- Ancient borders and borderlands (Archaeology), Silk Road Studies, Latin Epigraphy, Hatra, Parthian/Arsacid history, Parthian Empire, and 109 moreParthian Archaeology, Iran Archaeology, Roman Arabia, Decapolis Archaeology, Ancient Caucasus, Arabian Gulf, Ancient Trade & Commerce (Archaeology), Ancient Parthian Numismatics, Elymais, Adiabene, Edessa, Dura Europos, Palmyra, Syria, Parthia, Near Eastern Archaeology, Roman Syria (Archaeology), Roman Near East, Parthian Kingdoms, Roman History, Iranian Archaeology, Archaeology of Caucasus, Flavius Josephus, Roman Judea, Indian Ocean World, Indian Ocean Trade, Armenia, Archaeology of Central Asia, Eurasian Nomads, Indian Ocean Archaeology, Kushans, Kushan history, Commagene, Ancient economy, Semitic languages, Kushan Pottery, Archaeology of Central Asia in Parthian, Kushan and Sasanian times, Roman Mesopotamia, Parthian Pottery, Nabataean Petra, Nabateans, Palmirene, Nabatean Aramaic, Emesa, Hellenistic and Parthian Mesopotamia, Persis, Characene, Ancient Trade Routes, Frontiers of the Roman Empire, Hellenistic and Roman Syria, Ancient Near East, Ancient Near East (Archaeology), Arabian/Persian Gulf Archaeology, The Persian Gulf, Classical Near East, Characene Kingdom, History, Roman Limes, Jezirah, Cataphracti, Arsacid Coinage, Parthian Ideology, Arsacid Royal Policy, Parthian Crwon, Diadem, Tiara Orthe, Mithradates of Parthia, Arsaces, Vologases, Orodes, Artabanus, Art of Central Asia, Kushan and Gandhara, Buddhist Iconography, Bamiyan / Afghanistan, Silk Road Archaeology, Zeugma, Tigris Euphrates Basin, Archaeology of the Silk Road, Roman Auxilia, Roman Archaeology, Subartu Journal, Nabataean Inscriptions, Iranian Studies, Roman Military Diplomas, Roman Judaea, Ituraeans, Roman Syria, Roman Palestine (Archaeology), Roman Arabia (Archaeology), Galilee in early roman time, Ancient Arabs, Safaitic, Periplus Maris Erythraei, Iran Armenian Studies, Ancient Armenia, Caucasian Iberia, Caucasian Albania, Nabataeans, Nabataean Civilisation, Nabataeans (Classics), Mleiha, V. I. Sarianidi, Journal of Oman Studies, Silk Road, Ancient History, Achaemenid, Parthian, and Sasanian History; International Relations and Diplomacy between Roman-Byzantine and Persian Empires, Roman Prosopography, Parthian coinage, Seleucia Pieria, and Genderedit
- Leonardo Gregoratti was educated at the Universities of Udine (Italy) and Trier (Germany). He has conducted research ... moreLeonardo Gregoratti was educated at the Universities of Udine (Italy) and Trier (Germany). He has conducted research in Udine, Trier, Kiel and Bergen. In 2013 he began his collaboration with the Department of Classics and Ancient History of Durham University as IAS Fellow. His research interests include Roman History and Epigraphy and the history of Western Asia, in particular the Roman Near East, Palmyra, the long distance trade and the Parthian Kingdom. He collaborated as classical historian with the archaeological missions conducted by Udine University in Syria and now collaborates with Iranian colleagues.edit
Gregoratti L., Are Two Great Kings too many?, Some Considerations on Parthian Kingship in the Classical sources, in J.Boardman, J.Hargrave, A.Avram and A.Podossinov (eds.) Connecting the Ancient West and East, Studies presented to Prof. Gocha R. Tsetskhladze, Peeters, 2022, pp. 1111-1123 (draft)more
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FULL TEXT AVAILABLE in open access here. https://journals.openedition.org/syria/9292
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Hamadan province in western Iran has always been of particular archaeological significance mainly because of its administrative centre Ecbatana, modern Hamadan. In 2005 a bas-relief dating to the Parthian period was found in the southern... more
Hamadan province in western Iran has always been of particular archaeological significance mainly because of its administrative centre Ecbatana, modern Hamadan. In 2005 a bas-relief dating to the Parthian period was found in the southern highlands of Alvand, in the Yakhchal valley. Recently, a second relief, very similar to the Yakhchal one, has been found at Mydan Mishan. This relief depicts a person lying on a klinè with his legs stretched out and resting his left elbow on a cushion. The figure holds a flowerlike object in his right hand and what looks like a goblet or a drinking bowl in his left hand. A comparison with other similar examples such as the relief of Heracles at Behistun and the Elymaean rock carvings of Tang-e Sarvak seems to suggest that the figure represented could be a Parthian high-ranking officer, a noble or a dignitary in a banqueting scene.
