Bishapur (or Bishâpûr) is an ancient city situated south of modern Faliyan on the ancient road between Persis and Elam, which connected the Sassanid capitals Istakhr (very close to Persepolis) and Ctesiphon.

At the same site there are also a fort with rock-cut reservoirs and the river valley with six Sassanid rock reliefs.

The town itself, founded, according to an inscription, in 266 by the Sassanid king Shapur I (241-272). The city Bishapur was built by Roman soldiers who had been captured after the defeat of the Roman emperor Valerian I by Shapur I Sassanid king of Persia, in 260. Perhaps, they belonged to the Sixth legion Ferrata, because this unit disappears from our sources after Valerian's defeat. Many aspects of Bishapur's architecture look Roman and do not belong to Iranian building traditions. An example is what specialists call the "Hippodamian street plan", which means that the city looks like a gridiron.

It was not a completely novel settlement: archaeologists have found remains from the Parthian and Elamite ages. It was built near a river crossing. Like the bridge at Shushtar, the city was built by Roman prisoners of war. On many places in Bishapur, architectural elements clearly show western, Roman influence. The city remained important until the Arabian invasions and the rise of Islam in the second quarter of the seventh century. There were still people living over here in the tenth century.

See also

• Firouzabad
• Fars
• Shiraz
• Academy of Gundishapur

External link

• CHN archive report of Bishapur