Trajan's Parthian War by F.A. Lepper, is the most thorough investigation into Trajan's campaigns in Mesopotamia. The book describes the causes of the war, the Roman route of march, supply and the outcome. J. G. DeVoto has added Arrian's Parthika which has been translated for the first time in thsi book. The Parthika describes the terrain, social and military customs of the Parthians as well as aspects of Trajan's war.

262 pages Hb.

Reconstructing the great wars of Trajan's reign is not easy. The Dacian wars have always come in for much attention due to the fame and attraction of Trajan's Column. The emperor's Parthian War, which extended the empire to its largest size yet, has never been easy to reconstruct due to the paucity of written sources.

Frank Lepper's analysis, first published in 1948, discusses the chronological problems, ancient sources, strategy, topography and causes of the war with painstaking care and as far as the sources allow. The book also contains a translation of the remaining fragments of Arrian's Parthika, preserved through various Byzantine authors, but still an important source for Roman-Parthian relations in the early second century AD.