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The paper deals with the presence of Northeastern Italic families in Northern Pannonia. Through a selection of the epigraphic texts based on the information provided by the texts and the chronology, it is possible to investigate the... more
The paper deals with the presence of Northeastern Italic families in Northern Pannonia. Through a selection of the epigraphic texts based on the information provided by the texts and the chronology, it is possible to investigate the spreading of Italic traders' families from Italy, Noricum and Emona to the cities on the north tract of the "Amber Route" and the Balaton Lake area.
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Research Interests: Ancient History, Roman History, Balkan Studies, Roman Republic, Roman Epigraphy, and 5 moreArchaeology of Roman Pannonia, Ancient Roman economy, trade and commerce, Moesia Superior, History of Commerce, History of Genoa, History of the Mediterranean, Mediterranean Studies, and Maritime History, Trade routes, Mediterranean, Ports, Port cities, Islands, and Roman Archaeology
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Research Interests: Ancient History, Roman History, History of Iran, Jewish History, Eurasian Nomads, and 10 moreSilk Road, Silk Road Studies, Ancient Near East, Ancient Iran, Parthian Empire, Ancient China, Archaeology of the Silk Road, Parthian Archaeology, Achaemenid, Parthian, and Sasanian History; International Relations and Diplomacy between Roman-Byzantine and Persian Empires, and Adiabene
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Research Interests: Ancient History, Roman History, Iranian Studies, Iranian History, Ancient Near East, and 8 moreRoman Empire, Parthia, Parthian Kingdoms, Parthian Empire, Parthians, Roman Society, Achaemenid, Parthian, and Sasanian History; International Relations and Diplomacy between Roman-Byzantine and Persian Empires, and Arsacids
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Historian / Chronicler. Active-in Roman Empire Lucius Cassius Dio (c. 155 AD-c. 235 AD; Latin: Lucius Cassius Dio; the cognomen Cocceianus is attested only later, in Byzantine times, and is probably invented), was a Roman statesman and... more
Historian / Chronicler. Active-in Roman Empire Lucius Cassius Dio (c. 155 AD-c. 235 AD; Latin: Lucius Cassius Dio; the cognomen Cocceianus is attested only later, in Byzantine times, and is probably invented), was a Roman statesman and historian of Greek origin. Life and Career Cassius Dio was the son of the Roman senator Cassius Apronianus, consul and Roman governor of Lycia-Pamphylia, Cilicia and Dalmatia (Cass. Dio, XLIX 36. 4; LXIX 1. 3; LXXII 7. 2); he hailed from the city of Nicia in Bithynia and therefore was a Roman citizen by birth. The issue of his name remains unresolved, and only the names Cassius and Dio are reliably attested. Some epigraphic sources give Lucius as his praenomen, while others add Claudius to his nomina. The cognomen Cocceianus seems to have been added only in Byzantine times due to a presumed kinship on his mother's side to the orator Dio Cocceianus (Dio Chrysostom), who bore that cognomen in honour of the emperor Nerva (Marcus Cocceius Nerva). He was born under Antoninus Pius (138-161 AD), probably in his youth accompanied his father to the provinces he governed (Cass. Dio, LXXII 7. 2), and came to Rome after his father's death (perhaps in 180 AD). Dio spent most of his life working for the Roman administration. After moving to Rome he entered the senatorial rank during Commodus' reign, and states in his historical work that his discussion of Commodus' behaviour towards the Senate at the beginning of his reign is the product of personal observation and not hearsay. He was questor in 188 AD, praetor under Septimius Severus (Cass. Dio, LXXIII 12. 2) and consul in 205 AD. He became amicus principis and played an important role in the circle of intellectuals and men of letters gathered around the empress Julia Domna. After the consulate he retired for many years to his villa at Capua and gathered the materials for his monumental historical work (Cass. Dio, LXXVI 2. 