Peace was made, and this permitted the Romans to regain the province of Mesopotamia, which seems to have been under Persian domination since Shapur's conquests. The reason for the acceptance by Bahram II of such onerous terms was possibly a revolt of Hormizd, brother of Bahram, in the eastern provinces. The rebel was reportedly supported by the Sakas, Kushans, and people of Gilan. We do not know what position Hormizd held; perhaps he was a king in Khurasan, or even in Sakastan, and he may have proclaimed himself great king of the Kushans. Bahram was able to put down the revolt, and we might surmise that he installed his son, also called Bahram, as the king of the Sakas in place of the rebel. Bahram II had several rock-reliefs cut at Blshapur and at Naqsh-i Rustam, possibly in honour of his victory over his rebel brother, or other conquests. He also had reliefs carved at Guyum and Barm-i Dilak, north and south of present Shiraz.
About 288 the new Roman emperor Diocletian placed Tiridates, an Arsacid prince who had fled to Roman domains, on the throne of at least part of Armenia, and Bahram by his inaction acquiesced. Probably Sasanian control had become weakened over some sections of Armenia, though Narseh, son of Shapur I may have been appointed by Bahram to rule over the country. When Bahram II died in 293, his son Bahram III ruled for only a few months until he was deposed by his uncle Narseh.1 We have a bilingual inscription, or probably two bilingual inscriptions, of Narseh at Paikuli in modern Iraq near the Persian frontier. Unfortunately, many of the stones of the monument are missing, but some sense may be made of what remains in spite of great lacunae.
Narseh was in Armenia at the time of the death of Bahram II, either as its king, or possibly as head of a Sasanian army intent oh defeating and deposing a competitor, Tiridates. In his inscription, however, Narseh calls himself " king of kings ". Although the title in the inscription - "king of the Armenians" - may refer to Narseh before he took the throne, it more plausibly should refer to Tiridates afterwards in the inscription. In any case, according to the inscription, a noble called Vahunam took the diadem and either for a time usurped the throne or more likely prepared the way for Bahram III, the king of the Sakas. Some of the nobility were killed and others objected to the high-handed policies of the new regime. Many nobles joined in a conspiracy to overthrow Bahram and sought the candidacy to the throne of Narseh. He came from Armenia, probably having made peace with, and possibly even with the support of, Tiridates. Narseh was counselled by his new supporters to come to the border of Babylonia (Asuristan), where the site of Paikuli was located. A caravan of notables came to him to pledge allegiance. Kartir the famous mobad, having seen the writing on the wall, may have been among the number who came. The fate of Vahunam and Bahram III is not known, for the first or upper inscription of Paikuli has too many lacunae at the end to reconstruct it, and they vanish from history.
Hormizd I the Son of Shapur
