The River Araxes in the Roman Poetry

Abstract

River Araxes in the Roman Poetry The Araxes flowing through the Armenian Highlands was one of the rivers mentioned quite often in Roman poetry from the Augustan Age up to the 5th century. In line with the traditional tendency of classical literature, the Araxes was usually shown as a pars pro toto of a country, in this case Armenia, which was one of the aims of the Roman eastern policy and the object of rivalry between the Empire and Parthia/Persia. The great majority of references to the Araxes was connected with the theme of Roman expansion in the East (especially with the campaign of Tiberius in 20 BC and later with the Roman-Parthian war 58–63 AD), which can be observed best in the recurrent motif of a bridge across this river, a clear-cut symbol of Roman domination over Armenia and – more generally – over all of the East.

Keywords

• Roman poetry
• Roman policy in the East
• Araxes
• Armenia in Roman poetry
• rivers in Roman poetry