Rome and the Near Eastern Kingdoms and Principalities, 44-31 BC: A Study of Political Relations During Civil War

The study presents a critical analysis of the political relations between Rome and Near Eastern kingdoms and principalities during the age of civil war from the death of Julius Caesar in 44 to Mark Antony’s defeat at Actium in 31 BC. By examining each bilateral relationship separately, it argues that those relations were marked by a large degree of continuity with earlier periods. Circumstances connected to the civil war had only a limited impact on the interstate conduct of the period despite the effects that the strife had on Rome’s domestic politics and the res publica. The ever-present rival Parthia and its external policies were more influential in steering the relations between Rome and Near Eastern powers.

Hendrikus A. M. van Wijlick, Ph.D. (2014), University of Durham is an Assistant Professor in the Department of History and the Center for Classical and Medieval Studies at Peking University. His work focuses on Rome’s foreign relations in the eastern Mediterranean in the late Republic and the coinage of the kingdom Cappadocia.