Armenia, AD 55. Parthian intervention has removed the Roman-backed king Rhadamistus, and General Corbulo prepares an eastern army to restore Roman influence. Macro and Cato are sent to strengthen an undermanned unit and take part in the campaign. Rhadamistus’s brutality towards his own subjects threatens to turn an allied operation into revolt, while Parthia waits for Rome’s political failures to create a military opportunity.
Corbulo’s campaign is constrained by diplomacy as much as by military preparation. Rome wants influence in Armenia without provoking a larger war with Parthia, yet Rhadamistus’s conduct makes the Roman-backed settlement increasingly indefensible. Macro and Cato therefore operate inside a frontier crisis where an ally can become a strategic liability and military success may still produce political failure.
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