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Arsacids, Romans, and Local Elites.Indb This pdf of your paper in Arsacids, Romans, and Local Elites belongs to the publishers Oxbow Books and it is their copyright. As author you are licenced to make up to 50 offprints from it, but beyond that you may not publish it on the World Wide Web until three years from publication (March 2020), unless the site is a limited access intranet (password protected). If you have queries about this please contact the editorial department at Oxbow Books ([email protected]). Arsacids, Romans, and Local Elites © Oxbow Books 2017 Oxford & Philadelphia www.oxbowbooks.com AN OFFPRINT FROM Arsacids, Romans, and Local Elites Cross-Cultural Interactions of the Parthian Empire Paperback Edition: ISBN 978-1-78570-592-2 Digital Edition: ISBN 978-1-78570-593-9 edited by Jason M. Schlude and Benjamin B. Rubin © Oxbow Books 2017 Oxford & Philadelphia www.oxbowbooks.com Published in the United Kingdom in 2017 by OXBOW BOOKS The Old Music Hall, 106–108 Cowley Road, Oxford OX4 1JE and in the United States by OXBOW BOOKS 1950 Lawrence Road, Havertown, PA 19083 © Oxbow Books and the individual contributors 2017 Paperback Edition: ISBN 978-1-78570-592-2 Digital Edition: ISBN 978-1-78570-593-9 A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Schlude, Jason M., editor, author. | Rubin, Benjamin B., editor, author. Title: Arsacids, Romans, and local elites : cross-cultural interactions of the Parthian Empire / edited by Dr. Jason M. Schlude, College of Saint Benedict and Saint John’s University and Dr. Benjamin B. Rubin, Williams College. Description: Oxford ; Havertown, PA : Oxbow Books, 2017. | Includes bibliographical references. Identifiers: LCCN 2017002720 (print) | LCCN 2017007928 (ebook) | ISBN 9781785705922 (pbk.) | ISBN 9781785705939 (epub) | ISBN 9781785705946 (mobi) | ISBN 9781785705953 (pdf) Subjects: LCSH: Arsacid dynasty, 247 B.C.-224 A.D. | Parthians--History. | Iran--Social life and customs. | Iran--History--To 640. Classification: LCC DS285 .A77 2017 (print) | LCC DS285 (ebook) | DDC 939/.6--dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017002720 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission from the publisher in writing. Printed in the United Kingdom by Hobbs the Printers Ltd For a complete list of Oxbow titles, please contact: UNITED KINGDOM UNITED STATES OF AMERICA Oxbow Books Oxbow Books Telephone (01865) 241249, Fax (01865) 794449 Telephone (800) 791-9354, Fax (610) 853-9146 Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] www.oxbowbooks.com www.casemateacademic.com/oxbow Oxbow Books is part of the Casemate Group Front cover: Arch of Severus Septimus, Rome. Jean-Christophe Benoist. AR drachma. Mithradates I. Hecatompylos. Sellwood 1980: type 7.1. Sunrise Collection (U. S. A). Back cover: Statue of Augustus of Prima Porta. Sailko. Contents List of Contributors ...............................................................................................................vi Acknowledgments .................................................................................................................vii Introduction ............................................................................................................................ix Jason M. Schlude 1. Mithradates I and the Parthian Archer .........................................................................1 Jeffrey D. Lerner 2. The Seleucids Imprisoned: Arsacid-Roman Hostage Submission and Its Hellenistic Precedents .......................................................................................25 Jake Nabel 3. Marcus Antonius’ Median War and the Dynastic Politics of the Near East ................................................................................................................51 Kenneth R. Jones 4. Finding Common Ground: Roman-Parthian Embassies in the Julio-Claudian Period ...........................................................................................65 Jason M. Schlude and Benjamin B. Rubin 5. Herod the Great: A Near Eastern Case Study in Roman-Parthian Politics ............93 Jason M. Schlude and J. Andrew Overman 6. Osrhoene and Mesopotamia between Rome and Arsacid Parthia ........................111 Peter Edwell 7. Beyond Rome/Parthia: Intersections of Local and Imperial Traditions in the Visual Record of Hatra ......................................................................................137 Björn Anderson List of Contributors DR. BJÖRN ANDERSON DR. JAKE NABEL Assistant Professor Graduate Student in Classics School of Art and Art History Department of Classics University of Iowa Cornell University 210 Art Building West 120 Goldwin Smith