Imperial Rome

"This book is the first-ever monograph on the family of royal converts from Adiabene including the broader perspective of the cultural and political environment of Hellenistic and Parthian Adiabene. It collects, arranges and discusses all available sources on the topic.
The study consists of three parts. Part 1 (chapters 1-5) is devoted to the longest ancient account on the Adiabene royalty from all ancient literature – Josephus, Ant. 20:17-96 (“the Adiabene Narrative”). It examines the Adiabene narrative as Josephus’ conscious literary product with all its rhetorical features and ideological agendas.
Part 2 (chapters 6-7) deals with other sources about the family of royal converts from Adiabene. Chapter 6 is devoted to Rabbinic traditions about Queen Helena and King Munbaz. Chapter 7 discusses all Jewish and non-Jewish literary sources which refer to the resting place of Queen Helena and to the palaces of the Adiabene royalty in Jerusalem, what is more, it also provides an updated discussion of relevant archaeological sites in Jerusalem (Le Tombeau des Rois and the Givati Parking Lot).
Part 3 (chapters 8-13) presents the material and political environment of Adiabene from the third century BCE to the third century CE. It discusses all available kinds of sources: geographical and ethnographical texts (chapter 8), archaeological sites (chapter 9), epigraphic and numismatic material (chapter 10), as well as onomastic evidence (chapter 11). Furthermore, chapter 12 provides a basic chronology of the Adiabene royalty in the Hellenistic and Parthian periods, and chapter 13 presents the political environment of Adiabene and Judea in the context of the international relations between Rome and Parthia."
P.S.
So far reviewed by K. Atkinson, Biblica 96 (2015) 635-638; D.M. Jacobson, Palestine Exploration Quarterly 147 (2015) 169-170; E. Kettenhofen, Anabasis. Studia Classica et Orientalia 6 (2015) 297-307; E. Lipiński, Polish Journal of Biblical Research 14 (2015) 201-207;  D.M. Downing, Journal of American Oriental Studies 137 (2017) 428-430; E. Nodet, Revue Biblique 122-124 (2015) 634-635; K. Berthelot, Syria 94 (2017) 415-416; J.-S. Caillou, L’Antiquité Classique 86 (2017) 517-519.

Excavations were carried out in 1999 on the location of Stela 2 at the ancient site of Aksum in northern Ethiopia.
These excavations have permitted the documentation of the foundation of this stela, which was transported to Rome in 1937. Preparations were also made for the stela’s return to the site in 2005 and its re-erection in 2008 at the exact location where it stood in the 3rd or 4th century AD.
The excavations also made it possible to re-examine our perception of the three giant stelae on the site, from their conception and erection to their destruction.

The paper asks the question what the Romans really meant, when the used the term "barbarian". The evidence shows that the Romans had been often uneasy with this greek word, as in the end they themselves would be Barbarians, too. Further, the paper focuses also on the non-biological (or even "racial") approach of the Romans. Barbarians can become citizens, if they accept Roman paideia and a cultural set of Romanitas. The Dacians and Tracians are used in this context as examples from a rather neglected zone of the Empire.

I membri del collegio di Nemesiaci oggetti di richiamo imperiale in un
provvedimento del 412 nel Codice Teodosiano sono figure di controversa interpretazione nella storia degli studi. Per comprendere le attività da essi svolte e come queste potessero configurarsi come un servizio pubblico, si analizzano gli aspetti del culto di Nemesi in età imperiale e in particolar modo il collegamento della dea con gli spettacoli anfiteatrali. Si esaminano poi le poche testimonianze epigrafiche e letterarie relative ai Nemesiaci e il loro frequente collegamento con Diana e la caccia. Infine, si propone di leggere il provvedimento sui Nemesiaci nel quadro della politica imperiale di controllo dei giochi pubblici tra IV e V secolo d.C.

My aim in this essay is to elucidate the meaning of the phrase collegia sodalicia, which occurs only in Digests 47.22.1 pr. (= Marcian F 73a Lenel), the introductory section of the Digests’ title De collegiis et corporibus (47.22).

