The Origins and Reasons of the Persecution of Syriac Christians under the Reign of Shapur II

Several researchers of the history of Sassanid era believe that when Christianity was accepted as the official religion by Roman Empire during the ruling period of Constantine I, Shapur II as well took Zoroastrianism as the official religion with the help of Adurbad-i Mahrspandan and suppressed the Christians of his empire and tried to persecute them. Since most of the historical documents that the researchers refer to, are Syriac sources, it is not clear that the suppression methods mentioned in these documents reflect the current martyrologis developed from the Roman “saint biography writing” tradition or the martyrologies of Shapur II era are authentic stories of killing Christians in that era. The Syriac sources that report the religious persecution in Shapur II era exaggerate. Their aim is not reporting the historical facts, so one cannot be sure of their content. Probably the persecution in the era had because of economic and political reasons, and had nothing to do with being Christian. Syriac Christians were mostly in west parts of the empire and their lands were important as the lands were fertile and close to the common borders with Roman Empire. The lands of Syriac people were among the greatest producers of agricultural productions in Sassanid Empire and the loyalty of the residents of the regions to Sassanid kings was so important. The study tried to explore the reasons of religious persecution of Christians by Shapur II and criticize the narratives of Syriac Christians of the era on the persecutions.