ABSTRACT
To the Euphrates The ghost of Alexander seems always to lie heavily upon those who venture east, the Romans no less than the Crusaders no less than Napoleon.! The Romans too felt heirs to Hellenism. But they also suffered an inferiority complex. It was towards the east that conquerors cut their teeth: Alexander had, as it were, defined the very concept of conquest and empire. After the Punic Wars an empire almost by definition had to be eastern. From Pompey to Heraclius the road to glory lay eastwards, some like Pompey or Trajan achieving it, others like Crassus or Julian coming to grief. The East was also the source of wealth above all others, and the endless round of civil wars in the Roman Republic was costing money that only the eastern coffers could recoup. Above all, the East was the only area which held another great power that could match Rome: Iran.
