Rome's Wars in Parthia

Rome's Wars in Parthia
Author: Rose Mary Sheldon
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2010
Genre: Parthia
ISBN: 9780853039815

"Rome's foreign policy in the East has been the subject of many books, but until now there has been no detailed study of the individual wars Rome fought against Parthia from the military perspective. This book details Rome's military encounters with Parthia from the bumbling campaign of Crassus to the fall of the Parthian regime. America's recent war in Iraq has shown that invading Mesopotamia without proper intelligence is a bad idea, but it is not a new idea. Time after time the Romans stormed into the area between the Tigris and Euphrates thinking 'shock and awe' was all they needed to prevail. What they discovered was that it takes more than just overrunning an empire to defeat it. Exhausting the Parthian regime and furthering its collapse only brought forward a new enemy, the Persians, who were much stronger and more aggressive than the Parthians ever were. We may legitimately ask, therefore, whether Rome's aggressive policy against Parthia made Rome's eastern frontier less secure." "Did the Romans attack the Parthians in self-defence, or because they simply would not tolerate the co-existence of an equal power on their border? Its size alone made the Parthian Empire formidable. This certainly counterbalanced Rome's hegemony in the West. What did the Romans gain by attacking Parthia? This book will give a historical perspective on what is still a strikingly modern problem when waging war in the Middle East." --Book Jacket.

Rome & Parthia: Empires at War

Rome & Parthia: Empires at War
Author: Gareth C. Sampson
Publisher: Pen and Sword Military
Total Pages: 248
Release: 2020-08-05
Genre: History
ISBN: 1526710153

A Roman historian examines the motivation and strategy behind Marc Anthony’s invasion of Parthia and the reasons for its ultimate defeat. In the mid-first century BC, the Roman Empire was rivaled only by the Parthian Empire to the east. The first war between these two ancient superpowers resulted in the total defeat of Rome and the death of Marcus Crassus. When Rome collapsed into Civil War in the 1st century, BC, the Parthians took the opportunity conquer the Middle East and drive Rome back into Europe. What followed was two decades of war which saw victories and defeats on both sides. The Romans were finally able to gain a victory over the Parthians thanks to the great general Publius Ventidius. These victories acted as a springboard for Marc Antony’s plans to conquer the Parthian Empire, which ended in ignominious defeat. In this authoritative history, Gareth Sampson analyses the military campaigns and the various battles between Rome and Parthia. He provides fascinating insight into the war that in many ways defined the Middle East for the next 650 years.

Arsacids, Romans and Local Elites

Arsacids, Romans and Local Elites
Author: Jason Schlude
Publisher: Oxbow Books
Total Pages: 270
Release: 2017-04-30
Genre: History
ISBN: 1785705938

For almost 500 years (247 BCE–224 CE), the Arsacid kings of Parthia ruled over a vast multicultural empire, which encompassed much of central Asia and the Near East. The inhabitants of this empire included a complex patchwork of Hellenized Greek-speaking elites, Iranian nobility, and semi-nomadic Asian tribesman, all of whom had their own competing cultural and economic interests. Ruling over such a diverse group of subjects required a strong military and careful diplomacy on the part of the Arsacids, who faced the added challenge of competing with the Roman empire for control of the Near East. This collection of new papers examines the cross-cultural interactions among the Arsacids, Romans, and local elites from a variety of scholarly perspectives. Contributors include experts in the fields of ancient history, archaeology, classics, Near Eastern studies, and art history, all of whom participated in a multiyear panel at the annual conference of the American Schools of Oriental Research between 2012 and 2014. The seven chapters investigate different aspects of war, diplomacy, trade, and artistic production as mechanisms of cross-cultural communication and exchange in the Parthian empire. Arsacids, Romans, and Local Elites will prove significant for those interested in the legacy of Hellenistic and Achaemenid art and ideology in the Parthian empire, the sometimes under-appreciated role of diplomacy in creating and maintaining peace in the ancient Middle East, and the importance of local dynasts in kingdoms like Judaea, Osrhoene, and Hatra in shaping the geopolitical landscape of the Near East, alongside the imperial powerhouses of Rome and Parthia.

