ABSTRACT
The nature of conflict between Rome and Persia during the reign of Constantius II was distinctly different to the direction it was about to take at the time of Constantine’s death in 337. Constantius II would take a strongly defensive position in relation to conflict with Persia and there were many reasons for this. This chapter traces Constantius’ conflict with Persia as a legacy of Constantine’s impending Persian campaign and examines why Constantius took such a defensive position. It also examines the situation Shapur II faced in the eastern portions of the Persian Empire in the 340s and 350s and how the resolution of problems there unleashed forces ready to undertake the momentous invasions of Roman Mesopotamia in the late 350s. Textual sources and historiography on the conflict between Rome and Persia during the reign of Constantius II receive detailed treatment in this chapter, focussing especially on the writings of Ammianus Marcellinus, Libanius and Julian.
