At the interface - The frontier Regions
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·        Southern boundary northern half of Mesopotamian plain – northern across Taurus range and Black sea  but Armenian kingdom affects this as does.

·        M main region political boundary never corresponds with cultural division, similarly in Armenia even common religion did not stop differing provinces.

·        Aramiac dialect common in M and Fertile Crescent – does not mean ethnic homogeneity – Jewsish, Arabian all sorts.  No means religious homogeneity  -Zoroastrian in RE and Christians in SM (more than Zs).

·        See increasing importance of region with build up of troops from early stage – Romans also develop own ties with Arab clientele as Arab form own groups – v effective raiders.

·        Frye – defence of northern Mesopotamia never relied continuous line of defences - Frye no sign of structure – character of zone of transit, concentration of resources in well-situated cities.  SP hardly provided structure either.

·        John of Ephesus states frontier closed during war – implies relatively easy access during peacetime.  Millar – Eastern Frontier dictated positioning of soldiers and officials but hardly affected attitudes or movements of people on either side.

·        Why cross? Christian in Persia want to go to important religious sites – Jerusalem etc + shrines at Edessa etc = Persian schooling – theological problems stop this later on – Medical education carriers on – Khurso I shows preference from Roman trained medics

·        Interchange letter and people between Christian and Jewish communities frequent.

·        Some commercial interchange across border of M – goods from China and India into Roman Empire.

·        Permeability and interaction in this region

Other Notes in this Category

1. Aims
2. At the interface - The frontier Regions
3. Geographical Knowledge
4. Personnel
5. Resources for Foreign Relations, Records
6. Roman Aims
7. Sasanian Persia
8. Strategic Intelligence in relations with Persia

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