Alcsentre Calanice
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Optimvs Princeps - A Trajan TL
The Roman conquest of Mesopotamia and its aftermath
The Roman conquest of Mesopotamia and its aftermath
By all means, the Princeps Imperator Caesar Nerva Traianus Augustus was already by all means great: his conquest of Dacia, his building program and his alimenta policy are well remembered and are technically sufficient to form the reputation of the future Optimvs Princeps. But, from an imperial point of view, his reign wasn't glorious enough, and his nearly unlimited ambition wasn't satisfied by these "marginal" gains - only a fortright imitation of Alexander the Great was adequate for Trajan's majesty. Besides of these more "psychological" reasons, a consolidation of Roman trade in the east and the simple fact of conquering new land for Roma were sufficient grounds for spending millions of sestercii and ultimately invading Armenia and the territories of their masters, the Parthians.
The military operations begun in the year 114 AD; ten legions were involved in this meticulously planned invasion of Rome's eastern archenemy. Armenia was quickly subdued and the province Armenia created out the old kingdom's posessions. The following attack in Mesopotamia lead to the formation of the new province Mesopotamia, composed out of the north of the cradle of civilization (Osrhoene and Hatra), while Corduene and Adiabene were incorporated in the new province Assyria. In the same year (115), Trajan received an urgent massage of Creta et Cyrenaica's proconsul: a Jewish demagogue and rioter, a certain Lukuas claiming to be the new king of the Israelits had just been arrested quitely and executed in Gortyn. His declarations had also made possible the detention of ulian and Pappus, other members of the religious conspiracy[1].
The next year was spent with securing the southern cities of Mesopotamia; Seleucia and Ctesiphon were taken, and, because the sorrowful condition of Babylon made it impossible to declare this old city capital of the new province, the seat of the proconsul of the Provincia Mesopotamia was set up in Seleucia - nevertheless, Trajan, remembering the deads of his imaginary teacher Alexander, ordered to rebuild Babylonia and to transform it into the heart of the new Roman east. Furthermore, he accepted Characene's submission and maintained it as a client kingdom (it was though integrated in the empire two years later).
The climax of his campaign was the establishment of Parthamaspates as king of Parthia in Susa, resulting in backslash of the ruling Parthian king, Osroes - his forces were destroyed in a though battle and himself captured by Batavian auxiliaries (autonmn 116). He was forced to accept the reign of his son, yet he became vassal king of Persia; the pretender Vologases III was declared public enemy in Parthia and in Rome. Although the installation of a Roman administration in Mesopotamia created some unrest (e. g. the revolt of Hatra), these rebellions were repressed quite easily by the entire Roman forces. Until 117, the institution of new Pax romana in the east was finished:
Quinque orientes
Imperial cult sanctuary: Babylon (planned)
Armenia maior (Artaxarta)
Armenia minor (Tigranocerta)
Assyria (Arbela)
Babylonia (Charax-Spasinu)
Mesopotamia (Seleucia)
Client kingdoms
Albania (Kabalaka)
Colchis (Phasis)
Iberia (Mtskheta)
Parthia (Susa)
Hyrcania, vassal of Parthia (Syrinx)
Media Atropatene, vasall of Parthia (Ganzaga)
Persia, vassal of Parthia (Persepolis)
To be continued...
[1] This is the POD. With the leaders of the Kitos War eliminated, the second Jewish revolt, provoked by deeper tensions between Rome and the Jewish religion, is delayed by some years. And without this threat, the Romans can concentrate their manpower on the Parthian armies.
Constructive criticism welcome!
Note: I'm neither assuming that Trajan could conquer Parthia itself nor that he was really attempting it.
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