The Climax of the Seleucid-Parthian Rivalry

2020 ◽  
pp. 189-245
Author(s):  
Nikolaus Leo Overtoom
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
Near East ◽  
Iranian Plateau ◽  
World Power ◽  
Potential Strength ◽  
Full Attention ◽  
Decisive Victory ◽  
First Time

This chapter focuses on the contexts and consequences of the last great Seleucid campaign in the Middle East. The new rivalry of the Seleucids and Parthians was highly volatile. Yet the potential strength of the Seleucid state remained considerable under a strong ruler. The enthusiastic Seleucid king, Antiochus VII, became determined to reestablish the undisputed power of the Seleucid Empire throughout Mesopotamia and the Iranian plateau. His grand campaign against the Parthians in the early 120s was the greatest threat to the survival of the Parthian state since the campaign of Antiochus III almost a century before. Unfortunately for the Seleucids, it also culminated in the greatest defeat in their history. With their decisive victory, the Parthians were poised to push their advantage against the Seleucids into the lands of the Near East for the first time. However, a near catastrophic series of nomadic invasions along the eastern frontier of the Parthian Empire demanded the full attention of the Parthians. Once more the Parthians faced a considerable threat to the survival of their state as they suffered multiple severe defeats in their efforts to repulse nomadic incursions into the Iranian plateau. It was not until arguably the greatest of the Parthian monarchs, Mithridates II, became the new leader of the Parthians that they emerged as a world power.

The Parthians’ Failed Vassalage of Syria: The Shortsighted Western Policy of Phraates Ii and the Second Reign of Demetrius Ii (129–125 BCE)

2021 ◽  
Vol 60 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
Nikolaus Leo Overtoom
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
Eastern Mediterranean ◽  
Mediterranean Coast ◽  
The West ◽  
Iranian Plateau ◽  
Recent Scholarship ◽  
Sudden Release ◽  
First Time

SummaryBy 128 BCE the Parthians had emerged temporarily as the de facto leading power throughout the Hellenistic Middle East. Their defeat of Demetrius II’s invasion of Mesopotamia in 138 BCE had furthered their heated rivalry with the Seleucids; however, their destruction of Antiochus VII’s invasion of Mesopotamia and Media in 129 BCE finally ended the threat of the Seleucids to their eastern lands. For the first time in their history, the Parthians considered expanding their hegemony over Armenia, Syria, and the regions along the Eastern Mediterranean coast, thus firmly establishing their unrivaled hegemony. Yet any hopes of immediately occupying these regions quickly vanished because of calamities and miscalculations in the early 120s BCE. Although nomadic incursions ravaged the Iranian plateau in the east throughout the 120s BCE, in the west Phraates II’s sudden release of Demetrius to contest the Seleucid throne in Syria before the death of Antiochus became a political debacle that hindered Parthian influence in the region. Despite the arguments of recent scholarship, Phraates’ decision to release Demetrius was shortsighted and haphazard, and Demetrius never served in Syria as a Parthian vassal. This article is a reevaluation of the western policy of the Parthians in the early 120s BCE and the actions of Demetrius during his second reign concerning the Parthians.

Founding Gods, Inventing Nations

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
William F. McCants
Keyword(s):  
Near East ◽  
Cultural Orientation ◽  
Primary Sources ◽  
Islamic Culture ◽  
Political Consequences ◽  
The Social ◽  
Islamic Empire ◽  
First Time ◽  
Vast Range

