Giulia the Tamaran

Giulia I
'Regnoselima'
August Queen of the Santian Empire
Reign	17 March 1315 - 18 June 1370
Consecration	21 March 1315
Predecessor	Vitirio I
Successor	Giulia II
Born	Danata Berica di Magario 13 March 1293 Orafars
Died	18 June 1370(1370-06-18) (aged 77) Yezerin
Burial	Magario Tombs
Issue	Giulia II Prince Letio Vitirio Prince Golbiro Capitolo Princess Danata Arsama Princess Faraia Luqiana Prince Araspo Magario Princess Gemelica Selima
Posthumous name Ziastorovianosa
Lineage	House of Magario
Father	Vitirio I
Mother	Gemelica the Tamaran
Religion	Santian Folk Religion

Giulia I (born Danata Berica di Magario; c. 13 March 1293 - 18 June 1370), also known by her posthumous name Ziastorovianosa, and commonly as Giulia the Tamaran or Giulia the Pure Soul, was the longest-reigning monarch of the Santian Empire. Ruling from 1315 to 1370, she oversaw the restoration of the empire from a small rump state into a major territorial power, ruling the entirity of the islands of Santia and Promeridona, and is regarded as the first ruler of the Giulian Period of Santian history.

Early years

Giulia I was born Danata Berica di Magario in winter 1293, in Orafars, her date of birth traditionally placed on 13 March. The third child of Prince Piro-Darado Fisi, son of reigning king Piro-Pero, her mother was Gemelica the Tamaran, a northern Tamaran princess who had been married to Piro-Darado in a diplomatic union in 1291. During her upbringing she remained close to her mother, speaking to her in a Tamaran dialect which would quickly give her the lifelong epithet 'the Tamaran'. In 1297, Piro-Pero died, naming Piro-Darado to succeed him as Vitirio I. As the daughter of a reigning king, Giulia was educated by court scholars on the presumption that she would participate in government, with a standard curriculum including poetry, hunting and singing. In 1306, aged 13, she is recorded as having led ancestral sacrifices at the annual Amsira celebrations in Magario on behalf of the king.

In 1308, aged 15, Giulia ended her formal education, and underwent a coming-of-age ceremony. By this time, she was recognised by her father as a capable princess, and was given the prestigious role of Warden of Orafars, separating her from the court during the summer months. During her time in the role, she assisted the king in presiding over the first re-plastering of the White Walls of Orafars in over 50 years, and formed links with a number of notables and officials who would later occupy high positions in her reign, including the Giasabsian Romelio Salu Masinu. In 1313, after presiding over the annual Amsira celebrations for a second time, she was withdrawn from the role of Warden and returned to court. Historians generally agree that this was intended to position her closer to succession, either so that she could be evaluated against her siblings or because she was already considered the most desirable heir; by 1313, Vitirio I's health was beginning to deterioriate. In 1315, no successor had been publicly designated, and Giulia's elder brother Piro-Faraio Delo was still considered a strong contender for the throne.

Early Reign

Accession

On 17 March 1315, in Yezerin, Vitirio I died after a long illness. Having been in too poor condition to make the seasonal move to Orafars at the beginning of winter, many leading members of the House of Magario had gathered in expectation of his death, but by March had begun to drift away, leaving Giulia in Yezerin with a minority of other princes and princesses. After learning of Vitirio I's death, Giulia declared that she believed she had been designated heir, and was able to earn the acceptance of her claim at court before the arrival of Piro-Faraio. On 21 March, the House of Magario convened at the Magario Tombs to oversee Vitirio I's burial and the succession. Following the funeral, Giulia presented her rule as a fait accompli and received oaths of loyalty from Piro-Faraio and other potential claimants. After this, she immediately returned to the entrance of the main tomb and underwent formal consecration, taking the regnal name Giulia and completing her accession to the throne.

Political struggles

Despite the efforts of Vitirio I to re-assert royal authority during his reign, the position of the monarchy remained precarious at Giulia's accession. The former king's chancellor, Shiro Remso di Castalesio, had backed Giulia's claim after she agreed to re-confirm his position, and quickly cemented his authority by putting forward a list of appointments, the majority of which Giulia accepted. Shiro Remso's cousin, Aiba Razmie di Castalesio, became Chamberlain of the Hall of Appearances, controlling access to the court. In an attempt to balance the power of the House of Castalesio, Giulia also appointed Giele di Lontano, a member of the rival House of Lontano, to command the royal guard, the Ultifesa.

