Rome, Parthia, and the politics of peace : the origins of war in the ancient Middle East / Jason M Schlude.
This volume offers an informed survey of the problematic relationship between the ancient empires of Rome and Parthia from c. 96/95 BCE to 224 CE. Schlude explores the rhythms of this relationship and invites its readers to reconsider the past and our relationship with it. Some have looked to this c...
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| Online Access: |
Full Text (via Taylor & Francis) |
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| Main Author: | |
| Other title: | Origins of war in the ancient Middle East. |
| Format: | eBook |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Abingdon, Oxon ; New York :
Routledge,
2020.
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| Series: | Routledge studies in ancient history.
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| Subjects: |
| Summary: | This volume offers an informed survey of the problematic relationship between the ancient empires of Rome and Parthia from c. 96/95 BCE to 224 CE. Schlude explores the rhythms of this relationship and invites its readers to reconsider the past and our relationship with it. Some have looked to this confrontation to help explain the roots of the long-lived conflict between the West and the Middle East. It is a reading symptomatic of mostscholarship on the subject, which emphasizes fundamental incompatibility and bellicosity in Roman-Parthian relations. Rather than focusing on the relationship as a series of conflicts, Rome, Parthia, and the Politics of Peace responds to this common misconception by highlighting instead the more cooperative elements in the relationship and shows how a reconciliation of these two perspectives is possible. There was, in fact, a cyclical pattern in the Roman-Parthian interaction, where a reality of peace and collaboration became overshadowed by images of aggressive posturing projected by powerful Roman statesmen and emperors for a domestic population conditioned to expect conflict. The result was the eventual realization of these images by later Roman opportunists who, unsatisfied with imagined war, sought active conflict with Parthia. Rome, Parthia, and the Politics of Peace is a fascinating new study of these two superpowers that will be of interest not only to students of Rome and the Near East but also to anyone with an interest in diplomatic relations and conflict in the ancient world and today. |
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| Physical Description: | 1 online resource (xvi, 221 pages) : illustrations (black and white), maps. |
| Bibliography: | Includes bibliographical references and index. |
| ISBN: | 9781351135696 1351135694 9781351135719 1351135716 9781351135689 1351135686 |
| Source of Description, Etc. Note: | Source of description: Print version record. |
| Biographical or Historical Data: | Jason M. Schlude is Associate Professor of Classics and Chair of the Department of Languages and Cultures at the College of Saint Benedict and Saint John's University, Collegeville, Minnesota, USA. A former Getty Scholar at the Getty Research Institute and Villa, he is a specialist on the Roman Near East; has published on Roman-Parthian relations in journals includingLatomus, Athenaeum, andAnabasis; and is co-editor ofArsacids, Romans, and Local Elites: Cross-Cultural Interactions of the Parthian Empire(2017) |