Beate Dignas & Engelbert Winter - Kaveh Farrokh

c h a p t e r 6
Shared interests: Continuing conflicts
Although Roman–Persian relations were dominated by military conflicts
or diplomatic activities concerning these conflicts, there were a number
of issues that showed points of contact between the two powers, which,
however, could themselves become the starting point for further tensions.
These are above all economic and trade related issues, the protection of
the frontier and the integration of territories that had been contested for
centuries. It is noteworthy that the contemporary authors always give their
accounts on the basis of an ‘imaginary opposition’ between Occident and
Orient, which creates a typical ‘perspective of confrontation’. One cannot
fail to notice the prejudices the Roman historians held against the ‘oriental
barbarians’. Such commonplaces, which found their way into Western literature
many centuries ago, and which were embellished in numerous subsequent
accounts given by those travelling between the cultures – soldiers
or diplomats, scholars or philosophers, artists or missionaries – have had
a tremendous impact on modern views until the present day. The second
part of this book thus emphasises the contrary, namely the efforts to reconcile
differences, the openness for cooperation between the powers and the
solutions that were found in the process and thereby to gain a deeper understanding
of Roman–Sasanian relations. 1 Given how the rivalries between
Rome and Persia persisted and how difficult in particular the geographical
conditions in the border regions were, these solutions can indeed be called
innovative and forward-looking. At times, they certainly helped to stabilise
the difficult political situation in the contested border territories along the
Euphrates and Tigris.
26 Armenia
It is not easy to say what exactly ‘Armenia’ was in (late) antiquity, let alone
to pinpoint the origins of those settling in the territorial entity between
1 In this context see also chapter 9 ‘Exchange of information’, below.
173