SAPORE II, king of PERSIA. - Of the Sassanid dynasty (310–79), of which he is the best-known member. Son of Ormazd II, he is known in history for his religious fanaticism, inherited from his predecessors, who, being of priestly origin, had always dreamed of establishing Mazdaism as the official religion of the State.
But S. surpassed them all in the fierce repression of every infiltration of foreign religions, especially Christianity. For him, the religious unity of Persia or Irán also had a political significance; he therefore wished to compel Christians, suspected of sympathies for the Roman Empire, the hereditary enemy of the Sassanians, to embrace the official religion. At Seleucia he had Bishop Simone Bar Sabba hanged together with about a hundred members of the clergy. Besides the clergy, S. also vented his fury upon the monasteries. The see of Seleucia remained vacant for twenty years. After the vain military attempts of Costanzo II and Giuliano, in 363 Gioviano had to come to terms with S., abandoning Nisibi and Armenia to the Persians; there S. hastened to establish Zoroastrianism.