Rome and the Enemy

Rome and the Enemy

Author: Susan P. Mattern

Publisher: Univ of California Press

Published: 2023-04-28

Total Pages: 282

ISBN-13: 0520929705

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How did the Romans build and maintain one of the most powerful and stable empires in the history of the world? This illuminating book draws on the literature, especially the historiography, composed by the members of the elite who conducted Roman foreign affairs. From this evidence, Susan P. Mattern reevaluates the roots, motivations, and goals of Roman imperial foreign policy especially as that policy related to warfare. In a major reinterpretation of the sources, Rome and the Enemy shows that concepts of national honor, fierce competition for status, and revenge drove Roman foreign policy, and though different from the highly rationalizing strategies often attributed to the Romans, dictated patterns of response that remained consistent over centuries. Mattern reconstructs the world view of the Roman decision-makers, the emperors, and the elite from which they drew their advisers. She discusses Roman conceptions of geography, strategy, economics, and the influence of traditional Roman values on the conduct of military campaigns. She shows that these leaders were more strongly influenced by a traditional, stereotyped perception of the enemy and a drive to avenge insults to their national honor than by concepts of defensible borders. In fact, the desire to enforce an image of Roman power was a major policy goal behind many of their most brutal and aggressive campaigns. Rome and the Enemy provides a fascinating look into the Roman mind in addition to a compelling reexamination of Roman conceptions of warfare and national honor. The resulting picture creates a new understanding of Rome's long mastery of the Mediterranean world.


The Parthians

The Parthians

Author: Uwe Ellerbrock

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2021-03-25

Total Pages: 387

ISBN-13: 1000358526

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This volume provides a comprehensive overview of the history and culture of the Parthian Empire, which existed for almost 500 years from 247 BC to 224 AD. The Parthians were Rome’s great opponents in the east, but comparatively little is known about them. The Parthians focuses on the rise, expansion, flowering and decline of the Parthian Empire and covers both the wars with the Romans in the west and the nomads in the east. Sources include the small amount from the Empire itself, as well as those from outside the Parthian world, such as Greek, Roman and Chinese documents. Ellerbrock also explores the Parthian military, social history, religions, art, architecture and numismatics, all supported by a great number of images and maps. The Parthians is an invaluable resource for those studying the Ancient Near East during the period of the Parthian Empire, as well as for more general readers interested in this era.


Empires of Ancient Eurasia

Empires of Ancient Eurasia

Author: Craig Benjamin

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2018-05-03

Total Pages: 317

ISBN-13: 1107114969

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Introduces a crucial period of world history when the vast exchange network of the Silk Roads connected most of Eurasia.


Rome, Parthia & India

Rome, Parthia & India

Author: John D. Grainger

Publisher: Pen and Sword

Published: 2013-10-08

Total Pages: 200

ISBN-13: 1473830133

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Between 152 and 138 BC a series of wars from Africa to India produced a radically new geopolitical situation. In 150 Rome was confined to the western Mediterranean, and the largest state was the Seleukid empire. By 140 Rome had spread to the borders of Asia Minor and the Seleukid empire was confined to Syria. The new great power in the Middle East was Parthia, stretching from Babylonia to Baktria. These two divided the western world between them until the Arab conquests in the seventh century AD.These wars have generally been treated separately, but they were connected. The crisis began in Syria with the arrival of the pretender Alexander Balas; his example was copied by Andriskos in Macedon, formerly in Seleukid service; the reaction of Rome to defiance in Macedon, Greece and Africa produced conquest and destruction. The preoccupation of Seleukid kings with holding on to their thrones allowed Mithradates I of Parthia to conquer Iran and Babylonia, and in Judaea an insurrection was partly successful. Mithradates was able conquer in part because his other enemy, Baktria, was preoccupied with the nomad invasions which led to the destruction of Ai Khanum. One of the reasons for the nomad success in Baktria was the siphoning off of Greek strength into India, where a major expedition in these very years breifly conquered and sacked the old Indian imperial capital of Pataliputra.In the process the great cities of Carthage, Corinth, Ai Khanum, and Pataliputra were destroyed, while Antioch and Seleukeia-on-the-Tigris were extensively damaged. John Grainger's lucid narrative shows how these seismic events, stretching from India to the Western Meditteranean, interconnected to recast the ancient world.


