For my understanding of what it took to transport large bodies of soldiers by sea I am indebted to Jorit Wintjes for sharing his paper ‘Hauling a Legion across the Ocean: Roman Military Sealift Capabilities beyond the Mediterranean’ so generously. I had no idea that many legions had an officer on the staff who was expert on the methodology of legion maritime transport, testament to the ubiquity of these military juggernauts. And my grasp of the sheer complexity of the Parthian empire’s military capability – which was until then limited to what I’d read about Carrhae – was abruptly and amusingly improved by a Skype session with three students of Persian history whose intelligence, wit and humour was both entertaining and highly informative. Nadeem Ahmad, Amir Yahyavi and Patryk Skupniewicz provided me with an insight into the varied capabilities of the kingdoms that made up Parthia’s ability to face off to Rome’s more or less constant encroachment. With the manuscript written I fell back upon my usual team of beta readers – David Mooney, Vivienne Maxwell and John Prigent – whose varied styles of feedback provided me with their usual valuable perspectives on what I’d got right and wrong when it came to writing an informative and entertaining story.
