About: Shapur I Captures Valerian at Edessa (260)

What happened to Emperor Valerian after Edessa? Death, captivity, and legend

Captured by Shapur I near Edessa in 260, Emperor Valerian spent the rest of his life in Persian captivity and died there. Later writers added lurid stories of humiliation and flaying, but the secure core is his capture and prolonged servitude.

In 260 CE, amid the chaos of the Third-Century Crisis, the Sasanian king Shapur I defeated the Romans near Edessa and took the emperor Valerian alive. Shapur’s own inscription boasts of the capture and of deporting Roman populations into Iran, while rock reliefs immortalize the triumph. Western sources agree Valerian died in captivity but disagree on how: the sober Eutropius describes long servitude; Christian authors like Lactantius and Orosius add moralizing tales of humiliation and even flaying. Modern scholarship treats those grisly details as polemical embroidery on a secure fact—Valerian’s unprecedented capture and death as a prisoner of the Persians.

Key Factors

Personal capture and deportations

Shapur I’s trilingual inscription (SKZ) claims he personally seized Valerian in a battle fought between Carrhae and Edessa. It also enumerates senior Roman captives and states that large numbers of prisoners were resettled across Iranian provinces.

Life and death in captivity

Eutropius reports that Valerian “grew old in ignominious servitude,” implying a prolonged imprisonment ending in death. No Persian source details his last days; the most secure conclusion is that he died a captive in the Sasanian realm.

Humiliation legends and polemic

Lactantius and Orosius, writing from a Christian moralizing perspective, claim Valerian was used as a footstool and later flayed, his skin displayed as a trophy. These stories are uncorroborated and are widely seen as rhetorical exempla rather than reliable reportage.

Propaganda and memory on stone

Sasanian reliefs at Naqsh‑e Rostam and Bishapur visually stage the victory: Philip the Arab kneels, and Shapur grasps Valerian by the wrist. These images, paired with SKZ, project royal legitimacy and fix the narrative of a king who humbled Rome.

Shockwaves in the Third-Century Crisis

Valerian’s capture—the first of a reigning Roman emperor—shattered imperial prestige and hastened fragmentation. In the aftermath, Odaenathus of Palmyra led counterstrikes for Rome in the East, even as western provinces drifted toward the breakaway Gallic Empire.

Historical Evidence

"“We with our own hands took Valerian Caesar prisoner … [and] we burned, ravaged, and took captive Syria, Cilicia, and Cappadocia,” with captives resettled in Iran."
— Shapur I, SKZ inscription (via Encyclopaedia Iranica)^[1]

"Eutropius states Valerian was captured and “grew old in ignominious servitude among the Parthians [Persians].”"
— Eutropius, Breviarium 9.7^[2]

"Lactantius claims Valerian was used as a footstool by Shapur and, after death, flayed with his skin displayed to embassies."
— Lactantius, De mortibus persecutorum 5^[3]

"Reliefs at Naqsh‑e Rostam depict Shapur I grasping Valerian’s wrist, visually proclaiming the Roman emperor’s capture."
— Livius.org, Naqš‑e Rustam: Relief of Shapur I^[5]

Part of Shapur I Captures Valerian at Edessa

This entry deepens the event ‘Shapur I Captures Valerian at Edessa (260)’ by tracing the emperor’s fate from battlefield defeat to death in Persian captivity and the legends that followed. It also situates the capture within the Crisis of the Third Century, highlighting its political shock and the Palmyrene-led Roman response.

Read Full Event →Explore Crisis of the Third Century