

. However, Theodor Nöldeke believed that this explanation was fabricated. According to him, the title originally had a different meaning in

Sasanian The Sasanian Empire (), officially Eranshahr ( , "Empire of the Iranians"), was an Iranian empire that was founded and ruled by the House of Sasan from 224 to 651. Enduring for over four centuries, the length of the Sasanian dynasty's reign ...

culture, unrelated to shoulder dislocation. Instead, "Dhū al-Aktāf" meant "the one with shoulders," symbolizing strength and power. He argued that later historians reinterpreted the title to fit the narrative of Shapur’s harsh treatment of the

References

Sources

* * * *457 * * {{Sasanian Empire wars involving the Sasanian Empire 325 Banu Taghlib Banu Bakr Battles of pre-Islamic Arabia History of the Persian Gulf Shapur II Abd al-Qays Banu Tamim Ancient Upper Mesopotamia