1). Some years later he accompanied Caracalla in his military campaigns in the East (Cass. Dio, LXXVII 17-18; XLVIII 8. 4). Macrinus appointed Dio curator of the cities of Smyrna and Pergamon in Asia Minor (Cass. Dio, LXXIX 7. 4). After some years of absence from politics and administration he was appointed as governor of prestigious provinces including Africa, Dalmatia (223-225 AD) and Pannonia Superior (225-229 AD, Cass. Dio, XLIX 36. 4; LXXX 1. 3). He enjoyed the favour of the emperor Severus Alexander, who appointed him consul for the second time (229 AD), despite the hostility of the Praetorian Guard towards him. After this office Dio returned to his home town, where he died (234-235 AD).
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Indian Ocean Trade in Antiquity, The Ninth Celtic Conference in Classics will be held at University College Dublin, 22-25 June 2016
8th European Conference of Iranian Studies
Iran and the West: Converging Perspectives, International conference, 1 – 3 July 2015 University of Warwick
Capital, Investment, and Innovation in the Roman World, Brussels 28th – 29th May 2015
Workshop ”Palmyra and the Mediterranean”, 26th-27th January, 2015, The Royal Academy of Sciences and Letters, Copenhagen
Nel periodo tra la tarda età repubblicana e il principato di Augusto l’area nella quale si esercitava l’influenza politica ed economica di Roma si estese notevolmente su vasti territori sia a nord quanto a sud delle Alpi orientali. Già in... more
Nel periodo tra la tarda età repubblicana e il principato di Augusto l’area nella quale si esercitava l’influenza politica ed economica di Roma si estese notevolmente su vasti territori sia a nord quanto a sud delle Alpi orientali. Già in età repubblicana in seguito alle campagne militari di Cesare, commercianti nord italici si erano mossi verso oriente trasferendosi nel insediamento transalpino di Nauportus al fine di utilizzare le opportunità offerte dai fiumi Ljubljanca, Sava e Danubio. Nel corso del I secolo d.C., la città di Emona rimpiazzò Nauportus come punto di entrata in Italia delle linee di comunicazione con le provincie orientali. Questo contributo cerca di chiarire le connessioni delle gentes aquileiesi con gli insediamenti transalpini di Nauportus ed Emona cercando di stabilire se i cambiamenti nella gerarchia di importanza degli insediamenti influenzarono l’attività e l’importanza delle famiglie coinvolte.
From the last decades of the republican period and the beginning of the Augustean rule Rome’s political control had extended over large territories both north and south of the Oriental Alps. During the period of the late Republic already,... more
From the last decades of the republican period and the beginning of the Augustean rule Rome’s political control had extended over large territories both north and south of the Oriental Alps. During the period of the late Republic already, following Caesar’s military campaigns, north-italic settlers and traders moved eastwards in the transalpine settlement of Nauportus, on the eastern side of the Alps, in order to exploit the trade possibilities provided by the rivers Ljubljanca, Sava and Danube. In the 1st century AD, Emona, a town also belonging to the X Regio of Italy, became the prominent centre in the connections with the Eastern provinces taking quickly the place of Nauportus as the terminal of the oriental trade routes before the Alps. This paper aims to shed light on the family connections and on the presence of different Aquileian (and other north Italian) families east of the Alps, in particular in the centers of Nauportus and Emona, trying to establish whether the increase of importance of the latter and the movement of the area of main trade interest eastwards, that is to say outside Aquileian territory, affected the economic activity and the balance of power of the Aquileian families which were active in the area east of the Alps.
