Imperia sine fine? The Roman-Parthian frontier zone as conflict and contact area from the late 1st to the early 3rd c. A.D.

罗马在近东的外部边界过去经常引起研究人员的注意。这个主题的科学追求主要是由三个方面决定的：第一，军事方面显然是中心；第二，这个主题只从罗马的角度考虑；第三，研究的重点在时间上明确地放在古希腊晚期。在这种背景下，这个项目的目标是系统地研究维斯帕西亚努斯或沃洛吉斯一世时期的近东边境地区，大约公元70年到塞维鲁·亚历山大或公元230年左右阿里萨斯王朝君主制的崩溃。这一时间限制似乎是合理的，因为它对应于一个历史上连贯的时代。除了两个帝国的边境安全，特别是两个帝国碰撞导致的扎格鲁斯山脉和地中海之间的这一边境地区的政治、文化和经济变化外，将从当地的角度进行分析。这一审查应该表明，该地区更多的是由和平关系塑造的，而不是经常被讨论的帝国之间的冲突。边疆区应该从不同的角度被一致地视为一个在许多方面独立的地方和区域行为者的交流、贸易、文化接触和政治关系的区域。将与耶拿和其他国家的一个跨学科专家工作组合作，对边境地区军事设施和近东文化中心的不同来源、希腊-拉丁传统、叙利亚-美索不达米亚文化区和伊朗的东方文学传统、文献来源和考古证据进行分析。这样做，审查的各个步骤应该暴露两个相反的方面：一方面，两个帝国都在考虑的时间框架内通过权力-政治、司法和军事参数塑造了他们的周边，另一方面，该地区位于边界两侧，由当地和地区力量塑造为一个相互联系的独特文化区。中央和边缘的力量并不总是一致的，但他们都对边疆地区产生了决定性的影响。系统地考察这两个因素的相互作用，不仅可以加深对当地历史的理解，还可以加深对更大范围的历史发展的了解。

The external border of Rome in the Near East has in the past often aroused the attention of researchers. The scientific pursuit of this topic has been mostly shaped by three aspects: First, the military aspect was clearly central; second, the topic was only considered from the Roman point of view; and third, research emphasis was time-wise clearly on Late Antiquity.Against this backdrop, this project targets the systematic examination of the frontier zone in the Near East during the period of Vespasianus or Vologeses I. about 70 AD to Severus Alexander or the downfall of the monarchy of the Arsacids about 230 AD. This temporal limitation seems sensible because it corresponds to a historically coherent epoch. Next to the border security of the empires, especially the political, cultural and economic changes in this frontier zone between the Zagrus Mountains and the Mediterranean Sea, resulting of the collision of two empires, are to be analysed from a local perspective. This examination should show that the region was more often shaped by peaceful relationships than by the often discussed conflicts between the empires. The frontier zone is supposed to be considered and represented consistently from different perspectives as a in many ways independent area of exchange, trade, cultural contacts and political relationships of local and regional actors. The different types of sources, the Greek-Latin tradition, the oriental literary traditions from the Syrian-Mesopotamian cultural area and Iran, the documentary sources and the archaeological evidence of the military facilities and the Near Eastern cultural centres in the frontier zone will be analysed in collaboration with an interdisciplinary workgroup of experts from Jena and also from other countries. In doing so, the individual steps of the examination are supposed to expose two contrary aspects: On the one hand, both empires shaped their peripheries during the considered timeframe through power-political, juridical and military parameters, on the other hand, the area was on both sides of the border moulded by local and regional forces as a connected cultural area sui generis. The forces of the centre and those of the periphery didn't always align, but they both exercised decisive influence on the frontier zone. The systematic examination of the reciprocal interaction of both factors promises a deeper understanding of the local history but also of the bigger historical developments.