Roman-Persian Wars
B.C. 53 to A.D. 627
Rome — versus — Parthian and Sassanid Empires.
The Persian-Roman Wars refer to a series of battles between the great empires of the east and west with long intermittent periods of peace between them. The antagonists are usually referred to as the Roman vs. the Persian empires, but the 700 years over which the wars spanned, encompassed the late Roman Republic, the Roman Empire and the Byzantine Empire in the west, and the Parthian and Sassanid Empires in the east. The areas of dispute ranged from the Transcaucus area in the North (Modern day Georgia and Armenia), to the Mesopotamia valley in the east. These territories changed hands many times during the wars, and some cities, such as Ctesiphon were besieged many time times. In spite of years of conflict and dozens of campaigns, nothing of long term significances resulted from these wars. The border between the empires remained roughly the same for most of the 700 year period.
n the early years of the Roman Empire, the disputes were purely territorial and resulted mostly from Roman aggression as it sought to expand the boundaries of its territories. In later years, there came to be a religious aspect to the wars as the Eastern Realm of Christendom confronted the Western bounds of Persian Zoroastrianism. Ironically however, these wars so weakened both the Byzantine and Sassanid Empires that when the Moslem threat arose from Arabia, neither was able to effectively resist it. The same territory that was contested for so many years between Roman Christians and Persian Zoroastrians, fell almost immediately as prey to the Moslem jihadists.
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Romans vs. Parthians : 53 B.C. to 226 A.D
The first Roman contact with the Parthian Empire came during theMithridatic Wars which lasted from 82 to 63 BC The Kingdom of Pontus was an independent Kingdom that bordered on Parthian territory. By the third Mithidatic War, the Romans pursued Mithridates and his ally, Tigranes, deep into Armenia, and conquered most of the Armenian Empire, including Syria and Judea for Rome. From this point on, the Eastern border of Rome's territory bordered on Parthia. Rome recognized that Parthia, far from being barbaric was a highly civilized country with rich booty. The lure of conquest was behind most of Rome's incursions into Parthian territory in the following centuries. Soon after Pompey had conquered Syria and Judea for Rome, Crassus, already one of the richest men in Rome, launched a campaign against Parthia in Mesopotamia. He was defeated however, with great slaughter at Carrhae (53 BC).
Caesar was planning a campaign of retribution when he was assassinated so the task fell to his successor in the east Mark Antony. He led an army through Armenia to attack Northern Parthia, but did not accomplish much and lost much of his army in the retreat. Octavius (Caesar Augustus) then negotiated a peace with Parthia that lasted until the reign of Nero. In 62 A.D. Nero launched a campaign in Armenia to try to retake that province, but it was inconclusive. Not until the reign of Trajan (107 A.D.) did Rome make aggressive inroads into the area, at which point they captured the Parthian capital of Ctesiphon and made much of Mesopotamia a Roman Province, although not a stable one. Several more campaigns under Marcus Aurelius and Severan emperors were required to hold the area. This successful campaign against Parthia however, only weakened the Parthian government and led to the rise of the Sassanid empire, a far more formidable foe.
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