Ruins of an ancient city in, southern Iran . It was built in 266 by Shapur I of the Sasanian Empire and was named 'Beishapur', meaning 'Lord Shapur'. It was built at a river crossing on the road between Fars ( Istakr ) and Elam and Ctesiphon , and was a reuse of dwellings from the Elamite and Parthian periods. It has a rectangular cityscape similar to a Roman city, and is the only ancient Iranian city to have this shape. In addition to the square-shaped city area, there is a citadel, a stone cistern, and six reliefs in the nearby canyon.
In 260, Roman prisoners, including Valerian, who was captured at the Battle of Edessa , spent the rest of their lives here, and Shapur I also died in Bishapur in 270. The city, which once prospered as the second capital, declined after the Islamic conquest in the 7th century, and was abandoned in the 10th century as its residents moved to Kazerun in the southeast. It was investigated by a Russian-French excavation team in the 1930s.