In the first part of this essay, I outline some salient features of Marcian F 73a and briefly contextualize Marcian’s Institutes, the work of late Severan date from which Justinian’s compilers excerpted Digests 47.22.1 pr.-1.2.

In the second part, I demonstrate that the purported “sodalician associations” of Digests 47.22.1 pr. never existed. That phrase originated from a textual misunderstanding, which one can trace already in the Digests, if not before. I propose that Marcian wrote collegia sodaliciaue, “collegia or sodalicia”. I then segue to some of the implications my reinterpretation of Marcian F 73a holds for the study of associations in the Roman world.

Preface; 1 Introduction; 2 Materials, technique and building devices; 3 The foundation and the core of the podium and of the tribunal; 4 The measuring system and proportions of the temple; 5 The facing of he podium and the tribunal; 6 The superstructure of temple; 7 Catalogue of fragments fiund during the exavations; 6 The style; 9 Workshop and tradition 10 The reconstruction drawings of the Augustan temple; 11 Conclusion; Appendix 1 A rebuilding of the Metellan temple?; Appendix 2 Early modern graffiti on the superstructure of the temple of Castor and Pollux; Appendix 3 Catalogue of drawings, models and plaster casts from the Temple of Castor and Pollux, Forum Romanum, in Sir John Soane's Museum, London; Bibliography; Photo credits.

This Overview is from the book 'Pliny The Younger: His Words & Phrases' (Pliny As The New Testament Paul), by Roman Piso. This work details the way in which the Letters (Epistles) & Panegyricus of Pliny The Younger should be studied (in contrast to how it had been studied in the past and is still being studied currently).

La querela inofficiosi testamenti no conocía del litisconsorcio. Cuando había más de un coheredero forzoso, cada uno de ellos interponía su acción independientemente de los otros, con el objetivo de conseguir la cuota hereditaria que le correspondía en virtud de la sucesión intestada. Normalmente cada querelante ejercía su derecho de acción, por la propia cuota hereditaria. Nos preguntamos aquí si el querellante que accionaba podía acrecer su cuota si era así notorio el repudio de la querela por parte de uno o más coherederos. Los pasajes del Digesto parecen dar respuestas contradictorias y la doctrina moderna sospecha que existía una controversia en el derecho (ius controversum). Sobre la base de dos escolios de los Basílicos se intenta demostrar que las divergentes conclusiones de los juristas estaban referidas a distintos casos. La exégesis de los textos sugiere finalmente algunas reflexiones sobre la acción de los compiladores de Justiniano.

Abstract: I intend to show in this artile a systematic analysis about the Municipal Legislation of the Emperor Julian: Curias and Decurions. I will also explain some laws of the imperial administration which are articular with the laws forementioned.
Keywords: Legislation; Julian's Empire.

Warfare in the Ancient Mediterranean World, A Brill Companion to Classical Studies Series Series Editor: Lee L. Brice Aims and Scope The aim of the series is to publish high-quality, useful volumes each focused on a specific topic related to warfare in the ancient Mediterranean world. Where appropriate, volume coverage should include the eastern Mediterranean, including Assyria, Persia, Anatolia the Levant, and Egypt as well as Greece and Rome. The intended audience includes scholarly specialist and non-specialist students of the ancient world. Topics already published or in process include insurgency and terrorism, dealing with defeat, food and warfare, discipline/indiscipline, and Late Antiquity. We are seeking new volume proposals on a variety of topics covering a wide range of issues and methodologies. Specific topics we are interested in include: religion, topography/geography, reception of ancient warfare, medicine/death, Persia, Hellenistic world, archaeology/material culture and warfare, auxilia, the Pax Romana, navies, and peace, but we welcome proposals on any appropriate topic.

On drawn reconstruction in archaeology, esp. between the late 18th and beginning 20th cents. The paper focusses on town-reconstructions as Athens, Pompei, Rome, Pergamon or Vienne and others. It investigates  the intentions of the drawing architects, their idea of the ancient town and the ways to transfer these ideas to a broader public.