In the two years after Giulia's accession, the government of the kingdom was dominated by Shiro Remso and the House of Castalesio, to whom large numbers of Asagi in western Santia owed direct loyalty. In the summer of 1316, the chancellor's brother Sirimo Thamrusio led a successful raiding expedition to the coast of western Promeridona. In the New Year celebrations of 1317, Shiro Remso claimed the right to follow Giulia in making sacrifices in the Hall of Appearances in Yezerin, a practice which had been common in the preceding centuries but abandoned in Piro-Pero's reign. Giulia refused, creating an increasing rift between the monarchy and chancellor. Shortly afterwards, Giele di Lontano was forced out of her position after being accused of embezzlement by Aiba Razmie di Castalesio. Against strong opposition, Giulia appointed a bondservant, Sama Gioru, in her place.

Early millenarian claims

In the late 13th century, a millenarian current had emerged in Santia in expectation of the passing of 1000 years since the eruption of Mount Birrin in the year 285, an event widely believed to have brought about a reordering of the cosmic order. After the passing of the year without great incident, many continued to expect a coming re-alignment. During her political struggles with the House of Castalesio, Giulia appealed to this current. On the day of Atimu Selimu in 1317, Giulia publicly reported in Yezerin the detection of auspicious signs and omens by palace heralds and diviners, and took the epiphet 'the pure soul', associated with the royal family's legendary divine founder, Magario. Later that year, new embassies were sent to Promeridona, courting rulers who still held nominal allegiance to the Santian monarchy. These efforts were largely unsuccessful, but made asagi in the former lands of the Santian Empire aware of Giulia's desire to re-establish imperial rule.

After assuming millenarian trappings, Giulia increasingly came into contact with local asagi, touring the environs of Orafars in the winter of early 1318. She set up a network of heralds, messengers and overseers separate under direct royal control, enabling her to communicate directions and interventions without involving the palace hierarchy or bureaucracy. At the following new year celebrations, she again refused the demand of Shiro Remso to allow him to jointly participate in sacrifices, widening the rift between Queen and chancellor even further.

Destruction of the House of Castalesio

In May 1318, the Nizmate of Farstan in northern Basaqastan was invaded by Yereman, the ruler of the neighbouring Nizmate of Aliqi. The ruling Nizm, ethnic-Santian Tasfalo II, continued to maintain that the Nizmate was still part of the Santian Empire despite its de-facto independence, and appealed to Giulia for aid. She publicly accepted the request, and began raising an army, composed of a wide array of middle and lower Asagi, and building a fleet. By the beginning of winter, the main body of the army had assembled outside Orafars, waiting until spring to cross the Strait of Devisgund.

After celebrating Amsira in the capital, on 24 December 1318, Shiro Remso met with Giulia and senior members of her household to discuss the military situation. Suddenly, the Queen began to harshly denounce the chancellor, accusing him of conspiring to overthrow her and poisoning Vitirio I. Realising his situation, he attempted to flee, but was prevented from leaving the room by members of the Ultifesa, and strangled with a cord. Immediately after Shiro Remso's death, Aiba Razmie was apprehended with her household and killed. Over the following hours, all other members of the House of Castalesio in Orafars were killed, and orders were sent across Santia to execute members of the lineage outside the capital. By the beginning of 1319, most prominent members of the family had been killed. In Castalesio, the heartland of the house's power, Sirimo Thamrusio gathered soldiers he had been preparing for the campaign in Farstan and denounced Giulia's rule as illegitimate. He attempted to raise an army, but found that several lower asagi families in Castalesia province had sided with the Queen, and could only gather 2,000 soldiers. The royal army in Orafars quickly began to move north under Giulia's command, reaching Castalesio in February 1319. After two weeks, the leaders of the city surrenderered. Sirimo Thamrusio was executed, along with all remaining notable members of the House of Castalesio, and the southern portion of the city wall was demolished to prevent future rebellion.

