ABSTRACT
Palmyra's rise to the rank of a city and to Rome's partner in the complicated political landscape of the steppe frontier marks the beginning of two centuries, during which the initiative between the Mediterranean and the Tigris lay mostly in the hands of Rome. The closely interwoven mixture of injuries, religious fundamentalism and Chiliastic expectations of divine salvation, brought about by Jewish monotheism, as well as by the three grand narratives offered by Rome, was too specific. It hardly knew any other recipes besides trial and error to master the various crises shaking the Holy Land. The Romano–Parthian peace, which was a golden age for Palmyra, came to an abrupt end in the spring of ad 161, when the weapons of the two great empires spoke. The war did not permanently shift the balance of power between the Parthians and Rome; it resulted, however, in a comprehensive reorganization of the entire region to both sides of the Euphrates.