Defeat of Rome in the East

Defeat of Rome in the East
Author: Gareth C. Sampson
Publisher: Casemate Publishers
Total Pages: 388
Release: 2008-07-16
Genre: History
ISBN: 1844686345

“Not just worthwhile for its analysis of the battle, but also for its coverage on Marcus Licinius Crassus’ long career and the rise of the Parthian Empire.” —Medieval Warfare Magazine In 53BC the Proconsul Marcus Crassus and 36,000 of his legionaries were crushed by the Parthians at Carrhae in what is now eastern Turkey. Crassus’ defeat and death and the 20,000 casualties his army suffered were an extraordinary disaster for Rome. The event intensified the bitter, destructive struggle for power in the Roman republic, curtailed the empire’s eastward expansion and had a lasting impact on the history of the Mediterranean and the Middle East. It was also the first clash between two of the greatest civilizations of the ancient world. Yet this critical episode has often been neglected by writers on the period who have concentrated on the civil war between Pompey and Caesar. Gareth Sampson, in this challenging and original study, reconstructs the Carrhae campaign in fine detail, reconsiders the policy of imperial expansion and gives a fascinating insight into the opponents the Romans confronted in the East—the Parthians. “The book is very well written and tightly referenced . . . Recommended, especially for those who only remember Crassus as the guy who was played by Laurence Olivier in Spartacus.” —Slingshot

Reign of Arrows

Reign of Arrows
Author: Nikolaus Leo Overtoom
Publisher: Oxford Studies in Early Empire
Total Pages: 397
Release: 2020
Genre: History
ISBN: 0190888326

From minor nomadic tribe to major world empire, the story of the Parthians' success in the ancient world is nothing short of remarkable. Reign of Arrows provides the first comprehensive study dedicated entirely to early Parthian history and the first comprehensive effort to evaluate early Parthian political history since 1938.

The Parthians

The Parthians
Author: Uwe Ellerbrock
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 338
Release: 2021-03-25
Genre: History
ISBN: 1000358488

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.

The Roman Empire and the Silk Routes

The Roman Empire and the Silk Routes
Author: Raoul McLaughlin
Publisher: Pen and Sword
Total Pages: 219
Release: 2016-11-11
Genre: History
ISBN: 1473889812

A fascinating history of the intricate web of trade routes connecting ancient Rome to Eastern civilizations, including its powerful rival, the Han Empire. The Roman Empire and the Silk Routes investigates the trade routes between Rome and the powerful empires of inner Asia, including the Parthian Empire of ancient Persia, and the Kushan Empire which seized power in Bactria (Afghanistan), laying claim to the Indus Kingdoms. Further chapters examine the development of Palmyra as a leading caravan city on the edge of Roman Syria. Raoul McLaughlin also delves deeply into Rome’s trade ventures through the Tarim territories, which led its merchants to the Han Empire of ancient China. Having established a system of Central Asian trade routes known as the Silk Road, the Han carried eastern products as far as Persia and the frontiers of the Roman Empire. Though they were matched in scale, the Han surpassed its European rival in military technology. The first book to address these subjects in a single comprehensive study, The Roman Empire and the Silk Routes explores Rome’s impact on the ancient world economy and reveals what the Chinese and Romans knew about their rival Empires.

Rome's Great Eastern War

Rome's Great Eastern War
Author: Gareth C. Sampson
Publisher: Pen and Sword Military
Total Pages: 417
Release: 2021-08-31
Genre: History
ISBN: 1526762692

This military history of Ancient Rome analyses the empire’s revitalized push against rising enemies to the East. In the century since Rome’s defeat of the Seleucid Empire in the 180s BC, the East was dominated by the rise of new empires: Parthia, Armenia, and Pontus, each vying to recreate the glories of the Persian Empire. By the 80s BC, the Pontic Empire of Mithridates had grown so bold that it invaded and annexed the whole of Rome’s eastern empire and occupied Greece itself. But as Rome emerged from the devastating effects of the First Civil War, a new breed of general emerged with it, eager to re-assert Roman military dominance and carve out a fresh empire in the east. In Rome’s Great Eastern War, Gareth C. Sampson analyses the military campaigns and battles between a revitalized Rome and the various powers of the eastern Mediterranean hinterland. He demonstrates how this series of conflicts ultimately heralded a new phase in Roman imperial expansion and reshaped the ancient East.

The Oxford Handbook of Iranian History

The Oxford Handbook of Iranian History
Author: Touraj Daryaee
Publisher: OUP USA
Total Pages: 433
Release: 2012-02-16
Genre: History
ISBN: 0199732159

This handbook is a guide to Iran's complex history. The book emphasizes the large-scale continuities of Iranian history while also describing the important patterns of transformation that have characterized Iran's past.

The Defeat of Rome

The Defeat of Rome
Author: Gareth C. Sampson
Publisher: Pen & Sword Books
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2015
Genre: Carrhae, Battle of, Turkey, 53 B.C.
ISBN: 9781473828049

"First published in Great Britain in 2008 and reprinted ... in 2015"--Title page verso.