according to an inscription, the city itself was founded in 266 ad by shapur i (241-272), who was the second sassanid king and inflicted a triple defeat on the romans, having killed gordian iii, captured valerian and forced philip the arab to surrender. in his native province of fars, he built a new capital that would measure up to his ambitions: bishapur, "shapur's city". outside the city, shapur decorated the sides of the bishapur river gorge with huge historical relief commemorating his triple triumph over rome. one of these reliefs, in a semicircular shape, has rows of registers with files of soldiers and horses, in a deliberate imitation of the narrative scenes on the trajan column in rome.