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Roman soldiers and Parthian Travelers
#1
I know for a fact that the Roman empire fought several battles with the Parthians.  I also know not all Roman solders were honest and pure.  I also know that the Parthian army defeated the Roman army several times during the reign of the Roman empire.  

I also know that Parthians often humiliated Roman soldiers that they defeated.  And the final thing I know is that major historical records weren't kept like they are in our modern era.  

I know that there is no physical record of any Roman soldier mistreating a Parthian traveler as revenge for being defeated by the Parthian army.  But I think I can prove a couple of things if anyone will help me.

I need to prove that some Roman soldiers were very angry about being defeated by the Parthian army.  I need to prove that some Roman soldiers were corrupt and willing to do things in secret that they wouldn't do publicly.  If I could prove both things, I could give reasonable proof that some Roman soldiers punished weary Parthian travelers because of the wars they lost.
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#2
(05-06-2017, 11:50 PM)speedlearner Wrote: I need to prove that some Roman soldiers were very angry about being defeated by the Parthian army.  I need to prove that some Roman soldiers were corrupt and willing to do things in secret that they wouldn't do publicly.  If I could prove both things, I could give reasonable proof that some Roman soldiers punished weary Parthian travelers because of the wars they lost.

Hi 'speedlearner',

To be able to pove anything like that you'll need a source that would tell such a story. So far I am unaware of anything like that, although I could think of scenarios in which Parthian traders would hesitate to visit Roman territory after a Roman defeat. Of course, the reverse could also be logical.
Robert Vermaat
MODERATOR
FECTIO Late Romans
THE CAUSE OF WAR MUST BE JUST
(Maurikios-Strategikon, book VIII.2: Maxim 12)
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#3
Human nature being what it is, no doubt disgruntled soldiers lacking sufficient discipline abused or even murdered unwary travellers from outside the borders of the Empire (and within it also). In terms of sourcing proof however, as Robert has commented, you will struggle to find it.

Conjecture and hypothesis will be your twin caryatids into the past here, I am afraid . . .
Francis Hagan

The Barcarii
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#4
Except for diplomats or Parthian Royal Family exiles, who were probably accompanied by armed guards you would probably be hard pressed to find actual Parthian travellers to Roman Syria and Armenia. Augustus had several members of the ruling Parthian family as hostages in Rome. Parthians themselves were supposedly Central Asian nomads and most of the traders and commercial agents of the Parthian empire were Greeks or Jews who would have had extensive contacts with Roman Syria and were on good relations with the Roman commanders, probably a source of information on the goings on in the Parthian court. This changed somewhat under the rule of Trajan when there was a Jewish revolt against the Romans and Trajan besieged and burnt down Seleucia. Having said that Palmyra provided security for caravans from the Parthian ports so there must have been some brigandage on traders but probably from desert dwelling Arabs and not Roman soldiers.
Regards

Michael Kerr
Michael Kerr
"You can conquer an empire from the back of a horse but you can't rule it from one"
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#5
I found an article published by the Louisiana State University that discussed the anger felt by the Roman Soldiers after one of their Parthian defeats.

http://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/cgi/viewco...sertations

This proves that they would have motive to victimize unwary Parthian travelers. I can also prove that not all Roman soldiers were on the up and up so to speak. Obviously I can't rely on specific atrocity stories because they probably were destroyed hundreds of years ago. But based upon the anger of the Roman soldiers and the corruption of some of those soldiers, it wouldn't be hard to conclude that at least some of them victimized unwary Parthian travelers.

By the way, if anyone is interested, my name is Ted.
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#6
(05-07-2017, 04:14 PM)speedlearner Wrote: I found an article published by the Louisiana State University that discussed the anger felt by the Roman Soldiers after one of their Parthian defeats.  

http://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/cgi/viewco...sertations

This proves that they would have motive to victimize unwary Parthian travelers.  I can also prove that not all Roman soldiers were on the up and up so to speak.  Obviously I can't rely on specific atrocity stories because they probably were destroyed hundreds of years ago.  But based upon the anger of the Roman soldiers and the corruption of some of those soldiers, it wouldn't be hard to conclude that at least some of them victimized unwary Parthian travelers.

By the way, if anyone is interested, my name is Ted.

Hi Ted,

Interesting disertation, but please help me out where it supports your theory? Of course there would be anger over a defeat, that's natural, but I still can't find the victimising of unwary travellers? Your assumption that atrocity stories were probably destroyed is in itself not proof of a negative. To prove something is destroyed you should first have proof that it was there in the first place.

And your name has to be added to your signature (in your profile), as I suggested to you earlier. It's a forum rule.
Robert Vermaat
MODERATOR
FECTIO Late Romans
THE CAUSE OF WAR MUST BE JUST
(Maurikios-Strategikon, book VIII.2: Maxim 12)
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#7
I tried to add it today, but your server wouldn't let me. I'm not sure why it wouldn't. Can you assist me with this?
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#8
Good morning. The word I should be using in my argument is propensity.

Because the Louisiana State University research study proves that many Roman citizens (including some Roman soldiers) were angry about their loss to the Parthians and because I can easily prove that some Roman soldiers were corrupt, these Roman soldiers had a propensity to accost weary Parthian travelers.

Robert Vermat mentioned that he could think of scenarios in which Parthian traders would hesitate to visit Roman territory after a Roman defeat. If he has any proof of this, I would love to read it.

As for the lack of documents, I was thinking along the lines of general lack of record keeping. After all, as far as I know, there was only one historical account in existence about the destruction of Pompeii due to a volcano. And since there are scant records of Roman soldier atrocities against their own citizens, it wouldn't be a great stretch of the imagination to say that at one time there may have been records of Roman soldier atrocities against weary Parthian travelers.
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#9
(05-07-2017, 12:01 PM)Michael Kerr Wrote: you would probably be hard pressed to find actual Parthian travellers

I agree - I can't think of any recorded encounters between Parthians (or Persians) and Romans outside of a military or diplomatic context. That doesn't mean it didn't happen, but relations between the two empires seem to have been quite tightly controlled - especially in the later era - and, as you say, were probably conducted largely by middlemen.

But Roman soldiers were a pretty unruly bunch at the best of times, and there are several recorded instances of soldiers on or off duty in civilian areas beating up, robbing or generally mistreating people - so we could imagine that if any 'Parthians' (or, more likely, random easterners that could be mistaken for Parthians!) did encounter soldiers, they may have had a rough time of it...
Nathan Ross
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#10
(05-08-2017, 03:14 PM)speedlearner Wrote: Because the Louisiana State University research study proves that many Roman citizens (including some Roman soldiers) were angry about their loss to the Parthians and because I can easily prove that some Roman soldiers were corrupt, these Roman soldiers had a propensity to accost weary Parthian travelers.  

So you have angry Romans and corrupt soldiers. But you still don't have any proof of Roman soldiers actually attacking any travellers of any nation due to a defeat in battle.

Lack of documentary evidence, of whatever nature, cannot be taken as a given because you can think of how those documents got lost etc.
Robert Vermaat
MODERATOR
FECTIO Late Romans
THE CAUSE OF WAR MUST BE JUST
(Maurikios-Strategikon, book VIII.2: Maxim 12)
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