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Slavs and Persians (Persia (What we know (What we don't know (Where…
Slavs and Persians
Persia
Parthia to Persia
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Persia can contend with Rome - kill Gordian III, capture Valerian - 3rd century
Twin lights of the world
Both very powerful, conflict can be devastating, struggle to defeat each other - best if avoided
Persia also has an imperial structure, kings, borders, taxes and a a standing army - similar to Rome, not viewed as barbarians
301 edict banning Manicheans - emphasis on how foreign, alien and wrong the religion is - because it came from Persia
Sources
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Difficult to get sources for detail inside Persia - hardly any contemporary writing, later texts have motives, nostalgic , Roman sources subjective
What we know
Religiously pluralistic - Christian, Jewish, Zoroastrianism, Buddhism - only Zoroastrianism is promoted by Shahs
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What we don't know
Where wealth comes from - long distance trade? - unlikely, seen as spies
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Slavs
Avars
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Capable of commanding other groups e.g. Huns, Slavs and Bulgars - political overgroup
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Hard to quantify how hard hitting attacks were e.g. fortifications, defences
A threat?
What links these groups the most is that they present a threat to the empire, sometimes all at the same time
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Empire known to use western Turks to combat the threat - touch all groups - doesn't happen very often and tends to be short-lived - coordination between two powers is difficult to achieve
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