Bishapur or the City of Shapour I, situated in the Iranian Fars province, was founded in 266 AD by Shapur (241-272 AD), who was the second Sassanid king, after Ardashir. The city was a Sassanid administrative center accessible by roads from Ctesiphon to the north, Firoozabad to the southeast, Istakhr and Persepolis to the east, and the Persian Gulf to the south. Shapour had defeated the Romans in battle and city was designed on a Greco-Roman grid plan and built with the help of Roman captives after Valerian I's defeat in 260 AD; on many places in Bishapur, architectural elements clearly show western, Roman influence. However, it was not a completely novel settlement as archaeologists have found remains from the Parthian and Elamite ages.
The city had a palace and a Zoroastrian Fire Temple. There was a courtyard decorated with mosaics. The city was naturally protected by high gorges and rocky escarpments that open into a fertile plain watered by the Shapur river. In the south of city, over a the rocky cliff, ruins of a Sassanid fortress that dominated the city, still remains.
Bishapur and its inhabitants fell into decay after the Arab's invasion to Persia.