ABSTRACT
The road from the East towards Sanliurfa, ancient Edessa, is a straight and modern two-carriage motorway that cuts through a basaltic and dusty area in south-eastern Turkey. The role Rome had appointed for itself, and for which its army had fought and marched in the four corners of the world, was going to be seriously challenged for the first time. The Battle of Edessa marked a major turning point in the history of the Roman Near East. Edessa thus represented a major challenge to the Roman Empire, symbolized by the capture in battle of the emperor. The word “empire” is probably one of the most over-abused terms in modern usage. It is applied generally to an enormous variety of situations, and it can cover a wide array of contexts. An “empire” is therefore usually seen as an entity that controls other societies, with such control creating the condition of “imperialism”.
