05-28-2006, 08:59 PM
Hello,
almost all sources about the political relationship and the military clashes of the Parthians and Sassanians with the Romans come to us from Graeco-Roman writers. In fact, I cannot think of a single Persian Plutarch, Marcellinus or Dio Cassius!
Did the Persians never develop a historical science as the Greeks did from Herodot and Thukydides onwards? I once read that the Arabians invaders of the Caliphate burnt at their conquest the imperial library with all kinds of documents. Was among these papers a Persian Livy? What a irreplacable loss!
Isnt it obvious that the almost exclusively reliance on Graeco-Roman sources leads to some irrecurable biases against the Persians (which paradoxically may lead some historians to develop an even greater counter-bias against the Romans 'to balance things out' in absence of a genuinely Persian view), or do modern historians think they can level out such an inbalance of the original sources by other means?
How did the Persians view the Romans? What do we know from first-hand Persian sources? How many Western historian are actually doing research in Iranian libraries?
almost all sources about the political relationship and the military clashes of the Parthians and Sassanians with the Romans come to us from Graeco-Roman writers. In fact, I cannot think of a single Persian Plutarch, Marcellinus or Dio Cassius!
Did the Persians never develop a historical science as the Greeks did from Herodot and Thukydides onwards? I once read that the Arabians invaders of the Caliphate burnt at their conquest the imperial library with all kinds of documents. Was among these papers a Persian Livy? What a irreplacable loss!
Isnt it obvious that the almost exclusively reliance on Graeco-Roman sources leads to some irrecurable biases against the Persians (which paradoxically may lead some historians to develop an even greater counter-bias against the Romans 'to balance things out' in absence of a genuinely Persian view), or do modern historians think they can level out such an inbalance of the original sources by other means?
How did the Persians view the Romans? What do we know from first-hand Persian sources? How many Western historian are actually doing research in Iranian libraries?
Stefan (Literary references to the discussed topics are always appreciated.)
