My main aim at Tübingen was to quantify and assess the impact of cross frontier raids by Persian and Lakhmid Arab armies on the borderland provinces of the 6th century-eastern Roman empire. These included northern Syria and Euphratensis, Mesopotamia and Osroene, and the provinces of Roman Armenia. To this end, I compiled a spreadsheet listing and categorising all raids mentioned by contemporary historical sources. I then analysed the resulting patterns and potential impacts of these invasions, drawing on wider literature on the impact of war, and comparing these patterns with similar work I had carried out previously on the northern Balkans. The main conclusion was that, in the short-term at least, eastern provinces suffered far greater damage and population losses than those in the Balkans, contradicting the impression given by contemporary histories. This work culminated in a 20,000-word paper on ‘The Socio-Economic Impact of Raiding on the Eastern and Balkan Borderlands of the Eastern Roman Empire, 502-602’, to be published in Millennium in either 2019 or 2020. Moving forward, this work constitutes the first stage of a longer-term project on Warfare, Socio-Economic Change and Political Control in the Eastern Roman Borderlands, 502-602 for which similar research on Africa, Italy and Spain will be carried out in the coming years.
For further information about Alexander Sarantis, please click here
