Beate Dignas & Engelbert Winter - Kaveh Farrokh

4 Earliest Roman–Sasanian confrontations 71
3.1 the third century: origins of sasanian
interests in the west 2
4: Earliest Roman–Sasanian confrontations (230–3)
In the year 230 Ardaˇsīr made his first advance into Roman territory. 3 The
Persians besieged Nisibis and undertook raids that led them as far as Syria
and Cappadocia. 4 Ardaˇsīr seemed determined to put his political ideas
into practice. The Roman emperor reacted with dismay to the Sasanian
invasions. 5 On several occasions he sent ambassadors to the king in order to
negotiate for a peaceful solution but Ardaˇsīr repeated his aim to re-conquer
former Achaemenid territories. 6 A military confrontation was therefore
inevitable.
There are but few Western sources that help us with a reconstruction of
the events, and the ones that do exist contradict one another. The Eastern
tradition does not yield any precise references. Tabarī’s remark that Ardaˇsīr
was always victorious and that his army had never been defeated is typical. 7
Herodian’s elaborate but problematic account 8 is closest to the events in
time and allows for a closer analysis.
Herodian vi.6.4–6
(4) When Alexander arrived in Antioch he recovered quickly because after the dry
heat in Mesopotamia the much cooler air in the city and its good water supply
felt pleasant. He wanted to win back the soldiers’ loyalty and tried to appease their
anger by promising them a lot of money. He thought that this was the only remedy
when it came to regaining the good will of soldiers. 9 He also gathered and prepared
a force for a new attack against the Persians, should they cause problems and not
give peace. (5) He was informed, however, that the Persian king had demobilised
his force and had sent all units back to their homelands. Although the barbarians
seemed to have been victorious through the help of some superior force, 10 they
were still worn out by the many clashes in Media and the battle in Parthia, where
2 For sourcebooks on Roman–Persian relations in the third century see Felix 1985 and Dodgeon
and Lieu 1991.
3 On the history, origin, course and outcome of this war see Winter 1988: 45–68.
4 Herodian vi.2.1; Cass. Dio lxxx.3.4; Zon. xii.15.
5 On the relationship between the two rulers see Potter 1987: 147–57.
6 Herodian vi.2.4 and vi.4.5 (for an Engl. tr. of these passages see Dodgeon and Lieu 1991: 17 and
19–20.
7 Tabarī, tr. Nöldeke 21; Bosworth 1999: 17 (820).
8 Zon. xii.15 is based on Herodian’s account. On Herodian see p. 55 n. 10.
9 These words once more reveal Herodian’s critical view of Severus Alexander, whose skills in warfare
he tends to judge very negatively.
10 The expression ek tou kreittonos has been interpreted in various ways; cf. Müller 1996: 332; another
possible translation would be ‘by superiority of military force’.