Second Mesopotamian campaign of Ardashir I
{{Infobox military conflict
| partof = the Roman–Persian Wars
| image = Map of Ardashir & shapur's campaign.jpg
| image_size = 300px
| caption = Ardashir and shapur's campaigns
| conflict = Second Mesopotamian campaign of Ardashir I
| date = 237–240
| place = Mesopotamia (Roman province)
| result = Sasanian victory
| territory = The Sasanian Empire conquers several cities including Nisibis (237),Carrhae (238) and Hatra (240){{Cite web |title=ARDAŠĪR I i. History |url=https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/ardasir-i/ |access-date=2025-04-09 |website=Encyclopaedia Iranica |language=en-US|quote=Disorder in the Roman empire after the murder of Alexander Severus in 235 evidently encouraged Ardašīr to launch new attacks on Rome’s eastern frontier: The most important were a raid on Dura in April 239 (Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum [ = SEG], VII, 743 b), a thrust into Upper Mesopotamia about 237-238 when Carrhae and Nisibis were captured (Syncellus I, 681 [Dindorf]; Zonaris 12.18) and an expedition against Hatra. It appears that Hatra resisted a very long siege and did not fall until sometime between April and September 240}}
| casus =
| combatant1 = Roman Empire
| combatant2 = Sasanian Empire
| commander1 = Maximinus Thrax
| commander2 = Ardashir I
Shapur I
}}
{{Campaignbox
| name = Campaignbox Second Mesopotamian campaign of Ardashir I
| title = Second Mesopotamian campaign of Ardashir I
| listclass = hlist
| battles =
}}
{{Template:Campaignbox Roman–Persian Wars}}
{{Template:Campaignbox Roman–Sassanid Wars}}
{{Template:Campaignbox Crisis of the Third Century}}
The Second Mesopotamian campaign of Ardashir I was an episode of the Roman–Sasanian Wars (224-363) The war between the Roman Empire, ruled by the Roman emperor Maximinus Thrax and the Sasanian rule, led by Ardashir I
First stage
In 237–240J.-M.Carriè, Eserciti e strategie, La Roma tardo-antica, per una preistoria dell'idea di Europa, vol.18, Milano 2008, p.94 during the reign of Maximinus the Thracian, who succeeded the last emperor of the Severan dynasty, Alexander, the cities of the Roman province of Mesopotamia, Nisibis and Carrhae, were conquered by the Sasanian Empire.Zonaras, Extracts of History, XII, 18.Giorgio Sincello, Selezione di cronografia, 681. Not surprisingly, Herodian also suggests that the Sasanians remained quiet for three or four years after Alexander Severus' campaigns of 232-233, the outcome of which was inconclusive.Herodian, History of the Empire after Marcus Aurelius, VI, 6.6.
238/239
A new large-scale invasion by the Sasanian armies occurred later that year, which laid siege to the fortress-city of Dura Europos, a Roman outpost on the Euphrates River, but it was repulsed by the Romans.Historia Augusta, Maximus and Balbinus, 13.5; {{AE|1948|124}}.F.Millar, The Roman near East (31 BC - AD 337), Cambridge Massachusetts & London 1993, p.150.X.Loriot, Les premières années de la grande crise du III siecle: de l'avènement de Maximin Thrace (235) à la mort de Gordian III (244), Aufstieg Niedergang Römischen Welt, II.2 (1975), p.657.Pat Southern, The Roman Empire: from Severus to Constantine, p. 70.
240
In the course of that year, it appears that Ardashir I finally succeeded in the feat of occupying and destroying the important Roman-allied city-stronghold of Hatra,{{Cite web |title=ARDAŠĪR I i. History |url=https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/ardasir-i/ |access-date=2025-04-09 |website=Encyclopaedia Iranica |language=en-US|quote=Disorder in the Roman empire after the murder of Alexander Severus in 235 evidently encouraged Ardašīr to launch new attacks on Rome’s eastern frontier: The most important were a raid on Dura in April 239 (Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum [ = SEG], VII, 743 b), a thrust into Upper Mesopotamia about 237-238 when Carrhae and Nisibis were captured (Syncellus I, 681 [Dindorf]; Zonaris 12.18) and an expedition against Hatra. It appears that Hatra resisted a very long siege and did not fall until sometime between April and September 240}} then occupying much of Roman Mesopotamia (including the legionary fortresses of Rhesaina and Singara as well as the auxiliary fort of Zagurae, today's Ain SinuX.Loriot, Les premières années de la grande crise du III siecle: de l'avènement de Maximin Thrace (235) à la mort de Gordian III (244), Aufstieg Niedergang Römischen Welt, II.2 (1975), p.763.), perhaps even going so far as to besiege and occupy Antioch itself,Historia Augusta, Gordiani tres, 26, 5-6. as seems to be suggested by the fact that its mint stopped minting coinage for the years 240 and 241.