In several recent studies Palmyra’s evocative ruins began to appear as the geographical centre of a vast organisation aimed at the exploitation of the city’s extensive territory and its potential. Despite several aspects that are still... more
In several recent studies Palmyra’s evocative ruins began to appear as the geographical centre of a vast organisation aimed at the exploitation of the city’s extensive territory and its potential. Despite several aspects that are still unclear, it seems that a more complex concept of Palmyra emerged based on the study of the geographical and socio-political context in which it was placed. Unfortunately, such a comprehensive point of view had not been applied to those administrative Palmyrene entities which constitute, by far, the most interesting subject for scholars dealing with caravan long-distance trade, that is, the merchant colonies the inhabitants of the Syrian town established in the cities of Arsacid Mesopotamia as attested by several epigraphic documents from Palmyra itself. In the general scarcity of sources regarding the Parthian Empire, these commercial communities are hardly considered by modern scholars more than geographical names without substantial reality. They tend to be considered, exclusively in their geographical connotation, as islands of “western activity” floating in the middle of that desert of knowledge that is the Arsacid Mesopotamia. Priceless information can be obtained by leaving an exclusive roman-centric approach to the matter and taking into consideration the socio-political milieu to which these colonies belonged. This papers aims to establish what we really know about the Mesopotamian Palmyrene comptoirs by connecting the information provided by the Palmyrenes themselves with what is known about the history of Parthian Mesopotamia.
Starting from the publication in 1938 of Debevoise’s book Political History of Parthia the Parthian empire gradually began to emerge from the shadows of history to became a better defined political subject whose role and historical... more
Starting from the publication in 1938 of Debevoise’s book Political History of Parthia the Parthian empire gradually began to emerge from the shadows of history to became a better defined political subject whose role and historical importance were no less worth studying than those of the more famous oriental empires which preceded it, like the Achaemenid one, or followed like the Sasanid kingdom.
Since Debevoise an increasing number of scholars have dealt with Arsacid antiquities and today our knowledge concerning the Parthians has improved remarkably. The importance of taking into consideration contributions from wide range of disciplines (history, numismatics, archaeology) has been stressed in order to achieve a more comprehensive approach to the Parthian topic, an approach able to make up for the lack of Arsacid literary sources by having recourse to sources complementary to the traditional classic ones. If the importance of numismatics and archaeology for Parthian history has been through several studies underlined, the importance of the epigraphic findings although scarce in quantity has still to be stressed.
This paper will present some specific cases where epigraphic findings were able to provide useful information on Later Parthian history and were able to integrate the data from the archaeological work or the literary sources. The texts presented will deal not only with the Great King’s policy but with the history of some minor Parthian client kingdoms like Characene.
Since Debevoise an increasing number of scholars have dealt with Arsacid antiquities and today our knowledge concerning the Parthians has improved remarkably. The importance of taking into consideration contributions from wide range of disciplines (history, numismatics, archaeology) has been stressed in order to achieve a more comprehensive approach to the Parthian topic, an approach able to make up for the lack of Arsacid literary sources by having recourse to sources complementary to the traditional classic ones. If the importance of numismatics and archaeology for Parthian history has been through several studies underlined, the importance of the epigraphic findings although scarce in quantity has still to be stressed.
This paper will present some specific cases where epigraphic findings were able to provide useful information on Later Parthian history and were able to integrate the data from the archaeological work or the literary sources. The texts presented will deal not only with the Great King’s policy but with the history of some minor Parthian client kingdoms like Characene.