After the events of the winter, the House of Castalesio ceased to exist as a political force, leaving Giulia in undisputed control of the government. Giele di Lontano was appointed chancellor in Shiro Remso's place, while the Giasabsian Romelio Salu Masinu was appointed chamberlain of the hall of appearances. Shortly after the siege of Castalesio, near the town of Palilema, Giulia gathered the asagic leaders of her army and compelled them to swear a new oath of loyalty, the Submission of Palilema, affirming her divine descent as 'the Pure Soul', and recogising her right to re-order the world in pursuit of justice. After this, the army was dispersed, putting off the eventual invasion of Farstan until after Yereman had conquered the area.

Military campaigns

Conquest of Basaqastan

In the spring of 1320, Giulia assembled a second army to defeat Yereman of Aliqi, now with the mission of directly re-establishing Santian rule in northern Basaqastan. The asago Masilio Aino was appointed its commander. In April, it disembarked near Varisil, which immediately opened its gates to the Santians. After the defeat of Tasfalo II, many asagi in the former lands of the Nizmate of Farstan were dissatisfied with Yereman's rule, and were attracted by Giulia's millenarian message, which was delivered by heralds to cities near the army. The Santian army moved inland and besieged the city of Confimeri, which negotiated a surrender. Shortly afterwards, the Santian army returned to its advance towards Aliqi, and was brought to battle by a slightly smaller army under Yereman near a ford on the River Mitori. In the Battle of the Mitori, Aino gained the upper hand and was able to force an Aliqian retreat, during which Yereman was thrown from his horse and killed. After the Nizm's death, resistance collapsed, and most northern Basaqastanian asagi swore oaths of loyalty to Giulia. Aliqi was besieged, and surrendered after three weeks, bringing the campaign to an end. The city of Aliqi was sacked, and lands owned by major asagi who had remained loyal to Yereman were distributed to supporters. The formerly separate Nizmates of Farstan and Aliqi were restored as Sabania, with Santian Sabani.

Two years after the conquest of Farstan, Tayisela di Salsirimo, the Sabana of Aliqi, launched a military campaign to capture the city of Navenurt, the last remaining ciy in northern Basaqastan, which had been under the protection of the Kotalid Nizmate of southern Basaqastan. The Nizmate had been in a state of political insecurity after the accession of Nizm Teripa Kotala, and had refused requests for tribute from Giulia's court despite its status as a nominal Santian subject. After the successful capture of Navenurt, Teripa took no action, but ignored a Santian embassy asking again for her to acknowledge Santian leadership. After this, Giulia began making preparations for a campaign in southern Basaqastan, and began steady communication with a number of major asagi under Kotalid rule. Her position was significantly strengthened later that year when Teripa appointed a Christian, Jakya Anetarifi, her chancellor, stoking fears that she would convert to the growing religion as the Nizm Sulipari had done decades earlier.

After a final request for tribute was refused, a small Santian army under Tayisela di Salsirimo began a raiding expedition into southern Basaqastan in autumn 1322. Intending to sweep across the northern flank of the Kotalid Nizmate, the army's movement was quickly hindered by Teripa's raising of a larger army, which pursued and harried it for the following months without a battle. Despite its relative lack of success, Tayisela's force survived the winter, and was able to prepare the ground for a larger invasion, tiring opposing soldiers and proclaiming Giulia's millennarian message. In Spring 1323, Giulia assembled a substantial army of 22,000 in Farstan, and personally accompanied it into southern Basaqastan, leaving tactical command to Masilio Aino and other generals but making larger strategic decisions and reinforcing her imperial claim with elaborate rituals and audiences. Upon reaching Koladia, in the northwest of the Kotalid Nizmate, Giulia declared her intent to re-establish Santian authority in southern Basaqastan and crush the political power of the Christians, establishing a new, just order. Her millennarian message was reinforced by purported supernatural incidents, including widely circulated claims that her presence made the blind see in towns that she passed through.