Dit betreft een kort artikel over de vernietiging van de tempel in Jeruzalem tijdens de Joodse opstand tegen Rome, 66-70 n.C. Eerder dit jaar verschenen in, Geschiedenis Magazine 55.3 (2020), 34-37. Zie verder https://geschiedenismagazine.nl/joodse-opstand-66-70-n-chr

Plinius der Jüngere (61/62-113 n. Chr.) verlieh als senatorischer homo novus durch die Epistulae, den Panegyricus sowie einige Inschriften seiner aristokratischen Existenz dauerhaften Ausdruck. Diese literarischen und epigraphischen Zeugnisse ermöglichen aber nicht nur tiefgehende Einblicke in die sozialen, politischen und kulturellen Entwicklungen seiner Zeit. Sie belegen zugleich Plinius’ Bestreben, die eigene Person als in überragendem Maße wert- und normerfüllend zu präsentieren, um auf diese Weise sowohl soziopolitische Anerkennung als auch den eigenen Tod überdauernde memoria zu erlangen.

Insbesondere in seinen Briefen thematisiert Plinius dabei zahlreiche Bestandteile eines idealen aristokratischen Lebensentwurfes. Ihre systematische Auswertung ermöglicht es, die konstituierenden Betätigungs- und Bewährungsfelder der römischen Aristokratie zu identifizieren sowie die Werte, Normen und Handlungsmaximen zu bestimmen, nach denen Plinius wie auch seine Standesgenossen ihr Leben ausrichteten – oder doch ausrichten sollten.

Der zeitgenössische Diskurs über den idealen Aristokraten in der Kaiserzeit und dessen Habitus gewinnt in der vorliegenden Studie schärferes Profil.

This review is devoted to the collective monograph by a group of Kazan’ historians
which is dedicated to the receptions of Antiquity and Middle Ages in modern Italy and
Soviet Russia. This type of study is relatively new Russian historiography, and this fact is
simultaneously the strength and the main weakness of the reviewed monograph – theoretical
uncertainty in the work with historiographic material.

Rome qua its sprawling peripheries, immortalised by Italian literature and cinema in their bleakest and most dramatic aspects (e.g. Pier Paolo Pasolini), has also become a well-known aesthetic trope, which is itself parasitic upon Rome's paradigmatic historic centre, whose time-honoured beauty and wealth stand in stark contrast to the more recent peripheries. Whilst the former aesthetic reception of Rome is tied indissolubly to the classical age and later classicism, the latter is a standard case of modernity qua urban phenomenon, i.e. the pre-modern city centre being surrounded and eventually dwarfed by ever-growing circles of newly populated areas marking the inexorable advent and advance of the modern age.

This text gives some very small selection of details included in the forthcoming Caracalla: A Military Biography (as an advertisement) due to be published by Pen & Sword this year and in fact provides also a short overview of some of the unconventional strategies and tactics employed by Caracalla together with some quite new info regarding period equipment and military practices. A much fuller discussion of all things connected to military matters in its widest sense can be found in the book.

The amphitheater in the Roman city of Pompeii, constructed around 70 BCE, honored the soldiers who settled in the town after its capture under Sulla. 1 The amphitheater represented dominant Roman culture in the newly acquired city. 2 From 59 CE to 79 CE Pompeii faced civil unrest such as the riot in the amphitheater between the citizens of Pompeii and Nuceria, and two large natural disasters, the earthquake of 62 CE and the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 CE. 3 After the riot of 59 CE Emperor Nero placed a ban on gladiatorial games for ten years, till 69 CE. The amphitheater in Pompeii played a critical role in revitalizing the city after the earthquake of 62 CE because of its economic prowess in the city of Pompeii, and therefore Nero must have lifted the ban on gladiatorial games in Pompeii before the ten-year punishment was fulfilled. The history of the oldest stone amphitheater, and the rivalry between Pompeii and Nuceria goes back to the Social Wars between 91 and 88 BCE. 4 During this period of unrest Pompeii revolted against Rome while Nuceria sided with Rome. 5 Sulla defeated Pompeii and settled some of his seasoned soldiers inside the town. 6 Later, in 57 CE, Nero installed another 1 The Amphitheater at Pompeii [Database on-line] University of Chicago:

