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

Government and Diplomacy 197

Samosata, Alexandria on the Issus...allthesecitieswiththeirsur-

roundings.^3

ThispassagebeginswithShapur’saccessionin240–41,andculminateswith
thecaptureofValerianin260,thefirstandonlyoccasiononwhichaRoman
emperorwascapturedalive.Assuch,itrepresentsveryaccuratelythedrastic
natureofthethird-centurycrisisoftheEmpire.Whilethecrisiswasover-
come,andtheEmpireina.d.400stillruledalargerareathanithadina.d.40,
itsstrategiccentreofgravityhadshiftedirreversiblyeastwards,withconse-
quencestooobvioustoneedspellingouthere.
Essentially,therefore,CassiusDio’sreport,andShapur’striumphantproc-
lamation,putupinthreelanguagesfarawayinIran,reflectafundamentally
new phase in the historyof the Empire. In this phase an emperor may be
capturedinpersoninthefield,bekilledinbattle(asShapurallegesofGor-
dianIII,infact,perhapskilledbyhisownmen),havetotreatforterms,or
payhisenemymoneytoobtainpeace.GordianIIIisalsodescribedasbring-
ingagainstPersiaforceswhichincludecontingentsofGothsandGermans.
Ifthatclaimisbasedonfact,itrepresentsoneofourearliestitemsofevi-
denceofGothicforcesservingunderRomancommandandsuggeststheir
arrivalontheshoresoftheBlackSeasometimeinthelatersecondcentury;
otherdocumentaryevidenceshowsthatunitsofGothshadbeenenrolledin
theRomanarmybytheearlythirdcentury.^4 Goths,too,weretohaveanim-
portantroleinthelaterhistoryoftheEmpire.ThefirstRomanemperorcer-
tainlytodieinbattlewasDecius,killedbytheGothsin251;thesecondwas
Valens,whenhisforceswerecrushedbytheGothsatHadrianople(Edirne
inEuropeanTurkey),deepintheRomanprovinces,in378.
Asweshallsee,andastheenrolmentofGothsconsiderablyearlierthan
previouslyattesteditself illustrates,manyfeaturesoftheRomanstatedur-
ingthecrisisoftheEmpirehavetheiroriginintheearlierperiodofgen-
eralstabilityandsecurity.Nonetheless,therearefeatureswhichmakethe
periodbeforetheriseofSassanidPersiadistinctive,andwhichraiseparticu-
lar problems as to the nature and conduct of Roman diplomacyas it then
was.Althoughthesubjecthasattractedrelativelylittleattention,itwasnot
unimportant.For,evengivenaremarkabledegreeofexternalsecurityand
theabsenceofmajorexternalthreats,thefrontiersoftheEmpire,stretching
overseveralthousandmiles,inevitablybroughtitintocontactwithalarge
varietyofpeoples,speakingdifferentlanguagesandatverydifferentstages

3. Theinscription,inParthian,MiddlePersian,andGreek,isquotedfromthetransla-
   tionbyR.N.Frye,The History of Ancient Iran(Munich,1984),371–73.


4. SeeM.Speidel,‘‘TheRomanArmyinArabia,’’RomanArmyStudies1(1984):254–58.