After taking Koladia, Giulia's army was met by Teripa's, which was slightly smaller. The two armies clashed in the Battle of Merikart, resulting in a clear but not decisive Santian victory. After the battle, the Kotalid army withdrew further south towards the capital city of Luqiu, giving the Santians free reign over a large part of southwestern Basaqastan but assuming a strong position in the hills and valleys between them and the city. For several weeks, Giulia chose to remain near Koladia, joining up with di Salsirimo's army and appealing to the Kotalid asagi rather than pressing her position. Having defeated Teripa and established numerical superiority, she earned the defection of several asagi families in southwestern Basaqastan, including Maridad Seqoyi, who contributed a further 1,000 horsemen to her army. By early summer, with secure supply lines in western Basaqastan, Giulia, Aino and di Salsirimo formulated a plan to draw Teripa onto more favourable ground. The Santian army began a quick march to the southwest from Luqiu, reaching the Libertaryan coastal plain and bearing down on the important commercial city of Selitos on the assumption that Teripa considered it too important to lose. The gambit succeeded, and Teripa turned away from the northern flank of Liqiu, repositioning itself on flatter and more favourable ground closer to Selitos. Over the following weeks, the two armies maneuvered around each other in an attempt to gain an advantage. In september, Giulia was able to force a battle on the fields near the Tihiam Monastery, beginning the Battle of the Tihiam Monastery. Fighting on the first day was largely inconclusive. On the second day, Teripa led a cavalry attack on the Santian eastern flank, but was soon surrounded by the forces of Seqoyi and Aino. After a fierce and bloody stand, Teripa and her detachment were killed, precipitating the collapse of the Kotalid army.

In Luqiu, Teripa's uncle Lom Kotali II proclaimed himself Nizm and attempted to organise a defence, to little success. As Giulia's army captured Selitos bloodlessly and approached the capital from the south, he fled east, arriving in Tabariere but disappearing shortly afterwards. During the short siege of Luqiu, most major non-Christian asagi in southern Basaqastan swore allegiance to Giulia. Despite putting up little resistance, the city was sacked and burned to the ground, though it would be quickly rebuilt within the same walls. After capturing Luqiu, Giulia split her army into two parts, di Salsirimo leading an expedition to the Ciona Mountains and Transciona, and the queen herself continuing on to southeastern Basaqastan. Near the Cemsor river, Giulia's army fought a small Christian force led by the chancellor Jakya Anetarifi, triumphing and driving it to Tabariere. She then travelled up the river and triumphantly entered An Alqam, the former capital of the Nizmstani Empire, with great ceremony. After making sacrifices to the tombs of the Nizmstani kings and pledging to rebuild the city to its old spendour, she departed southward, aiming to capture the Christian-majority cities of the far southeast that had put up the most resistance to Santian authority. After reaching the coast, the Santians met and defeated Jakya Anetarifi for a second time in the Battle of Etarif, earning the submission of the cities of Thulea and Etarif. The Christian Bishop of Etarif, in defiance of the surrender, fought with a small detachment of priests and volunteers to defend the city's cathedral, and was quickly killed. In response, Giulia ordered the demolition of the cathedral, though this would not actually be carried out for several years. The Santian army then proceeded to the largest Christian city, Tabariere. The city put up strong resistance under its Bishop-Primate, but was forced to surrender after three months by a naval blockade of ships captured from Thulea and Etarif. This completed the conquest of Basaqastan, and was followed by the dispersal of the Santian army and the establishment of a formal Sabania-based governing structure. After spending the winter in An Alqam and touring the major cities of southern Basaqastan, Giulia returned to the island of Santia in 1324.

Conquest of Transciona and Azikala

In the later stages of the conquest of Basaqastan, Giulia ordered Tayisela di Salsirimo to cross the Ciona Mountains at Makanamhad in order to gain the submission of the Transcionan Principalities, which continued to nominally recognise Santian authority. After a standoff, and the capture of several towns, the Princes of the region gathered and agreed to pay annual tributes to Giulia while remaining in power, ending the conquest.

In 1329, Santian elites in the Kheniri Empire successfully pushed through the election of a puppet king, Zdan, who was recognised and congratulated by Giulia. In the following years, however, the increasingly powerful Santian population, encouraged by the resurgence of the Santian empire, increasingly came to desire closer union with the Regnoselimo, resulting in resistance from Zdan. In 1335, he publicly protested. Giulia, using the pretext of a petition sent by Kheniri Santians, ordered the assembly of a 10,000-strong army in southern Basaqastan and Promeridona, which would embark on a punitive expedition to Malidia.

Later that year, under the command of Giulia's brother Prince Oristano Marsali, the army set out, arriving in modern-day Azikala without maritime resistance. Having been declared sabano of Malidia, he quickly received oaths of loyalty from the local Santian leaders, and secured control over much of the country without violence. Oristano then marched on Archobarzane in pursuit of Zdan, who met him with a small force. The Kheniri king's army was wiped out, and he was killed, resulting in the end of major resistance. While claiming overlordship of the entirity of Malidia, Oristano established firm control only over Azikala, the heartland of the Kheniri empire.

