Urban civilians' experiences in the Romano-Persian wars, 502-591 CE
This thesis studies the wartime experience of the Empire's urban civilians in the six-century Persian wars. While many researchers have been conducted to examine Romano-Persian relations, civilians' fates in the armed conflicts between these great powers were greatly neglected. This dimension deserves more attention to shed new light on the relationship between Rome and Persia and the nature of warfare in classical antiquity. This thesis is divided into three parts. In chapter 1, both a sketch of major political and military events of the Roman Near East and a brief review of the late antique intellectual backgrounds are provided. Chapter 2 aims to investigate how late antique and medieval writers presented and described civilians' wartime experiences. The results show that they not only shared the same language stock with their predecessors, but also adopted certain allusions and motifs in their works. Roman civilians' fates are examined thematically from chapter 3 onwards. Whereas many of them were killed, the blockade of a city lead to famine and cannibalism. Meanwhile, cases of sexual violence were reported by authors from different literary milieux. Also, the inhabitants' possessions and building were
Fan Chiang, Shih-Cong
Urban civilians' experiences in the Romano-Persian wars, 502-591 CE. This thesis studies the wartime experience of the Empire's urban civilians in the six-century Persian wars. While many researchers have been conducted to examine Romano-Persian relations, civilians' fates in the armed conflicts between these great powers were greatly neglected. This dimension deserves more attention to shed new light on the relationship between Rome and Persia and the nature of warfare in classical antiquity. This thesis is divided into three parts. In chapter 1, both a sketch of major political and military events of the Roman Near East and a brief review of the late antique intellectual backgrounds are provided. Chapter 2 aims to investigate how late antique and medieval writers presented and described civilians' wartime experiences. The results show that they not only shared the same language stock with their predecessors, but also adopted certain allusions and motifs in their works. Roman civilians' fates are examined thematically from chapter 3 onwards. Whereas many of them were killed, the blockade of a city lead to famine and cannibalism. Meanwhile, cases of sexual violence were reported by authors from different literary milieux. Also, the inhabitants' possessions and building were
urban civilian experience romano persian war study wartime experience empire urban civilian century persian war many researcher conduct examine romano persian relation civilian fate arm_conflict great_power greatly neglect dimension deserve attention shed_new_light relationship rome persia nature warfare classical_antiquity divide_three_part sketch major political_military event roman_near_east brief_review late_antique intellectual background provide aim_investigate late_antique medieval writer present described civilian wartime experience show share language stock predecessor also adopt certain allusion motifs work roman civilian fate examine thematically onwards whereas many kill blockade city lead famine cannibalism meanwhile case sexual_violence report author different literary milieu also inhabitant possession building