This paper is concerned with finding evidence of Arab military development in defence of their territory and against the superstates on the periphery of desert-lands. This examination concerns the growth of cultural/political groups as a result of military pressure on Arabian territory from Yemen, Roman and Sasanian forces. The model searched for is that of the Germans and Slavs in Europe due to political developments directed by the Roman state and the pressure from other forms of foreign invasion (unlikely true on a largely desert land with few profitable urban centres). The Arab/Islamic invasions here are seen as products of events surrounding Arabia identified as an increase in Saracen activity (seen here as Arab raiders and mercenaries) and the identification of large group formation.

Part I surveys the development of Rome’s physical topography and urban image from hut village to imperial city. Part II focuses on administration, infrastructure, maintenance, population and housing, economy and production, water and food distribution, and political and cultural practices, e.g., public bathing and spectacles. Ends with student presentations.

Ce livre propose une réflexion d’ensemble sur la septième Vie de l’Histoire Auguste, consacrée à l’empereur Commode, fils du philosophe Marc Aurèle et dernier des Antonins. L’auteur met d’abord en évidence son indéniable valeur historique et recherche les sources qui l’ont inspiré. Elle explore ensuite les éléments qu’il est suceptible d’apporter à la connaissance d’un recueil de biographies qui reste l’une des œuvres les plus énigmatiques que nous ait transmis l’Antiquité. Traçant le portrait d’un personnage haut en couleurs, le premier malus princeps de la collection, la Vita Commodi  recèle en effet, sur la personnalité du biographe anonyme et les objectifs qu’il assigne à son œuvre, plus d’indices que ne le laisserait de prime abord soupçonner sa richesse historique.

Leading international scholars discuss new, unpublished research on
Egypt’s interactions with ancient Greece and Rome during four major
time periods, the Bronze Age (ca. 2000–1200 bc), Egypt’s Late Period (ca. 664–332 bc), the Ptolemaic Period (323–30 bc), and the Roman Empire
(ca. ad 30–300). Covering a range of materials, including archaeological finds, artworks, and texts, the research presented adds to a growing body
of scholarship on cross-cultural exchange among Egypt, Greece, and
Rome in antiquity. This symposium accompanies the major international
loan exhibition Beyond the Nile: Egypt and the Classical World.

Urbanization under the Republic and Empire took different forms and directions, implemented sometimes in the typical “Roman” way as in Augustodonum, Aosta and maritime colonies, while at other times it gradually mixed with existing urban centers as in Nimes, Sagalassus and eastern cities. Cities in the Roman world – because of their political, social and economic significance – played a key role in the political and cultural life of the empire, also affecting its citizens’ identity. As viewed by ancient writers and demonstrated by archeology, urbanization meant civilization and power in contrast with the “barbaric” and “uncivilized” western tribes, some eastern regions and countryside. The construction of politico-religious and public buildings, public works, fortifications, and celebration of festivals and ceremonies in a city greatly shaped its status and its inhabitants’ identity. The change in the elite’s ideology of a city under the late Republic and Principate displayed the progress of “Romanization” (acculturation) and the “Roman” identity’s dynamism, as observed in the diverse development and forms of urbanization across the empire. The city was a product of its society and ultimately the “centre of power,…privilege,…culture and…of knowledge”.

Resumen: A propósito de la celebración del bimilenario de la muerte de Ovidio, acaecida el 17 d.C., me propongo analizar el exilio del poeta como un fenómeno histórico con resonancias literarias y culturales. A partir de las formas de exilio aplicadas en el mundo romano, se revisan las implicancias que tuvo el destierro como medida de coerción durante la Pax impulsada por el emperador Octavio Augusto.

Abstract: Considering bimillennium of Ovid's death, on 17 AD, I propose to analyse the exile of the poet as a historical phenomenon from a literary and cultural point of view. Starting from different forms of exile applied in the Roman world, implications of his exile such as measure coercion during Pax Romana by Augustus emperor are revised.