From the dawn of writing in Sumer to the sunset of the Islamic empire, this book traces four thousand years of speculation on the origins of civilization. Investigating a vast range of primary sources, some of which are translated here for the first time, and focusing on the dynamic influence of the Greek, Roman, and Arab conquests of the Near East, the book looks at the ways the conquerors and those they conquered reshaped their myths of civilization's origins in response to the social and political consequences of empire. The Greek and Roman conquests brought with them a learned culture that competed with that of native elites. The conquering Arabs, in contrast, had no learned culture, which led to three hundred years of Muslim competition over the cultural orientation of Islam, a contest reflected in the culture myths of that time. What we know today as Islamic culture is the product of this contest, whose protagonists drew heavily on the lore of non-Arab and pagan antiquity. The book argues that authors in all three periods did not write about civilization's origins solely out of pure antiquarian interest—they also sought to address the social and political tensions of the day. The strategies they employed and the postcolonial dilemmas they confronted provide invaluable context for understanding how authors today use myth and history to locate themselves in the confusing aftermath of empire.

Битвазапрошлое:храмсвятогоГеоргия вИзраавэпицентре церковно-политическойборьбыконцаXIXв.

2019 ◽  
pp. 256-281
Author(s):  
E.M. Kopot`
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
Ottoman Empire ◽  
19Th Century ◽  
Russian Empire ◽  
Foreign Affairs ◽  
Late 19Th Century ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Russian Empire ◽  
First Time ◽  
The Church

The article brings up an obscure episode in the rivalry of the Orthodox and Melkite communities in Syria in the late 19th century. In order to strengthen their superiority over the Orthodox, the Uniates attempted to seize the church of St. George in Izraa, one of the oldest Christian temples in the region. To the Orthodox community it presented a threat coming from a wealthier enemy backed up by the See of Rome and the French embassy. The only ally the Antioch Patriarchate could lean on for support in the fight for its identity was the Russian Empire, a traditional protector of the Orthodox Arabs in the Middle East. The documents from the Foreign Affairs Archive of the Russian Empire, introduced to the scientific usage for the first time, present a unique opportunity to delve into the history of this conflict involving the higher officials of the Ottoman Empire as well as the Russian embassy in ConstantinopleВ статье рассматривается малоизвестный эпизод соперничества православной и Мелкитской общин в Сирии в конце XIX века. Чтобы укрепить свое превосходство над православными, униаты предприняли попытку захватить церковь Святого Георгия в Израа, один из старейших христианских храмов в регионе. Для православной общины он представлял угрозу, исходящую от более богатого врага, поддерживаемого Римским престолом и французским посольством. Единственным союзником, на которого Антиохийский патриархат мог опереться в борьбе за свою идентичность, была Российская Империя, традиционный защитник православных арабов на Ближнем Востоке. Документы из архива иностранных дел Российской Империи, введены в научный оборот впервые, уникальная возможность углубиться в историю этого конфликта с участием высших должностных лиц в Османской империи, а также российского посольства в Константинополе.

The Israeli General Election of 1996 – Another Upheaval?

1996 ◽  
Vol 31 (4) ◽  
pp. 449-466 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Capitanchik
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
Prime Minister ◽  
Peace Process ◽  
General Election ◽  
Political Life ◽  
Central Issue ◽  
Direct Election ◽  
Electoral Law ◽  
First Time

The Israeli General Election of 1996 Has Been Described as a ‘referendum’ on the Middle East peace process, the central issue in the campaign. However, important as it was, the outcome of the election was determined not so much by the issue of peace, as by a change in the electoral law providing for the direct election of the prime minister. On 29 May, for the first time, Israelis went to the polls to elect a prime minister as well as a new Knesset and the result was yet another upheaval in Israeli political life.

Revolution in Iraq

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dina Rezk
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
Middle East ◽  
Communist Party ◽  
Intelligence Community ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Virus Spreading ◽  
First Time

