A Forced Migration of Arabs from the Euphrates Region under Sasanid King Shapur I (240–271) within the Historical Context

Abstract

This article is a continuation of the study initiated in the article ‘The Persian Story of Shīr Farrokhzādān and the Forced Migration of the Arabs from Misikhē (al-Anbār) under Sasanid King Shapur I (240–271)’. A close examination of the story of Shīr Farrokhzādān within the historical context allows to make the following observations and conclusions. The migration of the Arabs from the region of Misikhē was the result of their struggle against the Sasanids, who won and built a fortress at Misikhē. King Shapur I considered those Arabs to be dangerous, and so, he parted them and settled them in different places under the power of his governors or, perhaps, Arabic ruler Djadhīma who is described in some sources as a vassal of the Sasanids. Those events took place before the enthronement of Shapur I, during the Sasanids’ initial expansion in the Euphrates region (225 to 240). The Sasanids’ strategic aim appears to have initially consisted in ensuring the security of their new capital, Wēh-Ardashīr, against attacks of hostile Arabic tribes rather than in establishing a barrier on the Romans’ way. However, after firmly setting foot in the Euphrates region the Sasanids used the way up the Euphrates’ course, to attack Roman possessions, in particular in campaigns involving the taking of Dura-Europos (239) and Antioch (241).

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