The Arabian Frontier: A Keystone of the Sasanian Empire

2017 ◽  
pp. 268-283
Author(s):  
Craig Morley
Keyword(s):  
Roman Empire ◽  
Arabian Peninsula ◽  
Sixth Century ◽  
Economic Prosperity ◽  
Sasanian Empire ◽  
Peripheral Position ◽  
Military Security

From a Roman perspective the Arabian Peninsula was frequently relegated to a peripheral position on the edge of the empire. In contrast, in different stages of Sasanian history the Arabian frontier acted as a keystone of their empire. Sasanian control, both direct and indirect, of the Arabian Peninsula strengthened its economic prosperity and military security. It was for these reasons that the empire’s activities on their southern frontier in Arabia peaked during three distinct periods: during the early Sasanian period, principally in the reigns of Ardashir I and Shapur I; during the reign of Shapur II; and, perhaps most importantly, during the sixth century in renewed hostilities with the Roman Empire.

scholarly journals Sasanian Persia

2017 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Population Growth ◽  
Urban Development ◽  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Urban Culture ◽  
Arabian Peninsula ◽  
Armed Forces ◽  
Late Antique ◽  
Economic Prosperity ◽  
Sasanian Empire ◽  
Roman World

The Sasanian Empire (third-seventh centuries) was one of the largest empires of antiquity, stretching from Mesopotamia to modern Pakistan and from Central Asia to the Arabian Peninsula. This mega-empire withstood powerful opponents in the steppe and expanded further in Late Antiquity, whilst the Roman world shrunk in size. Recent research has revealed the reasons for this success, notably population growth in some territories, economic prosperity and urban development, made possible through investment in agriculture and military infrastructure on a scale unparalleled in the late antique world. This volume explores the empire’s relations with its neighbours and key phenomena which contributed to its wealth and power, from the empire’s armed forces to agriculture, trade and treatment of minorities. The latest discoveries, notably major urban foundations, fortifications and irrigations systems, feature prominently. An empire whose military might and urban culture rivalled Rome and foreshadowed the caliphate will be of interest to scholars of the Roman and Islamic world.

scholarly journals Słowianie w Historii powszechnej Teofilakta Simokatty – bizantyńska perspektywa aksjologiczna

2017 ◽  
Vol 17 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Kotłowska
Keyword(s):  
Roman Empire ◽  
Baltic Sea ◽  
High Reliability ◽  
Sixth Century ◽  
The Baltic Sea ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
Universal History ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Baltic

Slavs in Theophylact Simocatta’s „Universal History” – a Byzantine axiological perspectiveThe Universal History of Theophylact Simocatta constitutes a very important source for the history of the Later Roman Empire, especially within the context of appearance of the Avars and the Slavs in the Balkans. This article confirms the high reliability and great value of Theophylact’ s narrative concerning the Slavs in the last two decades of the sixth century. In the second part, some new remarks have been given, which argue for the authenticity of the famous episode about Slavs “living at the end of the Western Ocean” (6.2). Moreover, the author is firmly convinced that the so-called Western Ocean should be identified with the Baltic Sea. Słowianie w Historii powszechnej Teofilakta Simokatty – bizantyńska perspektywa aksjologiczna Historia powszechna Teofilakta Simokatty stanowi bardzo istotne źródło do dziejów późnego Cesarstwa Rzymskiego, m.in. w kontekście pojawienia się Awarów i Słowian na Bałkanach. Przedłożony artykuł potwierdza wysoką wiarygodność i faktograficzne znaczenie narracji Teofilakta odnośnie do Słowiańszczyzny ostatnich dwóch dziesięcioleci VI wieku. Druga część artykułu zawiera nową argumentację na rzecz autentyczności słynnego epizodu o Słowianach „mieszkających przy krańcu zachodniego Oceanu”. Autorka jest przekonana, że tzw. „zachodni Ocean” należy utożsamić z Morzem Bałtyckim.

The Nature of Turko-Byzantine Relations in the Sixth Century Ad

Belleten ◽  
2004 ◽  
Vol 68 (252) ◽  
pp. 423-430
Author(s):  
Hatice Erdemi̇r
Keyword(s):  
Roman Empire ◽  
Central Asia ◽  
Near East ◽  
Economic Aspect ◽  
Sixth Century ◽  
Persian Empire ◽  
Considerable Evidence ◽  
The Crimea ◽  
Supporting Material

In the middle of the sixth century, a new nomad power emerged in central Asia. A federation led by Turkic groups which rapidly impinged on the Persian empire after the subjugation of the Hephtalites and had an impact on the Roman empire through the flight westwards of the Avars. As a result, both Romans and Persians were soon in diplomatic contact with the Turkish Kagan, and considerable evidence for this process is presented in the fragments of the Greek historian Menandros Protector, with useful supporting material in the historian Theophylact Simocatta and the Syriac author John of Ephesus. This diplomacy had both an economic aspect, the ability of the Turks to intervene in the silk trade, and a strategic one, since both Roman and Persian empires could view the Turks as useful allies against their traditional rival in the Near East. The Turks could attack Persia through the former territory of the Hephtalites, while they could take over Roman possesions in the Crimea.

