In the Persian tradition of the history of Ardashir I, preserved in a Pahlavi text (Noldeke, Geschichte des Artachsir I. Papakan), he is made the son of a daughter of Mithrak, a Persian dynast, whose family Ardashir had extirpated because the magians had predicted that from his blood would come the restorer of the empire of Iran.
Only this daughter is preserved by a peasant; Shapur sees her and makes her his wife, and her son Hormizd is afterwards recognized and acknowledged by Ardashir. In this legend, which has been partially preserved also in Tabari, the great conquests of Shapur are transferred to Hormizd. In reality he reigned only one year and ten days.
This entry was originally from the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.