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An ancient stalemate may provide lessons today

History is always relevant, says Adrian Goldsworthy – and Rome’s long war with Parthia-Persia, ending in deadlock, should make Putin wary

22 July 2023

9:00 AM

22 July 2023

9:00 AM

The Eagle and the Lion: Rome, Persia and an Unwinnable Conflict Adrian Goldsworthy

Head of Zeus, pp.650, 35

History doesn’t have to be ‘useful’ to be compelling – witness, say, Henry VIII and his six wives. Adrian Goldsworthy, however, a considerable historian of ancient Rome as well as a prolific novelist of those times and the Napoleonic (of which there is obvious connection), is at pains to emphasise the profit to be derived from his massive, magnificent account of the 700-year conflict between Rome and Persia.

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