1: Sassanian clibanarius, 7th C. AD
2: Sassanian standard bearerUnder Shahpour I's brilliant leadership the Sassanian army gave much of its attention to winning back the cities of Syria that had fallen to Rome during the Parthian Era.
Sassanian forces were described by Ammianus Marcellinus, a 4th century historian with the Roman Army as ".. clad in iron, with all parts of their body covered, including their heads."
Shahpour's campaigns culminated in the capture of Valerian the Roman Emperor in AD 259 at Edessa defeating a force of 70,000.
Upon his return from the Syrian campaign, Shahpour set building himself a city known as Bishapur (the beautiful city of shahpour). Roman Ghirshman the French archaeologist described it as the Sassanian Versailles believed to have had about 80000 inhabitants.
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