It is the only one of the nine pitched battles recorded to have been fought in a war of over twenty years, marked primarily by indecisive siege warfare, of which any details have been preserved.
When Shapur II, who ascended to the throne of the Sasanian Empire in 309 (at the time an unborn infant), came of age and took in hand the administration of his kingdom, he dedicated himself to a lifelong mission of restoring his country's military power, and avenging its recent defeats by the Romans and Saracens.
and then advanced in his first campaign against Constantius II in the following year, however, the Roman defensive lines resisted and the Persian forces made limited progress.
Two years later, he became bogged down in another siege of Nisibis, but was then obliged to break off the war to meet the threat of nomadic barbarian invasions in Sogdiana in the far east.
His successor, Jovian, was forced to cede extensive Roman territory in the treaty of Dura, and thus Shapur's ambitions were accomplished.