In July 1958, an unknown nationalist, General Abdul Karim Qasim, came to the helm of power in Iraq. Chapter 3 reveals how analysts reacted to the brutal murder of his predecessor Nuri al Said, as Britain’s most important ally in the Middle East seemed to contract the Nasser ‘virus’ spreading through the region. Qasim quickly demonstrated that he was no Nasserist stooge however. Whilst British policymakers hoped in vain that the new Iraqi leader could be cultivated as a counterweight to Nasser, the intelligence community rapidly realised that Qasim had neither the charisma nor the popularity to compete with his Egyptian counterpart in the Arab Cold War. Qasim reliance on Iraqi Communists to counteract the influence of local Nasserites led to widespread fears that Iraq was on the brink of acquiring Soviet satellite status. This chapter brings to light for the first time the JIC’s nuanced analysis of the Iraqi Communist Party (ICP), suggesting to policy-makers that in fact the Soviet Union was acting as a restraining influence on the Iraqi communists. Qasim came to be increasingly depicted as ‘paranoid’ and ‘irrational’, whilst assessments of Nasser took on a new and more complimentary light as a ‘moderate’ potential ally in the quest to prevent Communist penetration of the Middle East.

The Early Dynastic Near East

2020 ◽  
pp. 531-611
Author(s):  
Vitali Bartash
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
Long Range ◽  
Social Stratification ◽  
Near East ◽  
Royal Family ◽  
Early Dynastic ◽  
The Creation ◽  
City States ◽  
The Way

The Middle East in the Early Dynastic period (ca. 2900–2300 BC) was characterized by the competition of local city states for hegemony. Combined with long-range military and diplomatic relationships, this led to the creation of the first, if short-lived, larger polities in Mesopotamia and Syria, which paved the way for the emergence of the Akkad state. Cuneiform archives of temples and palaces document a gradual concentration of land, power, and wealth in the hands of an elite that included the royal family and the members of the palace and temple administration, resulting in increasing social stratification and deepening inequality in the context of surplus economy, unprecedented urbanization, and endemic war.

scholarly journals Cocirculation of Four Infectious Bronchitis Virus Lineages in Broiler Chickens in the Eastern Region of Saudi Arabia from 2012 to 2014

2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 ◽  
pp. 1-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abdullah I. A. Al-Mubarak ◽  
Anwar A. G. Al-Kubati
Keyword(s):  
Saudi Arabia ◽  
Middle East ◽  
Infectious Bronchitis Virus ◽  
Broiler Chickens ◽  
Direct Sequencing ◽  
Hypervariable Region ◽  
Economic Losses ◽  
Eastern Region ◽  
Infectious Bronchitis ◽  
First Time

Avian infectious bronchitis virus (IBV) is an evolving and dynamic virus that causes major economic losses for the poultry industry worldwide. Continuous evolution and emergence of new variants of this virus are the major challenges for controlling the disease with routine vaccination. Successful vaccination usually requires the use of a homologous vaccine, which in turn necessitates continuous investigation of the circulating strains. Herein, we performed a reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction- (RT-PCR-) based investigation in broiler chicken flocks of the Eastern Region of Saudi Arabia. IBV was detected in 36.5% of the tested flocks (42 out of 115) from January 2012 to March 2014. Direct sequencing of hypervariable region-3 (HVR-3) of the Spike (S)-1 gene was performed, followed by phylogenetic analysis to determine the circulating IBV genotypes. Four lineages appear to coexist in this region, including the GI-13 or 4/91 IBV (31%), GI-16 or CK/CH/LDL/97I IBV (28.6%), GI-1 or Mass IBV (19%), and GI-23 or Middle East IBV (21.4%). The latter lineage include two subgroups: IS/720/99 IBV (16.7%) and IS/Variant2/98 IBV (4.7%). Some of the detections made in the 4/91 and Mass lineages are expected to belong to the vaccine strains. Lineages without a homologous vaccine in use (CK/CH/LDL/97I and Middle East) represent 50% of the isolates recovered in this study. Based on identity with the vaccine sequences, field observations, and frequent detection, these two lineages appear to be out of coverage of the IBV vaccines used in Saudi Arabia. This is the first time to identify Middle East lineage (IS/720/99 IBV and IS/Variant2/98 IBV) in the Eastern Region of Saudi Arabia.

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