Parthian-Armenian Relations from the 2nd Century BCE to the Second Half of the 1st Century CE

Dąbrowa, Edward

doi:10.4467/20800909el.21.005.13363

Electrum

2021

DOI: 10.4467/20800909el.21.005.13363

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Parthian-Armenian Relations from the 2nd Century BCE to the Second Half of the 1st Century CE

Edward Dąbrowa¹

Abstract: The aim of this paper is to present Parthian-Armenian relations from the end of the 2nd century BCE to the so-called Treaty of Rhandeia (63 CE). This covers the period from the first contact of both states to the final conclusion of long-drawn-out military conflicts over Armenia between the Arsacids ruling the Parthian Empire and Rome. The author discusses reasons for the Parthian involvement in Armenia during the rule of Mithradates II and various efforts of the Arsacids to win control over this area. He also… Show more

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2022

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Cited by 2 publications

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“…Vologeses, who became king in 51 CE 29 , began to raise troops to make his brother Tiridates king there 30 . He went on a campaign and actually expelled the Iberians without a fight.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…prosperae in Armenia Res Addiderant”: Corbulo, Tacitus and Constructing the Images of Rome’s Early Imperial Campaigns in Armenia

Humennyi¹

2022

Visn. Lviv. Univ., Ser. Istor.

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he Roman historiography of the early Antonine era is represented by the works of Tacitus, whose texts are our main source for the attempts to solve certain problems of the history of early imperial Rome and the history of the surrounding regions. In this context, two central problems arise and still remain: the search for the origins of those models that Tacitus used as the basis for his description of the situation in Armenia in the middle of the 1st century CE and on the other hand – the actual problems of using the evidence of Tacitus for the reconstruction of the events of Nero's time which, in our opinion even in Tacitus’s works seems to be more complicated that the events of Corbulo’s activity in the East. Using the example of Rome's policy in the Caucasus region, the author states, that for a proper reconstruction of Rome's military policy in the East, we need to take into account the contexts and approaches with which Tacitus wrote his text, and in which his own narrative strategies were ephemerally combined. The first of them was the inclusion of major military and political events in the context of the activities of prominent political figures of the era. The role of “key bright figures” in the age of Julius-Claudius becomes dominant. To some extent, it is the role of prominent figures in history (but not Emperors) that lies at the heart of how Tacitus constructs Rome's past. The discussion over the early provincial offices of Corbulo at this point cannot be solved clearly. In the time of Augustus, the role of the Emperor at this time becomes quite important – he coordinated and controlled foreign policy measures, either personally or through his relatives and friends. Tiberius tries to strengthen the position of the provincial administration, and this policy proved to be effective. Neither Caligula nor Claudius particularly changed the trend set by their predecessors. For the Armenian campaigns of Rome at the time of Nero, Corbulo became the main figure for the narrative of Tacitus. Corbulo, as the author states, did not act as a protégé of certain circles at the imperial court, but within the framework of practices already common to the imperial court and provincial administration. Corbulo, despite the fact that his unique role was no more than a narrative strategy that reflected the practices of the era and despite the fact that the reconstruction of his powers and actual influence, according to most of existing scholarship, is problematic, in hands of Tacitus acts as the figure who is the creator of all politics Rome in the Caucasus region. Secondly, the narrative of Tacitus can be placed in the larger context of the age of Hadrian, when the Romans were forced to abandon the provinces created by Trajan and the conquered territories and retreat. The impossibility of destroying Parthian power in the region by military means prompted Roman authors to seek an explanation for the events witnessed by the Romans. Against all this background, in fact, lies the actual course of the Roman-Parthian conflict in the age of Nero, which requires the researcher to pay close attention and which reminds him once again that his predecessors, even in the ancient era, wrote histories based as on their subjective ideas and questions that worried their contemporaries.

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“…Vologeses, who became king in 51 CE 29 , began to raise troops to make his brother Tiridates king there 30 . He went on a campaign and actually expelled the Iberians without a fight.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…prosperae in Armenia Res Addiderant”: Corbulo, Tacitus and Constructing the Images of Rome’s Early Imperial Campaigns in Armenia

Humennyi¹

2022

Visn. Lviv. Univ., Ser. Istor.

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Armenia and Mesopotamia in Roman Eastern Policy and Ideology of the Antonine Period: The Problems of the Terminology of the Latin Tradition

Humennyi¹

2022

Shìdnij svìt

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The article is devoted to the analysis of the terminology used by the Latin Roman tradition of the 2 nd century CE. The texts associated with coin legends represented the policy of the Roman Empire in the East, in particular in the context of the eastern campaign of Marcus Ulpius Trajan, which ended with the short-term transformation of the territory of Armenia and Northern Mesopotamia into Roman provinces. Not only large texts by Roman authors such as Tacitus, but also small inscriptions on coins were used to characterize the transformation of the territories of Armenia and Northern Mesopotamia into Roman territories. The author offers an original approach to the interpretation of some of the legends found on the issues of Roman coins of the Trajan era and which were associated with attempts to incorporate Armenia and Northern Mesopotamia into the Roman Empire. The formula "IN POTESTATEM P R REDACTAE" finds certain analogies in the texts of the Late Roman Republican era and the time of the Early Empire, which were connected, in particular, with the transformation of Ptolemaic Egypt into a Roman province. In the 2 nd century CE the formula was already used to represent the accession of Armenia and Mesopotamia to Rome.The author, unlike A. Kefelian, who proposed to connect the relevant terminology with legal analogies and property rights in the texts of Roman lawyers, offers his own interpretation. The used terms, in his opinion, were connected with the concept of "deditio in potestatem", which had close ties with the foreign policy aspect of Roman activity, in particular in the East. Coin legends and inscriptions combine two main trends -we can see an appeal both to the victories of the Romans in the East and to the creation of new provinces in the context of the activity of the ruler, in particular through the category of delegated "power of the Roman people" along with "surrender" and "transfer" of certain territories and states under the "power of the people", the symbolic and actual expression of which in the 1 st -2 nd centuries CE was connected with the Emperor. The corresponding study of terminological problems is one of the components of the study of the East image in the Western tradition, in particular in the Classical period.

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Parthian-Armenian Relations from the 2nd Century BCE to the Second Half of the 1st Century CE

Cited by 2 publications

References 11 publications

“…prosperae in Armenia Res Addiderant”: Corbulo, Tacitus and Constructing the Images of Rome’s Early Imperial Campaigns in Armenia

“…prosperae in Armenia Res Addiderant”: Corbulo, Tacitus and Constructing the Images of Rome’s Early Imperial Campaigns in Armenia

Armenia and Mesopotamia in Roman Eastern Policy and Ideology of the Antonine Period: The Problems of the Terminology of the Latin Tradition

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