All classes acquiesced in the rule of the infant monarch, who received the name of Sapor--whether simply to mark the fact that he was believed to be the late king's son, or in the hope that he would rival the glories of the first Sapor, is uncertain.
The reign of Sapor II.

is estimated variously, at 69, 70, 71, and 72 years; but the balance of authority is in favor of seventy.

He was born in the course of the year A.D.309, and he seems to have died in the year after the Roman emperor Valens, or A.D.379.

He thus reigned nearly three-quarters of a century, being contemporary with the Roman emperors, Galerius, Constantine, Constantius and Constans, Julian, Jovian, Valentinian I., Valens, Gratian, and Valentinian II.
This long reign is best divided into periods.

The first period of it extended from A.D.309 to A.D.337, or a space of twenty-eight years.
This was the time anterior to Sapor's wars with the Romans.