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<blockquote>When at first we had become established in the empire, Gordian Caesar assembled from all of the Roman, Goth and German lands a military force and marched on [[Asorestan]] (Mesopotamia) against the ''[[Ērānšahr]]'' (Sasanian Empire) and against us. On the border of Asorestan at Misiche, a great frontal battle occurred. Gordian Caesar was killed and the Roman force was destroyed. And the Romans made Philip Caesar. Then Philip Caesar came to us for terms, and to ransom their lives, gave us 500,000 denars, and became tributary to us. And for this reason we have renamed Misiche ''Peroz-Shapur'' [literally "Victorious Shapur"].<ref>''[[Res Gestae Divi Saporis]]'', 3-4 (translation of Shapur's inscription at Naqsh-e Rustam).</ref></blockquote>
The Roman sources never admitted the defeat.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Potter|first1=David S.|title=The Roman Empire at Bay, AD 180–395|date=2014|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9781134694846|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hGuGAgAAQBAJ&lpg=PT232|language=en}}</ref> The contemporary and later Roman sources claim that the Roman expedition was entirely or partially successful but the emperor was murdered after a plot by [[Philip the Arab]].<ref>This version of the events is accepted by Christian Körner, ''Philippus Arabs, Ein Soldatenkaiser in der Tradition des antoninisch-severischen Prinzipats'', Walter de Gruyter, Berlin 2002.</ref> However, some scholars think that the Sasanian victory must not be invented and reject Philip's plot as the ultimate reason of Gordian's death,. whileWhile some sources claim that it isn't likely that Gordian died during the battle, as Shapur's inscription claims,<ref name=Potter>David S. Potter, The Roman Empire at Bay AD180-395, p.234-235</ref><ref>Michael I. Rostovtzeff, p.23</ref> others state he died on the battlefield.<ref>[https://books.google.fr/books?id=MG2hqcRDvJgC&pg=PA22&lpg=PA22&dq=siege+of+nisibis+252+sassanian+victory&source=bl&ots=o8M5vgLnSl&sig=MkrZAcE4vttfBSFLY4yljPyl3mw&hl=fr&sa=X&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=siege%20of%20nisibis%20252%20sassanian%20victory&f=false/ Rome and Persia in Late Antiquity: Neighbours and Rivals], "They probably intended to get as far as the Sasanian capital Ktesiphon but at the beginning of the year 244, Shapur I scored a decisive victory against the Roman army at Misik. Gordian III died in battle"</ref><ref>[http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/shapur-i/ Encyclopaedia Iranica] "It is understandable that Roman national pride transferred the responsibility of the defeat, in which Gordian III became the first Roman emperor to lose his life on enemy battlefield, to Philip. On the other hand, the feeling of the Sasanian triumph was immortalized in several rock-reliefs of Šāpur I, and the victory at Misiḵē was mentioned by a boastful Šāpur as the single military event within this first campaign."</ref> Some sources mention a cenotaph of the murdered emperor at Zaita, near Circesium of [[Osroene]] (some 400 km north of Misiche).<ref>[[Ammianus Marcellinus]], ''Res Gestae, 23.5.7</ref><ref>[[Zosimus]], ''Nova Historia'', book 3</ref> The confusion of the sources about the expedition and the death of the emperor makes it possible that, after the defeat, Roman army was frustrated enough to get rid of the teenage emperor.<ref name=Potter/>
==Aftermath==
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