{"id":644,"date":"2026-07-08T23:58:42","date_gmt":"2026-07-08T23:58:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/valutednews.com\/?p=644"},"modified":"2026-07-08T23:58:42","modified_gmt":"2026-07-08T23:58:42","slug":"rome-and-ancient-iran-with-jake-nabel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/valutednews.com\/?p=644","title":{"rendered":"Rome and Ancient Iran\u2014With Jake Nabel"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align:center\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/GettyImages-157916164-1.jpg\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"Rome and Ancient Iran\u2014With Jake Nabel\" title=\"Rome and Ancient Iran\u2014With Jake Nabel\" \/><\/div><p><\/p>\n<div xmlns:default=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" id=\"post-603490\" data-post=\"603490\">\n<section class=\"wp-block-group blocks-wrapper type-standard-article is-layout-flow wp-block-group-is-layout-flow\">\n<aside aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"ad-block ad siderail-ad float-r-w-3 break-r-4\">\n<p>                    <a href=\"http:\/\/www.thenation.com\/advertising-policy\" class=\"ad-policy\" target=\"_blank\">Ad Policy<\/a><br \/>\n                <\/aside>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignwide size-full\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thenation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/GettyImages-1245441031.jpg\"><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">\n<p>Rome\u2019s Colosseum at sunset in downtown Rome on January 10, 2012.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"credits\">(Filippo Monteforte \/ AFP via Getty Images)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"has-drop-cap\">Danny and Derek are joined by Jake Nabel, Tombros Early Career Professor of Classical Studies and assistant professor of classics and ancient Mediterranean studies at Penn State, to talk about Roman-Parthian relations in antiquity. The group discusses the geopolitical landscape of the ancient Mediterranean and Near East, the rise of the Parthian Empire and the Arsacid dynasty following the fall of the Achaemenids and Alexander the Great, and the inherent challenges of relying on Greco-Roman historiography. They also delve into how Iranian and Armenian sources reshape our understanding of the period, the deep cultural misunderstanding between Roman hostage-taking and Parthian cliental fosterage, the cultural barriers preventing intermarriage, and the modern Iranian reception of pre-Islamic empires, including contemporary parallels to Reza Pahlavi.<\/p>\n<p>Read Jake\u2019s book <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ucpress.edu\/books\/the-arsacids-of-rome\/paper\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><em>The Arsacids of Rome: Misunderstanding in Roman-Parthian Relations<\/em><\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><em>Subscribe to <\/em>The Nation <em>to support all of our podcasts: <a href=\"https:\/\/thenation.com\/podcastsubscribe\">thenation.com\/subscribe<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<div id=\"cta-block_f08143c1440e15b152085639c1854a50\" class=\"cta\">\n<div class=\"container\">\n<div class=\"cta__container\">\n<div class=\"cta__inline\">\n<p><h2 class=\"cta__title\">Subscribe to The Nation to Support all of our podcasts<\/h2>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<section class=\"blocks-wrapper is-standard-article is-layout-flow\">\n<div id=\"article-end-\" class=\"article-end \">\n<div class=\"article-end__authors\">\n<div class=\"article-end__author\">\n<h5 class=\"article-end__author-name\">\n                        <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/authors\/derek-davison\/\">Derek Davison<\/a><br \/>\n                    <\/h5>\n<div class=\"article-end__author-bio\">\n<p>Derek Davison is a writer and analyst specializing in international affairs and US foreign policy. He is the publisher of the <em>Foreign Exchanges <\/em>newsletter, cohost of the <em>American Prestige<\/em> podcast, and former editor of <em>LobeLog<\/em>.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"article-end__author\">\n<h5 class=\"article-end__author-name\">\n                        <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/authors\/daniel-bessner\/\">Daniel Bessner<\/a><br \/>\n                    <\/h5>\n<p>                                            <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/dbessner\" class=\"article-end__author-twitter\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><br \/>\n                            <default:svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"17\" height=\"14\" viewbox=\"0 0 17 14\" fill=\"none\"><br \/>\n\t<default:path fill-rule=\"evenodd\" clip-rule=\"evenodd\" d=\"M15.2054 3.54558C15.2122 3.6951 15.215 3.84463 15.215 3.99527C15.215 8.58792 11.7194 13.8834 5.32683 13.8834C3.36455 13.8834 1.53779 13.3083 0 12.3221C0.271606 12.354 0.548252 12.3702 0.828257 12.3702C2.45677 12.3702 3.95536 11.8147 5.14483 10.8829C3.62384 10.8543 2.34085 9.84963 1.89844 8.4692C2.11068 8.51008 2.32797 8.53136 2.55253 8.53136C2.87006 8.53136 3.17695 8.48936 3.46815 8.40984C1.87772 8.09008 0.680414 6.68501 0.680414 5.00273C0.680414 4.98705 0.680414 4.97305 0.680414 4.95793C1.14858 5.21833 1.68452 5.37514 2.25461 5.39362C1.32219 4.76921 0.708415 3.7063 0.708415 2.5006C0.708415 1.8633 0.879778 1.26633 1.17882 0.753361C2.89302 2.85621 5.45395 4.23887 8.34249 4.38392C8.28313 4.12967 8.25233 3.86423 8.25233 3.59206C8.25233 1.6729 9.80861 0.117188 11.7278 0.117188C12.7274 0.117188 13.6301 0.539436 14.2641 1.21425C15.0559 1.05913 15.8002 0.769041 16.4716 0.370873C16.2118 1.18289 15.6602 1.86386 14.9428 2.29395C15.6462 2.20939 16.3159 2.02235 16.9392 1.74626C16.4739 2.44292 15.8842 3.05557 15.2054 3.54558Z\" fill=\"#666666\"\/><br \/>\n<\/default:svg><br \/>\n                        <\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"article-end__author-bio\">\n<p>Daniel Bessner is an historian of US foreign relations, and cohost of <em>American Prestige<\/em>, a podcast on international affairs.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><script type=\"aee7d3b028f123def7411888-text\/javascript\">\n\t\t!function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s)\n\t\t{if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?\n\t\tn.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};\n\t\tif(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version='2.0';\n\t\tn.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;\n\t\tt.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];\n\t\ts.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window,document,'script', 'https:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/fbevents.js');\n\t\tfbq('init', '233793277040432');\n\t\tfbq('track', 'PageView');\n\t\t\t\t<\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ad Policy Rome\u2019s Colosseum at sunset in downtown Rome on January 10, 2012. (Filippo Monteforte \/ AFP via Getty Images) Danny and Derek are joined by Jake Nabel, Tombros Early Career Professor of Classical Studies and assistant professor of classics and ancient Mediterranean studies at Penn State, to talk about Roman-Parthian relations in antiquity. The&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":645,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/GettyImages-157916164-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[974,1381,1382,1383,1380],"class_list":["post-644","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","tag-ancient","tag-iranwith","tag-jake","tag-nabel","tag-rome"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/valutednews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/644","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/valutednews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/valutednews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/valutednews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/valutednews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=644"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/valutednews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/644\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/valutednews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/645"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/valutednews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=644"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/valutednews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=644"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/valutednews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=644"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}