Campaigns in eastern Promeridona

After the conquests of Basaqastan, Transciona and Azikala, Giulia expanded her diplomatic networks, and became increasingly demand of fealty from neighboring rulers as she increased in strength. By 1335, most regional lords in the Qûmêşîn desert and coastal central Promeridona had accepted Santian leadership without violence.

During the 1340s, Giulia successively invaded the kingdoms of eastern Promeridona, which had previously been part of the Santian empire but had rebuked its royal authority. After several setbacks, Giulia personally led a large army to the region in 1347, pacifying resistance and establishing form rule.

During her later years, Giulia sought to extend Santian rule towards the south of the island, which was progressively furthered by small-scale invasions, sieges and raids. The southernmost part of the island, particularly fertile and densely populated yet never previously part of the empire, was a particular object of interest. In 1357, Giulia left the island of Santia for the last time, leading a military force of 35,000, the Pilgrimage of Light, to the area. The invasion succeeded in its goal of destroying united resistance in the area and pillaging large amounts of precious goods, but did not result in the immediate establishment of Santian rule. The gradual conquest of southern Promeridona would continue until its completion in the early 15th century.

Administration

Administrative reform

After the destruction of the House of Castalesio and her early conquests, Giulia was left in a particularly powerful position, allowing her to pursue wide-reaching reforms to the structure of the reconstituted Santian empire. While different parts of the expanding empire were ruled in significantly different ways, depending on the circumstances of their conquests, Giulia aimed to establish a regularised structure of leadership and tax collection in Promeridona, while curbing the independent power of the asagi class in Santia itself.

From the late 1330s, the Sabania system of the early conquests was steadily revised. The borders of sabania, which had been determined according to the needs of the conquest, were redrawn, while power within each was separated between the sabane, responsible for tax collection, and the governor-general, responsible for the command of a local military garrison, each separately and directly appointed by the monarch. These garrisons were staffed by soldiers of a new standing army, recruited from across the empire and paid a monetary salary. Two-thirds of cavalry units within the standing army were drawn from Santia proper. Within the new system, the position of each sabane and governor-general was reviewed every five years, at which a new register of financial accounts was to be sent to the capital to evaluate tax contributions. By the time of Giulia's expedition to eastern Promeridona, this position had been implemented in the west of the island, with Malidia retaining its powerful Sabano until Prince Oristano's death in 1356.

Giulia spent much of her middle and later reign attempting to impose a new system of rule on Santia proper, an effort which ultimately succeeded. Aiming to end the local power bases that had previously been maintained by the House of Castalesio, she declared that the taxation rights and overlordships in Santia would be allocated by the monarchy, according to a seven-ranked system of nobility. Each asagic lineage head would be assigned a noble rank entitling them to their current holdings, but these ranks would not be heritable, requiring periodic re-ennoblement by the monarch with the passing of each generation. Each successive rank, provided with increased tax revenues, would be required to maintain a set number of cavalry soldiers to periodically serve alongside the standing army. More controversially, from 1357, asagic holdings would be periodically re-assigned every decade, uprooting established lineages from their regions of origin and moving them to a different part of the island. After this decree, Giulia was faced with a tax revolt by a large body of Santian asagi, but held for several years. In 1361, while refusing to abolish the new system, Giulia weakened resistance by restricting periodic rotation to lowland asagi alone, and granting a degree of heritability to noble titles, with each depreciating in rank by one on the death or removal of the lineage head rather than ceasing to exist. After this, the noble system remained intact until after Giulia's death, though her intention to ultimately expand it outside of Santia went largely unimplemented, and asagic rotations quickly became irregular by the mid-15th century.

Building projects

Using the wealth acquired from her conquests, Giulia was able to embark on a large number of costruction projects during her reign, both in Santia proper and the new imperial territories. During the 1350s and 1360s, she oversaw the construction of the Royal Circuit, a large paved road connecting both Santian capitals across a large difference in elevation. Around the road, a large number of commemorative reliefs were constructed. The road would continue to be used as the main means of transport between Orafars and the Santian mountains until well into the 20th century.