It is a commonplace to point out that Rome's rapid rise to power in the ancient world resulted in great measure from its position in the Italian peninsula. Surrounded by mountains on all sides except on the south the Urbs is situated in the midst of a plain of volcanic origin, known as the Campagna. The Tiber flows through the city from north to south on its way to Ostia, the ancient seaport, where it empties into the ocean. Although the seven traditional hills upon which the city was built still retain their ancient names and may still be traced, in some cases their elevation is so slight as to be disappointing to those who visit Rome for the first time.

What then has caused the changes in ground level which have taken place since the ancient period? It seems clear that many of the elaborate buildings of the Empire were superimposed upon the foundations of earlier structures which had not been completely demolished. Then too, as parts of ancient Rome fell into ruin during the Middle Ages, the débris was not cleared away, but structures of the Renaissance period were build upon the accumulated rubbish. Views of the Roman Forum dating from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries show the columns of the ancient temples buried deep in the earth, a clear indication of the extent to which the ground level had risen.

In seeking to ferret out the secrets buried beneath the . .

Questa guida è l' unica che esplora l' intera Roma, è un invito a scoprire i tesori architettonici non celebrati della città: quando si passeggia nel quartiere Art Nouveau di Prati fino al Lungotevere o attraverso il moderno quartiere dell' EUR, considerando il passaggio di tutti i più importanti architetti: Apollodoro di Damasco, Bramante, Peruzzi, Raffaello, Michelangelo, Borromini, Bernini, Vanvitelli, Koch, Moretti, Piacentini, Meier, Fuksas e molti altri nomi. Il volume si completa con oltre 550 fotografie a colori e mappe dettagliate per ogni quartiere che l' autore ha sapientemente intrecciato con un filo di informazioni per ciascuno dei monumenti fornendo una descrizione delle caratteristiche architettoniche che lo distinguono: Antico - Alto Medioevo, Basso Medioevo - Rinascimento, Barocco - Moderno, Contemporaeno. Ogni periodo è stato identificato con un colore per facilitarne lindividuazione sulle mappe.


This second edition of the Guide to the Architecture of Rome is an invitation to discover the unsung architectural treasures of Rome when strolling down the Art Nouveau neighborhood of Prati to the Lungotevere, or through the modern EUR district, this guide is the only one to explore the architecture of the entire cit. It presents the works of Apollodorus of Damascus, Emperor Hadrian, Bramante, Peruzzi, Raphael, Michelangelo, Borromini, Bernini, Vanvitelli, Koch, Moretti, Piacentini, Meier, Fuksas, and many other prominent names in architecture. The volume is suited with over 550 color photographs, detailed maps for each district which the author has cleverly weaved with a thread of information for each of monument giving throughout description of the architectural features which attribute it to the specific period and style such as: Ancient, Low and High Middle Ages, Renaissance, Baroque, Modern, and Contemporary. Each period has color identifiers in order to make them easy to locate on the maps.

Author: Giorgio Muratore
2nd edition edited by Clementina Barucci
Year: 2020
Publisher L'ERMA di BRETSCHNEIDER
ISBN: 9788891320148
Binding: Paperback
Pages: 312, 5 ill. B/N, 494 ill. Col.
Size: 13 x 24 cm

In the midst of the Marcomannic Wars, during the reign of Marcus Aurelius, a band of Roman legionaries were blockaded by rebellious Quadi tribes on the German frontier. With dry throats gasping for water and too exhausted to offer a fight, pleas to the gods were lifted up to the heavens. Thankfully for the legionaries, an ominous dark mass of clouds gathered above and swept towards the battleground, catching the advancing Quadi in a thundering downpour and clash of lightning that killed hundreds and saved the Romans from peril.
This event in the late second century AD is known as the ‘Rain Miracle’ and held great significance during Marcus Aurelius’ reign and beyond. Some hailed Eastern cults, others the piety of the emperor and later Christian writers from whom the stories have come down to us assumed their God was involved in this ‘miracle’ too. One piece of archaeological evidence vital for an understanding of the ‘Rain Miracle’ is the marble Column of Marcus Aurelius in Rome. Standing at 100 Roman feet (29.9m) tall in what was once the Campus Martius, the Column has a detailed continuous spiral narrative frieze of the Marcomannic Wars along its shaft and remains a monument that continues to immortalise the deified emperor’s achievements in stone. But on the panel depicting this event, a non-canonical deity is shown that has caused much speculation. Who is this god and why would such ambiguity have been employed by
the artists?