Hall Iowa City, IA 52242 Ithaca, NY 14853-3201 U. S. A. U. S. A. DR. J. ANDREW OVERMAN DR. PETER EDWELL Harry M. Drake Distinguished Professor Senior Lecturer in the Humanities and Fine Arts Department of Ancient History Department of Classics Macquarie University Macalester College Building W6A 516 Old Main 313 NSW, 2109 1600 Grand Ave. Australia St. Paul, MN 55105 U. S. A. DR. KENNETH R. JONES DR. BENJAMIN B. RUBIN Associate Professor of History and Classics Assistant Professor of Classics Department of History Department of Classics Baylor University Williams College One Bear Place #97306 85 Mission Park Dr. Waco, TX 76798-7306 Williamstown, MA 01267 U. S. A. U. S. A. DR. JEFFREY D. LERNER DR. JASON M. SCHLUDE Professor Assistant Professor of Classics Department of History Department of Languages and Cultures Wake Forest University College of Saint Benedict and Saint John’s Tribble Hall B-101 University 1834 Wake Forest Road Quad 255A Winston-Salem, NC 27106 Collegeville, MN 56321 U. S. A. U. S. A. Acknowledgments The process of showing gratitude is always a joyful enterprise. So it is with happy appreciation that on behalf of the contributors to this volume we wish to recognize those who have supported the various stages of research, presentation, writing, and publication that have led to its realization. Firstly, we wish to thank the programming committee of the American Schools of Oriental Research (ASOR). The members of that committee approved a three-year panel on the Parthian empire between 2012 and 2014 that provided us with an opportunity to pursue the subject and present our findings at the annual meeting of ASOR. We are entirely grateful to Dr. Julie Gardiner of Oxbow Books who expressed interest early on in the publication of this research and has been entirely patient and supportive as the project has come together. We wish to acknowledge the organizations and individuals who gave permission for our publication of photographs from their collections, including the American Numismatic Society, Classical Numismatic Group, Ars Numismatica Classica, Sunrise Collection, Mediterranean Coins, Dr. G. R. Assar, and Francesco Bini. Finally, we thank our readers – those who would invest their time in studying the fascinating history of the ancient Near East in the time of the Parthian empire, a worthy subject indeed. J. M. S. B. B. R. Chapter 6 Osrhoene and Mesopotamia between Rome and Arsacid Parthia Peter Edwell The Parthian wars of the emperor Trajan represent an obvious milestone in relations between Rome and Parthia. Roman provincial administration was established, albeit briefl y, as far as southern Iraq, and a Roman army marched all the way to the Persian Gulf. Future Roman emperors would consciously emulate Trajan’s military actions, and Parthian rulers were on notice as to long-term Roman imperial intentions. Importantly, the ramifi cations of Rome’s ongoing tensions with Parthia were felt directly for the fi rst time in regional communities east of the Euphrates. In northern Mesopotamia, the rulers of regional kingdoms and principalities experienced the full force of the Roman military and the ramifi cations of a Roman Emperor’s displeasure. Rome’s imperial power had steadily grown in the eastern provinces since the arrival of Lucullus and Pompey despite some notable setbacks on occasion, especially at Carrhae. Importantly, Roman economic power became an increasing factor from the fi rst century BCE to the reign of Trajan with the growing wealth especially of the cities of the empire resulting in an exponential increase in trade originating in and passing through the whole of the Near East and Arabia. Evidence from Dura Europos, for example, a city provably under Parthian control during this whole period, suggests stronger economic connections with the Roman world than with Parthia. Trajan’s military and administrative activity from 114 to 117 placed a new emphasis on competition between Rome and Parthia especially in northern Mesopotamia. Since the decline of the Seleucids and the rise of the Parthian Empire in the mid-second century BCE, kingdoms and principalities based on the cities of Edessa, Carrhae, Nisibis, and Singara and their surrounding territory had been strongly within the orbit of Parthia. This was true in military, political, and especially cultural terms. The combination of growth in Roman economic and military power in the east resulted in a marked change in the politics and culture of these entities 112 Peter Edwell in northern Mesopotamia across the second and early third centuries. This became especially evident during and after the Parthian war of Lucius Verus in the mid-160s
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