Rome, the Greek World, and the East, Vol. 2 - Government, Society, and Culture in the Roman Empire

chapterten

Government and Diplomacy in the Roman

Empire during the First Three Centuries

*

ThediplomacyoftheRomanEmpireintheperiodofitsgreatestextentand
stability, let us say until towards the middle of the third centurya.d., has
receivedverylittleattention.Arecentcollectionofstudiesonancientdiplo-
macyignoresitaltogether.^1 ItistruethatinthisperiodtheEmpirefacedno
majorexternalthreat,andremarkablyfewsignificantinternalrevolts.The
greatJewishrevoltofa.d.66,culminatinginthesiegeofJerusalemin70,
whichabsorbedalmostone-seventhoftheentireRomanarmy,offersaclear
indicationofhowmuchtheEmpireowedtotheabsenceofnationaliden-
tities within its borders.^2 The period of stabilityended precisely with the
overthrow in the 220s of the relatively weak Parthian Empire, centred on
Babylonia,andtheriseofwhatwastobecomeaseriousexternalthreat,the
new Persian dynasty, the Sassanians or Sassanids. Observers in the Roman
Empirewere immediatelyconscious of how much had changed. Near the
endofhisgreatRoman Historyineightybooks,whichbeganwiththearrival
of Aeneas in Italy and concluded with his own second consulship in 229,
CassiusDiowrites(80,3,1–4):

ButthesituationinMesopotamiabecamestillmorealarmingandin-

spiredamoregenuinefearinall,notmerelythepeopleinRome,but

therestofmankindaswell.ForArtaxerxes,aPersian,afterconquering

*FirstpublishedinInternational History Review10(1988):345–77.

1. E.OlshausenandH.Biller,eds.,Antike Diplomatie(Darmstadt,1979).


2. Forrevolts,ortheirabsence,andnationalidentitiesandtheirgeneralabsence,see,
   e.g.,S.L.Dyson,‘‘NativeRevoltPatternsintheRomanEmpire,’’inANRWII.3 (1975),
   138–75; M. Goodman,The Upper Class of Judaea: The Origins of the Jewish Revolt ofa.d. 66
   (Cambridge,1987);F.Millar,‘‘Empire,CommunityandCultureintheRomanNearEast:
   Greeks,Syrians,JewsandArabs,’’JournalofJewishStudies38(1987):143–64.

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