Information and Frontiers: Roman Foreign Relations in Late Antiquity PDF
Preview Information and Frontiers: Roman Foreign Relations in Late Antiquity
The Roman empire of classical antiquity was a great power without any serious rivals. By contrast, the Roman empire of late antiquity faced another great power to the east, as well as increasingly troublesome barbarian tribes to the north. The ability of the empire to cope with these changed circumstances was affected in part by its access to reliable information and intelligence about these neighbours. This book offers the first systematic investigation of this dimension of late Roman foreign relations. Adopting a comparative framework, it examines the theme of information in Roman relations with Sasanian Persia to the east and with a variety of northern peoples - Goths, Franks, Huns, and others. It aims to assess how well-informed the empire was about these peoples, and to account for differences in the availability of information between east and north. This involves consideration of institutional features of the empire and levels of organisational complexity among these neighbours, as well as variations in the socio-cultural character of the relevant frontier regions and their effect on the interchange of people and information. As a result, the book deals with a wide range of subjects beyond the traditional confines of military/diplomatic history, from geographical and ethno- graphical knowledge and assumptions, to levels of urbanisation and the role of religious and economic factors, and thereby helps to place late Roman foreign relations in a much broader context. Cambridge Books Online © Cambridge University Press, 2009 Cambridge Books Online © Cambridge University Press, 2009 INFORMATION AND FRONTIERS Cambridge Books Online © Cambridge University Press, 2009 Cambridge Books Online © Cambridge University Press, 2009 INFORMATION AND FRONTIERS ROMAN FOREIGN RELATIONS IN LATE ANTIQUITY A. D. LEE S CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS Cambridge Books Online © Cambridge University Press, 2009 Published by the Press Syndicate of the University of Cambridge The Pitt Building, Trumpington Street, Cambridge CB2 IRP 40 West 20th Street, New York, NY 10011-4211, USA 10 Stamford Road, Oakleigh, Victoria 3166, Australia www. Cambridge. org Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521392563 © Cambridge University Press 1993 First published 1993 A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress cataloguing in publication data Lee, A. D. Information and frontiers: Roman foreign relations in late antiquity / A. D. Lee. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN o 521 39256 x 1. Rome - Foreign relations - 284-620. 1. Title. DG312.144 1993 92-34199 CIP ISBN-13 978-0-521-39256-3 hardback ISBN-10 0-521-39256-X hardback Transferred to digital printing 2005 Cambridge Books Online © Cambridge University Press, 2009 To my parents Cambridge Books Online © Cambridge University Press, 2009 Cambridge Books Online © Cambridge University Press, 2009 CONTENTS Preface page xi Chronological list of selected Roman emperors (early third to early seventh century) xiii Chronological list of Sasanian kings (220S-628) xv Maps xvi List of abbreviations xx Introduction 1 Scope and aims 1 Previous work 4 Sources 5 PART i: CONTEXTS 1 The protagonists 15 Sasanian Persia 15 The empire's northern neighbours 25 Roman resources for foreign relations 32 2 At the interface: the frontier regions 49 The east 49 The north 66 IX Cambridge Books Online © Cambridge University Press, 2009
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