Shapur served as the governor of Sakastan–a province far away from the imperial court in Ctesiphon, and had since its conquest by Ardashir I (r. 224–240), served as a difficult area for the Sasanians to maintain control over.^[1] As a result, the province had since its early days functioned as a form of vassal kingdom, ruled by princes from the Sasanian family, who held the title of sakanshah ("king of the Saka").^[1] Although native Sakastani soldiers had helped Shapur II in his wars against the Romans, they were probably mercenaries, and the province still remained relatively decentralized.^[1] In 311, while Shapur was travelling from Sakastan to Istakhr, a city in Pars, he stopped at the ruins of the ancient Achaemenid capital of Persepolis, and had an inscription carved at the Tachara, the former palace of Darius the Great.^[2]

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• Christensen, Peter (1993). The Decline of Iranshahr: Irrigation and Environments in the History of the Middle East, 500 B.C. to A.D. 1500. Museum Tusculanum Press. pp. 1–351. ISBN 9788772892597.
• Gazerani, Saghi (2015). The Sistani Cycle of Epics and Iran's National History: On the Margins of Historiography. BRILL. pp. 1–250. ISBN 9789004282964.
• Wiesehöfer, Josef (2001). Ancient Persia. Translated by Azodi, Azizeh. I.B. Tauris. ISBN 978-1-86064-675-1.