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In the main, Sapor, it will be seen, follows the phrases of his father Artaxerxes; but he claims a wider dominion.  Artaxerxes is content to rule over Ariana (or Iran) only; his son calls himself lord both of the Arians and the non-Arians, or of Iran and Turan.  We may conclude from this as probable that he held some Scythic tribes under his sway, probably in Segestan, or Seistan, the country south and east of the Hamoon, or lake in which the Helmend is swallowed up.  Scythians had been settled in these parts, and in portions of Afghanistan and India, since the great invasion of the Yue-chi, about B.C. 200; and it is not unlikely that some of them may have passed under the Persian rule during the reign of Sapor, but we have no particulars of these conquests.

Sapor’s coins resemble those of Artaxerxes in general type, but may be distinguished from them, first, by the head-dress, which is either a cap terminating in the head of an eagle, or else a mural crown surmounted by an inflated ball; and, secondly, by the emblem on the reverse, which is almost always a fire-altar between two supporters [PLATE XV., Fig. 2.] The ordinary legend on the coins is “Mazdisn bag Shahpuhri, malkan malka Airan, minuchitri minyazdan,” on the obverse; and on the reverse “Shahpuhri nuvazi.”

It appears from these legends, and from the inscription above given, that Sapor was, like his father, a zealous Zoroastrian.  His faith was exposed to considerable trial.  Never was there a time of greater religious ferment in the East, or a crisis which more shook men’s belief in ancestral creeds.  The absurd idolatry which had generally prevailed through Western Asia for two thousand years—­a nature-worship which gave the sanction of religion to the gratification of men’s lowest propensities—­was shaken to its foundation; and everywhere men were striving after something higher, nobler, and truer than had satisfied previous generations for twenty centuries.  The sudden revivification of Zoroastrianism, after it had been depressed and almost forgotten for five hundred years, was one result of this stir of men’s minds.  Another result was the rapid progress of Christianity, which in the course of the third century overspread large portions of the East, rooting itself with great firmness in Armenia, and obtaining a hold to some extent on Babylonia, Bactria, and perhaps even on India.  Judaism, also, which had long had a footing in Mesopotamia, and which after the time of Hadrian may be regarded as having its headquarters at Babylon—­Judaism itself, usually so immovable, at this time showed signs of life and change, taking something like a new form in the schools wherein was compiled the vast and strange work known as “the Babylonian Talmud.”