{"id":1912,"date":"2010-08-14T22:23:27","date_gmt":"2010-08-15T02:23:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/?p=1912"},"modified":"2018-08-05T23:28:59","modified_gmt":"2018-08-06T03:28:59","slug":"18976-peter-m-edwell-between-rome-and-persia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/?p=1912","title":{"rendered":"18976. (Peter M. Edwell) Between Rome and Persia"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a>This is a straight\u00adfor\u00adward his\u00adto\u00adry, large\u00adly mil\u00adi\u00adtary and admin\u00adis\u00adtra\u00adtive in ori\u00aden\u00adta\u00adtion, of two cities, Palmyra and Dura Euro\u00adpus, which act\u00aded as buffer states and trad\u00ading cen\u00adters between the Roman and Parthi\u00adan empires. Both flour\u00adished in the sec\u00adond and third cen\u00adturies A.D., grow\u00ading wealthy on trade between the Mediter\u00adranean and the Per\u00adsian Gulf. The Palmyrenes main\u00adtained a crack army of archers, who spe\u00adcial\u00adized in pro\u00adtect\u00ading car\u00ada\u00advans. The safe\u00adty they pro\u00advid\u00aded made their city extreme\u00adly wealthy. What inter\u00adests me is that Palmyra had a ful\u00adly oper\u00ada\u00adtional boule<\/em> and demos<\/em> on the clas\u00adsi\u00adcal Greek model. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s con\u00adven\u00adtion\u00adal to dis\u00admiss any form of urban democ\u00adra\u00adcy in such a late peri\u00adod as a degen\u00ader\u00adate left\u00adover from ear\u00adli\u00ader times. Demo\u00adc\u00adra\u00adt\u00adic insti\u00adtu\u00adtions died, we are told, with the arrival of the Great Empires, and any\u00adthing that looks like them must be a hol\u00adlow ghost, not a dynam\u00adic idea. Giv\u00aden Palmyra\u2019s his\u00adto\u00adry, this inter\u00adpre\u00adta\u00adtion does\u00adn\u2019t seem plau\u00adsi\u00adble. Palmyra was nev\u00ader a Greek city. It\u2019s inhab\u00adi\u00adtants were semit\u00adic, and its ear\u00adli\u00ader gov\u00adern\u00ading insti\u00adtu\u00adtions were said to be an alliance of 16 semit\u00adic tribes. The boule<\/em> and demos<\/em> struc\u00adture was adopt\u00aded at the time when Parthi\u00adan and Roman influ\u00adences were strong, long after the Seleu\u00adcids had depart\u00aded. The Roman Emper\u00ador Hadri\u00adan vis\u00adit\u00aded the city, and the Palmyrenes were care\u00adful to enact a tar\u00adiff struc\u00adture con\u00adge\u00adnial to Rome, but there was no ques\u00adtion of Rome inter\u00adfer\u00ading in the city\u2019s inter\u00adnal gov\u00ader\u00adnance. No Roman polit\u00adi\u00adcal terms or cus\u00adtoms were adopt\u00aded. The ter\u00admi\u00adnol\u00ado\u00adgy and insti\u00adtu\u00adtions were entire\u00adly Clas\u00adsi\u00adcal Greek, and not some Hel\u00adlenis\u00adtic hodge\u00adpodge derived from the Seleu\u00adcids. This would indi\u00adcate to me that we can\u00adnot inter\u00adpret this kind of gov\u00ader\u00adnance among the Palmyrenes as being any kind of \u201cleft\u00adover\u201d or impo\u00adtent for\u00admal\u00adi\u00adty car\u00adried over by unthink\u00ading, habit\u00adu\u00adal Hel\u00adlenism. More like\u00adly, demo\u00adc\u00adra\u00adt\u00adic ideas remained avail\u00adable to city-dwellers in many places, and where con\u00addi\u00adtions were favourable, such as in a pros\u00adper\u00adous trad\u00ading cen\u00adter that the large empires found strate\u00adgi\u00adcal\u00adly nec\u00ades\u00adsary to leave to their own affairs, they could be called up and employed. I think that we will even\u00adtu\u00adal\u00adly come to real\u00adize that there is a sig\u00adnif\u00adi\u00adcant ele\u00adment of con\u00adti\u00adnu\u00adity in demo\u00adc\u00adra\u00adt\u00adic ideas from Antiq\u00adui\u00adty onwards, much to the con\u00adtrary of cur\u00adrent ortho\u00addoxy on the matter.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

image: ruins of Palmyra<\/em>
\n<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is a straight\u00adfor\u00adward his\u00adto\u00adry, large\u00adly mil\u00adi\u00adtary and admin\u00adis\u00adtra\u00adtive in ori\u00aden\u00adta\u00adtion, of two cities, Palmyra and Dura Euro\u00adpus, which act\u00aded as buffer states and trad\u00ading cen\u00adters between the Roman and Parthi\u00adan empires. Both flour\u00adished in the sec\u00adond and third cen\u00adturies A.D., \u2026<\/p>\n

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