Trajan’s Parthian campaign
Trajan annexed Armenia and Mesopotamia, took the Parthian capital Ctesiphon and reached the Persian Gulf; at his death in 117 the Roman Empire was at its greatest territorial extent.
- Date
- 114–117year known · duration: ≈ 3 years
- Place
- Ctesiphonapproximate locationtoday: Salman Pak, Baghdad Governorate, Iraq · Middle East and Egypt
- Participants
- Roman Empire, Trajan, Parthian Empire, Hadrian
- Threads
- Europe in the Roman age (1st–5th c.)
- Also known as
- Parthian War of Trajan; Парфянская война Траяна
The war began over the Armenian throne. In 114 Trajan annexed Armenia, in 115 northern Mesopotamia, and in 116 he captured Ctesiphon and sailed down the Tigris to the Persian Gulf. But revolts broke out in the conquered lands and among the Jewish communities of the eastern provinces (the Kitos War), and the ailing emperor turned back; he died at Selinus in Cilicia in August 117.
At that moment the empire stretched from northern Britain to the Persian Gulf. Trajan’s successor Hadrian judged the new eastern provinces untenable and gave up Armenia and Mesopotamia, turning Roman policy from conquest to the defence of fixed frontiers.
Connections
Related events
- Trajan’s Dacian Wars101–106 · Balkans and AnatoliaTrajan’s two great wars of conquest
- Hadrian’s Wall122 – c. 128 · Western and Central EuropeHadrian turned from conquest to guarding fixed frontiers
Same place
- Siege of Baghdad29 January – 10 February 1258 · Middle East and Egypt
- Capture of Baghdad by Suleiman Ibetween November and December 1534 · Middle East and Egypt
Meanwhile in the world
Other regions, within 25 years of this event
Western and Central Europe
- Hadrian’s Wall122 – c. 128
Eastern Europe
- Zarubintsy culturec. 200 BC – c. 200
Balkans and Anatolia
- Trajan’s Dacian Wars101–106
The same period
Sources
- Wikipedia (English): Trajan's Parthian campaign
- Wikipedia (Russian): Парфянский поход Траяна
- Bennett J. Trajan: Optimus Princeps. — London: Routledge, 1997.
- Бокщанин А. Г. Парфия и Рим. Ч. 1–2. — М.: Изд-во МГУ, 1960–1966.
- Wikidata: Q3651751