The Northern and Western Borderlands of the Sasanian Empire: Contextualising the Roman/Byzantine and Sasanian Frontier

2017 ◽  
pp. 99-125 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dan Lawrence ◽  
Tony J. Wilkinson
Keyword(s):  
Roman Empire ◽  
Military Installations ◽  
Mountain Ranges ◽  
Sasanian Empire ◽  
North East ◽  
Eastern Iran ◽  
External Pressures ◽  
North Eastern ◽  
Southern Caucasus

This chapter investigates the archaeological landscapes of the frontiers of the Sasanian Empire. Drawing on evidence from current and archived archaeological surveys, in combination with high-resolution remote sensing datasets such as CORONA spy photography, we compare the organisation of settlements and defensive structures of the Sasanian frontier zones in response to a variety of external pressures. These varied from the Roman Empire in the west to less centralised entities, including nomadic groups, in the south-west and north-east. Following a general discussion of the multiple manifestations of Sasanian frontiers drawn from southern Mesopotamia (Iraq), northern Syria and north-eastern Iran, the main focus of the chapter is on the complex frontier landscape of the southern Caucasus, particularly the area of modern Azerbaijan, Georgia and Daghestan. We discuss the role of linear barriers, including the Gorgan Wall in north-eastern Iran and the Ghilghilchay and Derbent Walls in the Caucasus, irrigation systems, and alignments of fortifications and settlements in shaping their local landscapes. By placing the archaeological remains of the Sasanian Empire in a wider context we are able to examine the relationships between military installations, settlement patterns, infrastructure and geographical features such as mountain ranges and rivers. Comparing the different case studies allows us to conclude with some general statements on the nature of Sasanian power in the frontier territories of the empire.

Ephraemius, Patriarch of Antioch

1938 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 364-370 ◽  
Author(s):  
Glanville Downey
Keyword(s):  
Roman Empire ◽  
Civil Service ◽  
Sixth Century ◽  
Government Service ◽  
Military Officer ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Church ◽  
Executive Ability

The sixth century in the Eastern Roman Empire saw the appointment to high ecclesiastical offices of several laymen chosen from the upper ranks of the army and the civil service. Apollinaris, patriarch of Alexandria from 551 to 570, had been before his appointment a high military officer, and his successor John had likewise passed the whole of his previous career in the army. It was evidently their marked executive ability which was responsible for the sudden translation of such men from the government service to the church, and in their new careers their energy and their mastery of administrative detail no doubt outweighed any previous lack of training in theological affairs.

scholarly journals The Making of Merovingian Paris: The Christianization of a Gallo-Roman city

2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 249-278
Author(s):  
Tomás Pessoa
Keyword(s):  
Roman Empire ◽  
Final Section ◽  
Regional Level ◽  
Sixth Century ◽  
Royal Power ◽  
The Third ◽  
The City

The present paper intends to analyze the Christianization of the city of Paris and its growing importance in the Merovingian period. The article begins with an introduction of the context of the Gallo-Roman city and the transformations that happened during the final centuries of the Roman Empire. In the third section, the Merovingian Paris will be examined (6th-7th centuries), specifically its three most important churches. Finally, in the final section of the paper, the process on which Paris, a relatively unimportant city at a regional level until the sixth century, became one of the most important cities in Merovingian Gaul will be explained. The consolidation of the Merovingian royal power and the Christianization of the city were part of the same process.

Introduction

2017 ◽  
pp. 1-18
Author(s):  
Eberhard W. Sauer
Keyword(s):  
Population Growth ◽  
Urban Development ◽  
Central Asia ◽  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Urban Culture ◽  
Armed Forces ◽  
Late Antique ◽  
Economic Prosperity ◽  
Sasanian Empire ◽  
Roman World

The Sasanian Empire (third-seventh centuries) was one of the largest empires of antiquity, stretching from Mesopotamia to modern Pakistan and from Central Asia to the Arabian Peninsula. This mega-empire withstood powerful opponents in the steppe and expanded further in Late Antiquity, whilst the Roman world shrunk in size. Recent research has revealed the reasons for this success, notably population growth in some territories, economic prosperity and urban development, made possible through investment in agriculture and military infrastructure on a scale unparalleled in the late antique world. This volume explores the empire’s relations with its neighbours and key phenomena which contributed to its wealth and power, from the empire’s armed forces to agriculture, trade and treatment of minorities. The latest discoveries, notably major urban foundations, fortifications and irrigations systems, feature prominently. An empire whose military might and urban culture rivalled Rome and foreshadowed the caliphate will be of interest to scholars of the Roman and Islamic world.

Archaic Greek trade: three conjectures

1979 ◽  
Vol 99 ◽  
pp. 152-155 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. M. Cook
Keyword(s):  
Roman Empire ◽  
Early Period ◽  
Sixth Century ◽  
The West ◽  
Commercial Use ◽  
Precise Statement ◽  
Ancient Literature ◽  
Parallel Channels

Not much attention is given to the diolkos across the Isthmus of Corinth, nor is much known about it. There are a dozen or so explicit or probable references to it in ancient literature, one relevant inscription and some remains of its track. The remains, principally at the west and close to the modern canal, are from a paved roadway with two parallel channels about 1·50 m apart, evidently to hold the wheels of some sort of carrier; and associated pottery and inscribed letters suggest that it was constructed in the late seventh or early sixth century B.C. The written references tell us that the eastern end of the diolkos was at Schoinos, that it was said to be 40 stades long, that warships were transported across the Isthmus in 412, 220, 217, 102 and 30 B.C., that the diolkos was in use in the early period of the Roman Empire, and that some ships were too big for it: there is, though, no precise statement of the commercial use of the diolkos.Yet transport of warships is not likely to have been the normal use of the diolkos: ancient historical writers were more interested in war than commerce, and warships cannot have needed transporting very frequently.

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