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Abstract

The article deals with the range of issues related to the preparation of the Nero’s large-scale military operation in the East. According to the authors, the diffi cult situation on the eastern frontiers of the Empire during the reign of Nero was ambiguous. Forced concessions of Parthia were initially purposefully covered with strict requirements of arrival to Rome of the King Tiridates but then with the demonstrative preparation of the eastern campaign. However, the military operation was necessary because of the emergence of a real threat, which also justifi ed a peace treaty with Parthia and admitted the possibility of a joint struggle of allies against new enemies. The transformation of the defeat into the victory of the Empire defi nitely contributed to the formation of favorable for the Emperor Roman public opinion. In other words, on the one hand, the upcoming campaign was to raise the Nero’s tattered reputation though, on the other, the threat that arose really required a tough action on the part of Rome. The goal of the Nero’s eastern campaign, according to the authors, most likely was the Caucasus poorly covered by the Roman influence and the areas of the Northeastern Black Sea region, to which the power of the Barbarian King Pharzoy did not spread. Apparently, the Barbarians living in-between the Don and the Volga rivers did not obey this new ally of the Romans as well as they opposed friendly relations with Rome and Bosporus. Assuming that they were still associated with the Asian Alans, the serious threat to the Roman plans in the region became obvious. Consequently, hostility of tribes of the North-Eastern Black Sea region, their dangerous connection with the Asian nomads, could become the main reason for the preparation of the eastern campaign by Emperor Nero. It is especially noticeable that the direction promised the great glory to the emperor because the military operation obviously, in any case, was to end with the fi nal annexation of the Bosporan Kingdom that was impatiently expected.

Keywords

Northern Black Sea, Roman Empire, Parthia, Nero, Pharzoy, Eastern Nero’s Campaign

Sergey V. Yartsev, Alexander Yu. Butovskiy

Тula State Lev Tolstoy Pedagogical University, Tula, Russia

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