4.10 FC – "Why Did You Plunder this Country?": Understanding Captivity between Rome and Iran in the 6th c.

“Why did you plunder this country?” (from the Shahnameh; Shapur to the Roman Emperor). The 6th century involved rich diplomatic and military interactions between the Roman/Byzantine and Sasanian empires. These brought on population displacements, with the greatest example found in Khosrow I’s deportation of the population of Antioch in 540 to found a new centre close to Ctesiphon; forced mobility from Persian Mesopotamia into Roman/Byzantine territory can be found as well. On the other hand, the predicaments of individuals, in particular high-ranking ones, can be traced within the setting of captivity and prisoner exchanges between Roman/Byzantine and Sasanian authorities which took place throughout the century. This timeframe is an excellent setting to reflect on our understanding of the phenomenon concerning the relations of the two empires and their neighbours, in particular the Arabs/Saracens, collecting and presenting new perspectives through the use of different language traditions, such as Greek, Syriac, Arabic, and Armenian.