Editing Shapur II (section)

== Accession ==
[[File:"The Coronation of the Infant Shapur II" cropped.jpg|thumb|"The Coronation of the Infant Shapur II", from the [[Shahnameh of Shah Tahmasp|''Shahnameh'' of Shah Tahmasp]], {{Circa|1525–1530}}]]
When [[Hormizd II]] died in 309, he was succeeded by his son [[Adur Narseh]], who, after a brief reign which lasted few months, was killed by some of the nobles of the empire.{{sfn|Tafazzoli|1983|p=477}} They then blinded Hormizd's second son,{{sfn|Al-Tabari|1991|p=50}} and imprisoned the third ([[Hormizd (son of Hormizd II)|Hormizd]], who afterwards escaped to the [[Roman Empire]]).{{sfn|Shahbazi|2004|pp=461-462}} The throne was reserved for another one of Hormizd II's children, Shapur II; some sources say that Shapur was born forty days after his father's death while others say that he was infant at the time.{{Sfn|Al-Tabari|1991|p=50, note 144}} A legend exists that Shapur was crowned while still unborn, with the crown being placed upon his pregnant mother's womb. This story was known to Western historians such as [[Agathias]] (6th century),{{Sfn|Al-Tabari|1991|p=50, note 144}} who writes that the [[magi]] had prophesied that the child would be a boy.{{Sfn|Agathias|1975|pp=127–128 (Book 4, Chapter 25)}} Modern historians [[C. E. Bosworth]]{{Sfn|Al-Tabari|1991|p=50, note 146}} and [[Alireza Shapour Shahbazi]] consider this story to be fictional.{{Sfn|Shahbazi|2005}} The sex of the infant could not have been known before Shapur's birth, writes Bosworth. The crowning of the infant Shapur after the elimination of his older brothers was a means for the nobility and priesthood to gain greater control of the empire.{{Sfn|Al-Tabari|1991|p=50, note 146}} They maintained their control until 325, when Shapur reached maturity at the age of sixteen.{{sfn|Daryaee|2014|p=16}}