Israel and Iran are threatening each other, but “The Levant is threatening Persia” wouldn’t make sense as a 55 BCE statement, as Rome is, well, not the Levant. The only reason it works as a 260 AD statement is because the Roman territory Persia is invading is in the Levant, and thus relies on the Levant being used as a region, rather than a political actor, to make the 260 AD comparison valid.
Israel and Iran are threatening each other, but “The Levant is threatening Persia” wouldn’t make sense as a 55 BCE statement, as Rome is, well, not the Levant. The only reason it works as a 260 AD statement is because the Roman territory Persia is invading is in the Levant, and thus relies on the Levant being used as a region, rather than a political actor, to make the 260 AD comparison valid.
I get that. There’s not better historical statement that I would be able to place there either.
Thank you for the clarification