Roman Empire’s Euphrates Line (B.C. 129 – A.D. 230)

After establishing a powerful empire in the Middle and West Anatolia in the 90’s B.C, Roman Empire would go towards the East Anatolia and arrive in the Euphrates river. Roman Empire would need to fight with Pontus King Mithridates VI and also Parth Kingdom for establishing a powerful empire in Anatolia region. During the struggle between Roman, Parth and Mithridates VI, Armenian Kingdom would participate in the alliance against Roman and act with Parth and Pontus King Mithridates VI. Euphrates river would traditionally be considered as the political and military border between the two empires either in the peace agreements signed after the fights between Roman and Parth or in the mutual negotiations. The Roman would try to domineer Melitene with the help of Armenia and Kommagene Kingdoms in order to dominate the Euphrates region. Moreover, Roman would use those politically powerful local groups as buffer power in order to be more powerful in the areas around West Euphrates. However, later as a result of Parths being more powerful, Roman would deploy its legions in the significant passageways. In the period of Caesar, the Romans wanted to achieve a decisive victory against Tracks on the eastern border. However, the heavy defeat of Roman legions under the command of Marcus Licinius Crassus against the Parthians weaken the military presence of Romans in the Euphrates and led to the withdrawal of the Roman army. But, with the Septimius Severus' passing of the Roman throne, Roman army began preparations to establish a strong dominance in the the eastern borders. Under command of Severus, Roman army reached to the capital city of Parths and plundered there after downloading important blows to the Parth's territories in Euphrates region. At the end of this expedition, new administrative Romans' units were established in the region between Euphrates and Tigris.

Keywords

Roman Empire, the Euphrates river, Parth Kingdom, Mithridates VI