Imperial ideology

During her reign, Giulia deliberately cultivated a legitimising ideology that both drew upon existing traditions and marked her own reign as a unique break from the past. During her conquests, this ideology was dominated by millennarian presentations, with Giulia depicting herself as a messianic figure who would 're-order the world' and establish a new age of prosperity and justice. She employed a large number of diviners and oracles who accompanied diplomatic embassies to spread her millennarian message, and spread stories of her carrying out miracles, most commonly healing the blind. As part of her project of 're-ordering', she elevated individuals of low social standing, such as bondservants and slaves, to prominent positions, while flouting the privileged treatment traditionally afforded to higher-status enemies. Throughout the conquest period, Giulia rewarded those who defected to her cause while showing exceptional brutality to her opponents, executing captured generals by flaying or boiling and demolishing the ancestral tombs of enemy Santians such as the House of Castalesio, as a marker of her 'pure' and strict justice.

In the structure of the court, Giulia sought to re-sacralise the Santian monarch as a figure of religious and political authority, elevated above the major asagic lineages. She significantly reduced access to the monarch outside highly formalised 'appearances', and established a more clearly hierarchical system among courtiers, including major officeholders. On the new Royal Circuit, the bi-annual migration of the monarch between the two capital cities became a regularised ritual event, essentially taking the form of a continuous parade, in which the monarch, from an elevated carriage, distributed gifts to surrounding crowds, and nearby asagi prostrated themselves to swear fealty.

In her pronouncements, memorials and building projects, Giulia re-affirmed her status as a universal monarch, denigrating independent rulers as 'rebel-kings', and referring to her domain as 'the four corners of the world' or 'the inhabited world'. The oaths of loyalty in which she placed significant prominence made no distinction between the asagi, common people or slaves, with such social roles declared to be a structure established by and dependent upon royal sanction. In 1336, Giulia commissioned a new history of the House of Magario, the Universal History. In the book, the writing of which she personally oversaw, the dynasty's founder Magario was depicted as her direct predecessor and precedent, with descriptions of his character and even physical appearance that closely reflected hers, likely deliberately invoking (though never proclaiming outright) the idea that Giulia was Magario's spiritual reincarnation. Throughout her public depictions, Giulia consciously placed herself above her other ancestors, announcing that her conquests and works had "surpassed all that had been done previously". After her death, such claims would be used by later monarchs to attempt to delineate Giulia's descendants from the wider House of Magario as a particularly worthy royal lineage.

Persecution of Christians

From the beginning of her conquest of Basaqastan, Giulia expressed strong opposition to Christianity, which had a considerable presence on the southern coast of Promeridona. While the Santian monarchy had never ruled over a substantial Christian population, the religion having become widespread after the previous contraction of the empire, it was widely understood that it was incompatible with royal divinity. Whatever the strength of this religious split, Giulia was able to use anti-Christian rhetoric to significantly advance her cause during the conquest of the Kotalid Nizmate, promising to end the Nizmate's long-running conflict between Christian and non-Christian asagi by coming down firmly on the side of the latter, and gaining the support of many longstanding anti-Christians as a result. Upon conquering areas with large Christian populations, she advised ruling sabani and asagi to exclude Christians from power whenever possible, except when they agreed to recognise Giulia's divine descent, although this was rarely achievable in larger population centres.

After the early conquests, Giulia became steadily more antagonistic to existing Christian populations, angered at the slowness of attempts to reconcile them to her rule. This came to a head in 1329, when a Santian garrison in the Basaqastanian Christian city of Etarif attempted to demolish its cathedral in accordance with a decree given by Giulia during its conquest. Years detached from the initial taking of the city, the move to demolish the cathedral created furious opposition from the residents of the city, as well as its bishop. As soldiers approached the cathedral, they were attacked by crowds, sparking a popular uprising which soon ejected the Santian garrison. After the city leaders accepted the events, the bishop of Etarif appealed to other Christian cities and towns in the region for aid, declaring that Giulia was a reflection of the Christian Antichrist. A small army was raised, which was marched into the Cemsor Valley. Within one year, however, the Christians were defeated by the governor-general appointed to the area. Etarif was sacked, and its cathedral was demolished. The garrison also deliberately set fire to the cathedral of Tabariere upon reaching the city, killing in the process the Tree of Sapur, a major Christian relic.