The Persian Empire [2 volumes]

The Persian Empire [2 volumes]

Author: Mehrdad Kia

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA

Published: 2016-06-27

Total Pages: 800

ISBN-13: 1610693914

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This well-balanced reference on ancient Persia demonstrates the region's contributions to the growth and development of human civilization from the 7th century BCE through the fall of the Persian Sasanian Empire in 651CE. Knowledge of ancient Persia is often gleaned from the writings of the ancient Greeks and Romans—two civilizations that viewed the Persians as enemies. This one-of-a-kind reference provides unbiased coverage of the cultural history of the Persian Empire, examining the Median, Achaemenid, Parthian, Kushan, and Sasanian dynasties and tracing the development and maturation of Iranian societies during a period of nearly 1,500 years. As one of the most comprehensive studies on the topic, this historical overview explores the region's rich past while providing insight into the cultures and civilizations the Persians came to rule and influence. Using primary sources written and inscribed by the ancient Persians themselves, the encyclopedia studies the pre-Islamic civilizations of Iran in the Middle East, the Caucasus, Central Asia, and the Indian subcontinent. Incorporating contributions from scholars who discuss the rise and fall of various Persian dynasties, the work offers some 180 entries that cover such topics as religion, royal nobility, the caste system, and political assassinations. The content offers perspectives from a variety of disciplines—from anthropology to archaeology, geography, and art history, among other areas.


Rome in the East

Rome in the East

Author: Warwick Ball

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2016-06-10

Total Pages: 595

ISBN-13: 1317296354

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This new edition of Rome in the East expands on the seminal work of the first edition, and examines the lasting impact of the near Eastern influence on Rome on our understanding of the development of European culture. Warwick Ball explores modern issues as well as ancient, and overturns conventional ideas about the spread of European culture to the East. This volume includes analysis of Roman archaeological and architectural remains in the East, as well as links to the Roman Empire as far afield as Iran, Central Asia, India, and China. The Near Eastern client kingdoms under Roman rule are examined in turn and each are shown to have affected Roman, and ultimately European, history in different but very fundamental ways. The highly visible presence of Rome in the East – mainly the architectural remains, some among the greatest monumental buildings in the Roman world – are examined from a Near Eastern perspective and demonstrated to be as much, if not more, a product of the Near East than of Rome. Warwick Ball presents the story of Rome in the light of Rome’s fascination with the Near East, generating new insights into the nature and character of Roman civilisation, and European identity from Rome to the present. Near Eastern influence can be seen to have transformed Roman Europe, with perhaps the most significant change being the spread of Christianity. This new edition is updated with the latest research and findings from a range of sources including field work in the region and new studies and views that have emerged since the first edition. Over 200 images, most of them taken by the author, demonstrate the grandeur of Rome in the East. This volume is an invaluable resource to students of the history of Rome and Europe, as well as those studying the Ancient Near East.


Between Rome and Persia

Between Rome and Persia

Author: Peter Edwell

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2007-12

Total Pages: 312

ISBN-13: 1134095732

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This detailed history of Rome’s relationship with its Persian neighbour from Peter Edwell takes an innovative regional approach and covers the period from the first century BC to the third century AD.


Handbook of Ancient Afro-Eurasian Economies

Handbook of Ancient Afro-Eurasian Economies

Author: Sitta von Reden

Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG

Published: 2023-10-24

Total Pages: 950

ISBN-13: 3110604973

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The Handbook of Ancient Afro-Eurasian Economies offers in three volumes the first comprehensive discussion of economic development in the empires of the Afro-Eurasian world region to elucidate the conditions under which large quantities of goods and people moved across continents and between empires. Volume 3: Frontier-Zone Processes and Transimperial Exchange analyzes frontier zones as particular landscapes of encounter, economic development, and transimperial network formation. The chapters offer problematizing approaches to frontier zone processes as part of and in between empires, with the goal of better understanding how and why goods and resources moved across the Afro-Eurasian region. Key frontiers in mountains and steppes, along coasts, rivers, and deserts are investigated in depth, demonstrating how local landscapes, politics, and pathways explain network practices and participation in long-distance trade. The chapters seek to retrieve local knowledge ignored in popular Silk Road models and to show the potential of frontier-zone research for understanding the Afro-Eurasian region as a connected space.