By 146, Rome had destroyed Carthage and crushed the Macedonian power in Greece. Like how Parthian expansion crushed Seleucid power from the east, Roman expansion finished off the remaining western fragments of the Seleucid Empire in 65 BCE. Therefore, Rome and Parthia were two rising powers in the ancient world. Roman military operations in the east first made diplomatic contact with the Parthians in 96 BCE. Although the Roman general Sulla did not treat the Parthian envoy with respect, a treaty that definited the border as the Euphrates River was ratified by both parties.1While the Parthians were unimpressed by Sulla’s personality, their policy toward the Romans for the next thirty years was mainly peaceful. The Parthians needed to secure their western borders, as their empire was still expanding toward the east. Likewise, the Romans were also in a period of expansion and had plenty of affairs of their own. As the Romans became more established as a power, peace came slowly to an end. In 64, a Roman governor of Syria named Galbinus got involved in a power-struggle over the Parthia throne. In support of a claimant, Galbinus briefly entered Parthian land with his army. He withdrew quickly, but later made the proposal for a large-scale invasion, which was outright rejected by the Senate. However, the Roman senate itself was slowly losing control to three powerful men who came to dominate Roman politics: Caesar, Pompey and Crassus – together known as the First Triumvirate. It was Crassus who would ultimately bring war.
Posted on: Mon, 30 Jun 2014 21:23:17 +0000
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