Se ofrece al lector una amplia muestra de parecidos razonables entre la sociedad retratada en la exitosa serie Juego de Tronos, inspirada en las novelas de George R. R. Martin, y la vida en la Roma clásica. La premisa es, a primera vista, sorprendente: el Derecho de los Siete Reinos es  Derecho romano, pero se justifica al abordarse el tratamiento en la saga de cuestiones como el status de libertad frente a la condición de esclavitud, la herencia, las relaciones de parentesco, la represión del adulterio y del incesto o el castigo a los parricidas. Y, muy en especial, el papel reservado a las mujeres, con sus avances y retrocesos. De  manera sutil, fluyen entre las tramas políticas y personales de Westeros (y Essos) las normas del sistema jurídico más rico y complejo de la Antigüedad, dotado de una perfección técnica que no deja de admirar a quienes se acercan, en nuestros días, a estudiarlo.
Pero, por encima de todo, esta obra es un homenaje de la autora a Juego de Tronos, la serie total.  Sus fieles seguidores podrán revivir las escenas más emocionantes a través de las semblanzas de sus personajes protagonistas y de sus imprescindibles secundarios, así como disfrutar de muchos de sus agudos diálogos. Un tributo muy personal, una visión diferente y arriesgada desde la órbita académica, pero al alcance de cualquier amante de la cultura clásica y de la propia serie. No en vano, hay tantos Juegos de Tronos como espectadores.

Quali istituzioni politiche hanno accompagnato - e in parte determinato - la straordinaria vicenda storica di Roma antica? Cosa conosciamo del loro funzionamento e della loro evoluzione? Quali sono stati i principali interrogativi della lunghissima tradizione esegetica della quale siamo debitori? In base a quali suggestioni, invece, per secoli si è reinterpretato, attualizzato e, non da ultimo, strumentalizzato il vincente – e avvincente – “modello romano” nelle sue varie declinazioni? Per quali ragioni la comprensione di concetti politici d’indubbia attualità non può prescindere dallo studio di Roma antica? Tenendo presenti questi interrogativi di fondo, l’autore propone una guida sintetica al complesso sistema politico-istituzionale romano: un sistema che, sebbene lontano, offre ancora molti spunti di riflessione

This paper presents a general model of the emergence and functioning of cults of personality. Drawing on the work of Collins (2004), I understand a cult of personality as a set of interaction rituals, linked in chains, focused on symbols that refer to a political leader, and saturating a significant part of the public space of a polity. I argue that when interaction rituals focused on leader symbols are embedded in patronage relations, processes of “flattery inflation” are likely to emerge. I illustrate this model by looking at three very different cases: the short-lived cult of Caligula in the early Principate in Rome, the cult of Mao in China, and the emerging cult of Hugo Chávez in Venezuela.

In 3rd century BC, like a part of the global process of Hellenization of the Roman culture, Hippocratic medicine arrived to Rome. Between year 219 BC, when is attested the first Greek physician in the city, and the 2nd century AD, when Galen of Pergamon developed a doctrine which laid the foundations of western medicine, a succession of medical professionals made possible the progressive importing and assimilation of Greek allopathy in italic soil. In this way, a foreign element turned into a characteristic and representative component of Roman culture. The aim of this paper is to analyze the socio-cultural features that characterized this process of scientific diffusion. To this end, we propose a combined study of literary and epigraphical sources that refers to physicians who made possible this development.

