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Thread: Looking for famous cities

  1. #1
    The Wandering Storyteller's Avatar Protector Domesticus
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    Default Looking for famous cities

    Hi there

    I'd like to know what specific cities contributed the most signficantly in the Roman-Parthian wars?

    Selecuia, Hatra, Rome, Dasamcus, Athens come into mind, Antioch, but how were they built, what they did contain, what religions did they contain, how did their life differ under Parthian/Roman rule?





















































  2. #2
    Mausolos of Caria's Avatar Royal Satrap
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    Default Re: Looking for famous cities

    You should also take into account the numerous border fortresses. Arguably the most important and famous one was Dura Europos with it's magnificent frescoes:



    Another important stronghold was Nisibis, which remained to be a focal point of Roman-Persian military engagements beyond the end of classical antiquity in 476 AD. Edessa was another much fought over border town in Osrhoene, while Singara formed a vital part of the Partho-Persian defense line. I'm a bit tired right now, but here's another map showing the Roman- Parthian border in 110 AD anyway:

    "Pompeius, after having finished the war against Mithridates, when he went to call at the house of Poseidonios, the famous teacher of philosophy, forbade the lictor to knock at the door, as was the usual custom, and he, to whom both the eastern and the western world had yielded submission, ordered the fasces to be lowered before the door of science."

    Pliny the Elder, Naturalis Historia, 7, 112

  3. #3
    The Wandering Storyteller's Avatar Protector Domesticus
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    Default Re: Looking for famous cities

    Thank you Masuelous! I will ask some more questions soon.





















































  4. #4

    Default Re: Looking for famous cities

    By the way Dura-Europos is a name creation by scholars. Back than no one would have called it that. Either Dura or Europos. Mostly Dura, which means fortress in the local dialects and thats the name we find in the fragments.

    Proud to be a real Prussian.

  5. #5
    GussieFinkNottle's Avatar Domesticus
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    Default Re: Looking for famous cities

    A good book to read including an explanation of the back and forth over the Roman-Parthian/Sassanid border is Tom Holland's 'In the Shadow of the Sword' even if in places he disappears up his own fundament from clumsily trying to display too much of his research in one book.

    Another I read which I seem to remember explaining this was Arthur Ferrill's 'The Fall of the Roman Empire: The Military Explanation'.

    By the way, never discount the significance of Palmyra, not yet mentioned here. This city waxed and waned between client status/semi independence and total Roman governance, even for a while being the seat of a Roman province, and it was always a contentious border location. The Romans launched invasions of Mesopotamia from here. Queen Zenobia of Palmyra led a revolt that threatened the eastern half of the Roman empire, she could even have become empress of a domain between Rome and Parthia if she wasn't defeated. It's an interesting tale worth looking up if you're not already familiar with it.

    It's also the subject of the highly fictionalised (but entertaining) book 'Centurion' by Simon Scarrow about the tension (and a made-up mini war) between Rome and Parthia over Palmyra. The two main characters are centurions caught up in the fighting and it's a fun read if you're into immersive historical fiction (not very high-brow though).
    Last edited by GussieFinkNottle; November 08, 2014 at 12:38 PM.
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  6. #6

    Default Re: Looking for famous cities

    I can totally agree. Tom Holland "Shadow of the Sword" is a great book. Maybe to much information at once, but still great For a general overview about cities, culture and local communities i can prefer Fergus Millars book about "The Roman Near East". It is still the standard work about the Near East.

    Proud to be a real Prussian.

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