Augustus advised future emperors not to expand the empire further than its current borders according to Tacitus.
All they needed was Microsoft Excel man
>>18249334This but unironically
>>18249334They would've controlled the entire planet
Mesopotamia would have been worth the effort
>>18249366It was a bad mix of rich, densely populated, and far from the imperial core. They never would have been able to keep control of it.
>>18249366Pretty much impossible to romanize them. The narrative of Roman conquest is one of "civilizing" barbaric peoples, but the people of Mesopotamia had been civilized for over 2000 years by the time the Romans were looking to conquer them. There's basically nothing the Romans could offer them that would be impressive. They already had huge cities with monumental architecture, they already had writing, they already had some of the finest artisans in the world, and enjoyed access to trade with exotic nations the Romans only heard about in rumor.Even if the Romans could keep them subjugated by force, they couldn't hope to impose their culture on such an ancient place.
>>18249413>but the people of Mesopotamia had been civilized for over 2000 yearsOof, hilariously untrue.
>>18249418Are you simply ignorant of history? Sumer is the oldest known civilization and predates Rome's presence in the region by at least 2000 years. The Old Babylonian Empire is nearly as ancient.
>>18249413>Even if the Romans could keep them subjugated by force, they couldn't hope to impose their culture on such an ancient place.? Arabs did just that though
>>18249332It was all a plan to get revenge on Julius Caesar, who told him to keep expanding the empire or else it would be destroyed. He wanted revenge for Julius Caesar having raped him as a teen.Tacitus source was a dwarf to whom Augustus explained what happened one day when he went on Rome disguised as a plebeian
>>18249455Other than Islam it was almost 100% the other way around.
>>18249366Too far from Roman core, too close to persian core. All the good land was all the way down south, aka, hard to control, tax, levy troops, you now added 1000km of border that needs to be garrisoned, all whilst persians can laugh at you from the top of the zagros
>>18249455Arabs spread their religion, but they did not replace Persian culture. Arabs who settled in to rule Mesopotamia went native in a few generations.
>>18249493That's not even close to correct.
>>18249413>Roman conquest is one of "civilizing" barbaric peoplesThis isn't true at all. The limits of Roman expansion were defined by civilization. The Gauls, Greeks, Egyptians, and Punics all had written languages are (somewhat) organized societies making them conquerable. There is a reason why the Romans couldn't conquer Germany, Scotland etc.
>>18249467It was in his will read out by Drusus at his funeral>He advised them to be satisfied with their present possessions and under no conditions to wish to increase the empire to any greater dimensions. It would be hard to guard, he said, and this would lead to danger of their losing what was already theirs. This principle he had really always followed himself not only in speech but also in action; at any rate he might have made great acquisitions from the barbarian world, but he had not wished to do so.—Cassius Dio, History of Rome
>>18249332idk what it is but there's something very appealing about the Augustan period. Peace after decades of civil war. Golden age of culture and art. Relentless and rapid expansion on a scale never seen before or since in Roman history. The complete and total transformation of Roman politics, all whilst maintaining an outward visage of continuity with the Republic.
>>18249503Arab hegemony fell apart only about 170 years after the conquest. Persian heartland was never Arabized. Mesopotamia was only Arabized after the rebellions against the Abbasids there caused depopulation and displacement of hundreds of thousands of people, most of them slaves or conquered subjects. It was basically a small genocide that is little talked about because virtually all the sources for it are in Arabic. Westerners might hear about it as a "slave rebellion in the Abbasid caliphate" but they have no idea the true scale of it.
>>18249332I'd say mauretania and thrace were worth it for mare nostrum and completing natural borders. The rest didn't provide much of value.
Mesopotamian culture was dead anyway, by the Roman era it had been extensively Hellenized and the Akkadian language and cuienform writing were long dead and given way to Aramaic. The old Mesopotamian gods were also long dead and no longer worshiped.
>>18249332Gotta get those slaves from somewhere
>>18249366>Mesopotamia would have been worth the effortNo, but Anatolia needs to be secured.