È opinione comune, presso gli studiosi moderni, che i giudici privati del processo civile romano (giudici monocratici o recuperatores) appartenessero alle classi sociali più elevate e più colte e che mantenessero, nel ricoprire il loro incarico, un atteggiamento di grande dignità. Questo dato appare in effetti confermato se si considerano tutti i giudici privati, dei quali le testimonianze antiche hanno tramandato l’identità. Ci sono tuttavia significative fonti letterarie, che presentano indizi dai quali è lecito sospettare, di fatto, l’esistenza di una seconda ‘categoria’ di giudici privati, costituita da persone di bassa estrazione sociale, che mantenevano spesso, nell'esercizio della funzione, comportamenti tutt’altro che incensurabili. I giudici di questo secondo gruppo erano, nella maggior parte dei casi, probabilmente quelli scelti al di fuori dell’album iudicum. Dall’indagine è risultato anche che, sebbene le due categorie di giudici fossero per molti aspetti differenziate tra loro, esse erano tuttavia assimilate per un importante carattere comune: l’imperitia iuris dei giudicanti, che si trova a più riprese lamentata dalle fonti antiche.

ORDER HERE: https://www.gorgiaspress.com/the-last-empire-of-iran

The Last Empire of Iran is an exhaustive political and military history of the Sasanian state (AD 220s – 651). I wrote this book for several reasons. There are very few narrative histories of late-antique Iran. Excluding Rawlinson’s Seventh Great Oriental Monarchy, published in 1870, we have had to rely on only two works: Christensen’s L’Iran sous les Sassanides (1936) and Daryaee’s Sasanian Persia (2008). So it seemed to me that there was more than enough room for a new attempt to tell the story, at least for the sake of variety. The study of Late Antiquity is also unfairly dominated by the history of the Mediterranean world and the late Roman Empire. Those topics are obviously interesting on their own merits; but they are only a part of the whole scene of Late Antiquity, and if that period is to be properly and fully understood, we cannot neglect the history of the empire that repeatedly humiliated and eventually subjugated most of the Mediterranean world, and which cast such a long shadow over the Islamic world. The dominance of the Roman Empire in late-antique history is answered by a near total neglect of the peoples of the Inner Asia, and I wanted to remedy this neglect. Those peoples (Kushans, the Kidarite and Hephthalite Huns, Tuoba, Rouran, Turks…) had political, military, and commercial goals which made deep impressions on the Iranian and Romans states alike. Their history deserves to be told, and they ought to be portrayed as something other than demons, forces of nature, or an inexplicable succession of barbarians. Something similar may be said for China, which also had important relations with Iran, and so I was eager to situate the Sasanian state within the whole history of late-antique Eurasia. Finally, the history of Sasanian Iran poses a singular historiographical problem which I could not resist attempting to resolve. The problem is that hardly any contemporary Iranian sources have survived; and so historians have usually relied on contemporary Roman historians and posthumous universal histories written in Arabic from the Islamic era which purport to recycle Sasanian material. Neither group of sources is entirely trustworthy. But instead of trying to reconcile antithetical traditions, I set out to emphasise contemporary Armenian and Syriac sources, and to approach hostile and triumphalist Roman and Arabic accounts with scepticism. But I have not simply rehearsed in my own words what I found in my sources. Rigorous analysis still leaves dark patches and mysterious lacunae, and I enjoyed trying to fill them in with all the modern scholarship available to me and my own inferences. I hope that others may learn something new, and continue telling and retelling the story.

This multivolume work will present a political and military history of the Sasanian Empire in Late Antiquity (220s to 651 AD). The handbook will take the form of a narrative and situate Sasanian Iran within its proper context as a continental power between Rome and the world of the steppe nomad. The author will emphasise key elements of Sasanian foreign policy that forced the Roman Empire to recognise its equality and explain Sasanian policy vis-à-vis of the Caucasus, Central Asia, and the Arabian Peninsula also. The book will show that the Sasanian Empire was far more diplomatically astute and militarily capable than is usually assumed, and that it had remarkable regenerative power when faced with both internal turmoil and external threats. Although literary histories are essential to the task, this book will bring together a great deal of archaeological and sigillographic data which have only recently come to light.