Читать книгу A Companion to the Hellenistic and Roman Near East онлайн
80 страница из 236
After Edessa was annexed and promoted to the rank of Roman colony (213 ce), Caracalla campaigned (215–217 ce) in Adiabene and Babylon. Caracalla’s assassination was followed by a vigorous Parthian counter-offensive, which crushed Caracalla’s successor Macrinus at the gates of Nisibis; Macrinus agreed to pay 50 millions of deniers for the Parthians to leave the area.
The Sasanian Threat and the Near Eastern Lands in the Third Century
When the Sasanian Persians replaced the Arsacid Parthians starting in 224–225 ce, the situation in the Near East was deeply altered. Although the Parthians had ended up establishing a sort of modus vivendi with the Romans and in the end were attacked more often by Rome than they were themselves the aggressors, the Persians soon showed their aggression toward Syria. Starting in 230 ce, a first Persian invasion brought them to the gates of North Syria. The retaliation took a long time to organize, and Alexander Severus, who was advancing along the Euphrates, had to retreat toward Antioch.