THE PARTHIANS – A WORTHY ENEMY OF ROME? REMARKS ON ROMAN-PARTHIAN POLITICAL CONFLICT IN THE IST CENT. B. C., AND ITS INFLUENCE ON ROMAN IMPERIAL IDEOLOGY

H. Kryśkiewicz

doi:10.15407/orientw2017.03.060

THE PARTHIANS – A WORTHY ENEMY OF ROME? REMARKS ON ROMAN-PARTHIAN POLITICAL CONFLICT IN THE IST CENT. B. C., AND ITS INFLUENCE ON ROMAN IMPERIAL IDEOLOGY

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https://doi.org/10.15407/orientw2017.03.060

H. Kryśkiewicz

Institute of History and International Relations Faculty of Humanities, University of Szczecin

Abstract

As history has proven, sometimes the essence of one’s failure becomes best encapsulated in the way he then celebrates his long-awaited retaliation. In the Parthian case, the above law also seems to find its confirmation. In the following article, we research the topic of foreign relations of the Roman Empire with the Arsacid monarchy (Parthian Empire) in the Ist cent. B. C. The paper regards the overall notion of first diplomatic encounters of the two superpowers, as well as the issue of their military struggles in the period. Starting with the circumstances of the first official embassy between L. Cornelius Sulla and the Parthian emissary Orobazos (first decade of the Ist cent. B. C.), through the defeat of M. Crassus’ legions at Carrhae (53 B. C.), Julius Caesar’s own plans for conducting a Parthian campaign (45–44 B. C.), Mark Antony’s eastern expedition (36 B. C.), as far as to emperor Augustus’ success in restitution of the lost legionary ensigns (20 B. C.), the paper focuses on the matter of the possible position, as well as the origins of the then-stereotypical image, that the Parthians could have had well developed in Roman imperial ideology as in result of the above historical events. What impact did Crassus’ defeat possibly have on the Roman military elites and populus Romanus as such from that time? Where did the underpinnings of the entire Roman-Parthian conflict lie?

How to Cite

Kryśkiewicz, H. (2017). THE PARTHIANS – A WORTHY ENEMY OF ROME? REMARKS ON ROMAN-PARTHIAN POLITICAL CONFLICT IN THE IST CENT. B. C., AND ITS INFLUENCE ON ROMAN IMPERIAL IDEOLOGY. The World of the Orient, (3 (96), 60-72. https://doi.org/10.15407/orientw2017.03.060

Article views: 49 | PDF Downloads: 28

Keywords

imperial ideology, Ist century B. C., Middle East, Parthia, propaganda, Rome

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