From the mid-1st century B.C., when Crassus’s legions suffered a disastrous defeat on the open steppes of northern Mesopotamia, until the early decades of the 3rd century A.D., Rome’s expansionist goals in the East were fiercely opposed... more
From the mid-1st century B.C., when Crassus’s legions suffered a disastrous defeat on the open steppes of northern Mesopotamia, until the early decades of the 3rd century A.D., Rome’s expansionist goals in the East were fiercely opposed by the Parthians. What is nowadays known about the Parthian kingdom history and structure is mainly based on the incomplete and largely stereotyped accounts drawn up by Roman and Greek imperial writers. Influenced by the attitude of the Classical Greek writers towards the Persians and by the needs of imperial propaganda they depicted the Arsacid empire as a weak opponent lacking of a strong leadership permanently on the brink of collapsing as a consequence of internal struggle. Many modern scholars embraced such point of view considering the Parthian kingdom little more than a composite group of local political subjects owing formal loyalty to the Great King. Only recently following the work on Parthia conducted by famous scholars the situation has changed. The research has abandoned the description the Roman writers offered trying to find interrogating the local Iranian and Parthian sources the secret of the endurance of a kingdom which Rome was not able to submit and which lasted more than much more famous ones as that of Alexander and the Seleucids and the empire of the Achamenids.
In the 1st century AD the rise of Artabanus II to the throne of Parthia marks the first substantial attempt to reaffirm the power of the ruling dynasty after decades of crisis. This monarch tried to build up a reformed government system... more
In the 1st century AD the rise of Artabanus II to the throne of Parthia marks the first substantial attempt to reaffirm the power of the ruling dynasty after decades of crisis. This monarch tried to build up a reformed government system capable of reassign to the Great King some of his traditional prerogatives trough the alliance with political entities alternative to the nobility. The agreement with the Jewish communities, based on the common attitude against the Roman expansion, proved to be the most effective. The story of Asineus and Anilaeus, reported by Flavius Josephus, constitutes the evidence for a strong Jewish-Parthian collaboration which based on the necessity for the king to assure control on commercial routes in order to increase significantly the amount of financial sources at his disposal. After a certain degree of success the parallel efforts made with the Greek communities, which played like the Jews a fundamental role in Mesopotamian commerce, resulted in a failure for the sudden deteriorating of Artabanus’ institutional position. At the end of Artabanus’ reign the resistance opposed by the Greek towns to the emergence of a pro-royal leading class took advantage by the renewed crisis in which the attacks of external enemies dragged the kingdom. The new dynasty which came to the throne with Vologaeses I and his son Pocoros II followed the path traced by Artabanus, improving his strategy. The alliance with the Jewish communities was renewed, granting them a certain level of autonomy through the institution of the figure of the exilarch. The economical prominence of the Greek communities was reduced once the king took the decision to enter directly in the long trade commerce and founded the city of Vologaesias, conceived to became the new economical pole for those Jewish and Palmyrenian merchants who were ready to collaborate with the Crown. Purpose of this paper is to show how much the consolidation of the Arsacid monarchy achieved by Vologaeses owed to the political solutions spotted by Artabanus some years before.
Dear colleagues, "History and the World" is a scientific yearbook at the Institute of History and International Relations at the University of Natural and Humanities in Siedlce. The first volume appeared in 2012. In the interests of the... more
Dear colleagues, "History and the World" is a scientific yearbook at the Institute of History and International Relations at the University of Natural and Humanities in Siedlce. The first volume appeared in 2012. In the interests of the magazine's history. "History and the World" published materials science staff of the Institute, but does not close his column in front of authors from outside. It addresses the issues related to the scope of the research carried out by researchers of the Institute. Writing system is typically composed of three divisions: articles, source, and reviews and discussions. "History and the World" has the ambition to keep present the results of their study and become the leading journal of the historical region of Siedlce.