Preface

In 200i our Rom unddas Perserreich. Zwei Weltmachte zwischen Konfronta-tion und Koexistenz was published by the Akademie Verlag, Berlin. Naturally, comments made by friends and colleagues as well as academic reviews encouraged us to think further about the issues of our book and also about its place among textbooks and scholarly works. We are hoping that Rome and Persia in Late Antiquity: Neighbours and Rivals, a revised and expanded translation, is an adequate response to the many suggestions we have received since 200i, among these the observation that our book did not have a counterpart in the English language that would correspond to its scope and format.

Even more than the German volume, the present study of Roman— Sasanian relations has been guided by our attempt to focus on the interests and independent policies of the eastern power. In reaction to the conventional and still prevalent eurocentric perspective of many scholarly works we emphasise the Eastern textual and visual testimonies. We have done so with the help of Ph. Huyse (Paris), who translated crucial passages from the trilingual Sapur Inscription (the Parthian text) as well as the inscriptions of the Zoroastrian priest Karter (Middle Persian) into English for us. Petra Sijpesteijn (Oxford) helped us with the translation of excerpts from Arabic texts and David Taylor (Oxford) with the Syriac texts. Thank you!

We have expanded our study by including a new chapter on the role of Armenia (26). Here, we are grateful to Tim Greenwood (St Andrew’s), who not only translated the Armenian passages but also gave patient advice on the interpretation of the material. Moreover, the new book has chapters on Sasanian warfare (II.2) and on the relationship between rulers (II.8). We have also paid more attention to aspects of diplomacy and religion during the late phase of Roman—Sasanian relations.

It has been a pleasure to work with Cambridge University Press. We would like to thank Michael Sharp for accepting the book for publication, and Sarah Parker and Elizabeth Davey for their support and guidance during all stages of the production. Last but not least, Linda Woodward’s copy-editing has been thorough, extremely helpful and efficient.