Hmmmmmm.....Emperor Valerian

[NightHunter24]

Avete omnes,<br>
<br>
All this talk of mid to late Rome has me thinking. I'm assuming most of you know how emperor Valerian was captured after his defeat at the hands of the Persians and died in captivity. Now, my question is are there any Persian sources on the matter? Do we get to hear anything of Valerian during his years in captivity?<br>
<br>
<br>
Vale,<br>
NH24 <p></p><i></i>

[Anonymous]

The Res Gestae Divi Sapores says that Shapur captured Valerian (along with much of his staff, including a praetorian prefect) with his own hands. Beyond that it says nothing about what happened to good ol' Val.<br>
<br>
Roman sources say (among other things) that he became the emperor's footstool and, when he died, his skin was put on display. <p></p><i>Edited by: <A HREF=http://pub45.ezboard.com/bromanarmytalk.showUserPublicProfile?gid=hottoq>hottoq</A> at: 3/30/04 8:10 pm<br></i>

[NightHunter24]

Thanks for the info......I'd really thought there would be more on the matter. Again thanks. <p></p><i></i>

[Praefectusclassis]

Nope, almost nothing more. Shapur boasts of capturing the emperor by his own hands, some Romans say it was trickery. Many Roman sources comment on his captivity, which is most often described as abject servitude for a long time, others say he was hacked to bits after a few years. <p>Greets<br>
<br>
Jasper</p><i></i>

[Anonymous]

Found this:<br>
It's from the "Chronique de Séert" a nestorian historical text written in arabic. XIth C.AD.<br>
"In the eleventh year of his reign Shapour son of Ardashir, invaded the land of the Romans. He stayed there a long time and destroyed several cities. He defeated the emperor Valerian and took him captive to the country of the Nabateans. Valerian fell ill from despair and died there."<br>
It's about as credible as the two other main sources: Trebonius Pollio in Historia Augustae and Lactantius in "On the death of persecutors".<br>
Historia Augustae just mentions that Shapour spoke to Valerian "like he was a vile slave". It also says that several lesser kings and personalities appealed to Shapour in favor of Valerian's freedom and that the Palmyrean king Odenath fought the Persians to free the captured emperor.<br>
Lactantius was a Christian and since Valerian was a notorious persecutor of Christians he obviously held a grudge..<br>
He mentions gleefully that after having been used as a step by Shapour to mount his steed for some undisclosed period of time, Valerian "reached the term of an infamous life". His skin, painted red, was then displayed "in a temple of the barbarian gods".<br>
It can be a invention. However, the practice of skinning dead enemies or even turning them into stuffed trophies is known among the steppe people, not far from Persia. <p></p><i></i>

[NightHunter24]

So very interesting indeed!<br>
<br>
Wow poor Valerian, what a horrible way to end one's life. Stuffing skins? That stuff is pure savagery! <p></p><i></i>

[Anonymous]

Well, there was always in this sorry world enough savagery for everyone..<br>
It's not a question of savagery it's a question of prestige.<br>
The Gauls used the heads of their enemies to decorate their homes and to be used as conversation pieces, like hunting trophies..<br>
The Romans only displayed their decorations in the front of their houses but the meaning was the same: here lives a great warrior.<br>
It sort of conveys a "strong message" as we say today...<br>
The ancients were pretty good at passing "strong messages" sometimes..<br>
The Assyrian kings (or the Persians, or both? I can't remember) had thus two waiting rooms in their palaces. One was decorated with peaceful scenes such as harvest, fishing and so on. This was the waiting room for friends and allies.<br>
The other waiting room was also very finely decorated but with depictions of war, of cities stormed, of enemies impaled and so on.<br>
This was the waiting room for people you weren't so sure about...<br>
Strong message..<br>
<p></p><i>Edited by: <A HREF=http://pub45.ezboard.com/bromanarmytalk.showUserPublicProfile?gid=antoninuslucretius@romanarmytalk>Antoninus Lucretius</A> <IMG HEIGHT=10 WIDTH=10 SRC="http://lucretius.homestead.com/files/Cesar_triste.jpg" BORDER=0> at: 4/3/04 11:47 am<br></i>

[Uwe Bahr]

... and there is yet enough savagery in our time. Today people hang the mutilated bodies of their victims down from bridges ... <p></p><i></i>