Roman–Parthian Wars

Southeastern Anatolia Region is one of Turkey's seven census-defined geographical regions . It is bordered by the Mediterranean Region to the west,... the Eastern Anatolia Region to the north, Syria to the south, and Iraq to the southeast. Statistical Datas are from Turkish Statistics Association TUIK web site Southeastern Anatolia Region has an area of 75.358 km² and is the second smallest region of Turkey. Southeastern Anatolia Region has a semi-arid continental climate with very hot and dry summers and cold and often snowy winters.
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Osroene, also spelled Osrohene and Osrhoene and sometimes known by the name of its capital city, Edessa , was a historical kingdom located in upper... Mesopotamia, which enjoyed semi-autonomy to complete independence from the years of 132 BC to AD 244. It was a Syriac-speaking kingdom. Osroene, or Edessa, acquired independence from the collapsing Seleucid Empire through a dynasty of the nomadic Nabatean tribe called Orrhoei from 136 BC. The name Osroene is derived from Osroes of Orhai, an Nabatean sheik who in 120 BC wrested control of this region from the Seleucids in Syria. Most of the kings of Osroene are called Abgar or Manu and they were Syriac kings who settled in urban centers. Under its Nabatean dynasties, Osroëne became increasingly influenced by Aramaic culture and was a centre of national reaction against Hellenism. By the 5th century Edessa had become the headquarters of Syriac literature and learning. In 608 Osroëne was taken by the Sāsānid Khosrow II, and in 638 it fell to the Muslims.
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Mesopotamia ; Syriac: ܒܝܬ ܢܗܪܝܢ : "land of rivers" is a toponym for the area of the... Tigris–Euphrates river system, largely corresponding to modern-day Iraq, northeastern Syria, southeastern Turkey and southwestern Iran. Widely considered to be the cradle of civilization, Bronze Age Mesopotamia included Sumer and the Akkadian, Babylonian and Assyrian empires. In the Iron Age, it was controlled by the Neo-Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian empires. The indigenous Sumerians and Akkadians dominated Mesopotamia from the beginning of written history to the fall of Babylon in 539 BC, when it was conquered by the Achaemenid Empire. It fell to Alexander the Great in 332 BC and, after his death, it became part of the Greek Seleucid Empire. Around 150 BC, Mesopotamia was under the control of the Parthians. Mesopotamia became a battleground between the Romans and Parthians, with parts of Mesopotamia coming under ephemeral Roman control.
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Antony's Parthian War or the Roman-Parthian War of 40-33 BC was a major conflict, which followed the Battle of Carrhae, between the Roman Republic,... represented in the East by the triumvir Mark Antony, and the Parthians. Although the campaign ended in distastrous defeat for Antony, the war was a strategic draw when peace was made by Augustus. Julius Caesar, after ensuring victory in his civil war, planned a campaign into the Parthian Empire after a brief pacification of Dacia. After his assassination, the Second Triumvirate usurped power in Rome in a military dictatorship. After the defeat of Caesar's assassins at the Battle of Philippi, Caesarian rule over the Republic was effectively ensured. Shortly after, however, with the triumvirs preoccupied with the revolt of Sextus Pompeius in Sicily, Parthia attacked Roman-controlled Syria and the client kingdom of Judea. The Judean high priest and puppet Roman ruler, Hyrcanus II, was overthrown and sent as prisoner to Seleucia, and the pro-Parthian Hasmonean Antigonus was installed in his place.
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The Roman–Parthian War of 161–166 was fought between the Roman and Parthian Empires over Armenia and upper Mesopotamia. It concluded in... 166 after the Romans made successful campaigns into lower Mesopotamia and Media and sacked Ctesiphon, the Parthian capital. On his deathbed in the spring of 161, Emperor Pius had spoken of nothing but the state and the foreign kings who had wronged him. One of those kings, Vologases IV of Parthia, made his move in late summer or early autumn 161. Vologases entered the Kingdom of Armenia , expelled its king and installed his own—Pacorus, an Arsacid like himself. At the time of the invasion, the governor of Syria was L. Attidius Cornelianus. Attidius had been retained as governor even though his term ended in 161, presumably to avoid giving the Parthians the chance to wrong-foot his replacement. The governor of Cappadocia, the front-line in all Armenian conflicts, was Marcus Sedatius Severianus, a Gaul with much experience in military matters. But living in the east had a deleterious effect on his character.
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The Battle of Carrhae, fought in 53 BC near the town of Carrhae, was an important battle between the Parthian Empire and the Roman Republic. The... Parthian Spahbod Surena decisively defeated a Roman invasion force led by Marcus Licinius Crassus. It was the first of the battles between the Roman and Persian empires, and one of the most crushing defeats in Roman history. Crassus, a member of the First Triumvirate and the wealthiest man in Rome, had been enticed by the prospect of military glory and riches and decided to invade Parthia without the official consent of the Senate. Rejecting an offer from the Armenian King Artavasdes II to invade Parthia via Armenia, Crassus marched his army directly through the deserts of Mesopotamia. His army clashed with Surena's force near Carrhae, a small town in modern-day Turkey. Despite being heavily outnumbered, Surena's cavalry completely outmaneuvered the Roman heavy infantry, killing or capturing most of the Roman soldiers. Crassus himself was killed when truce negotiations turned violent. His death led to the end of the First Triumvirate and the resulting civil wars between Julius Caesar and Pompey.
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