The kingdom of Osrhoene was real and was ruled at the time of our story by King Abgarus VII. Traditionally, Osrhoene came more under Parthian than Roman influence, but again we should not see this as a simple choice between one or the other. As with Armenia, the first embassy sent by the king to Trajan strongly asserted his independence, and only gradually did it become clear that the emperor wanted a much stronger commitment. Eventually, Abgarus agreed to support and aid the Romans, and presumably did so during the campaigns that followed. His son Arbandes appears to have been sent more than once as envoy, and in the longer run Dio believed that his youthful charm and good looks softened Trajan’s attitude. Later, at a feast held near the capital Edessa, the youth performed a local war dance in front of Trajan and his guests. While this provided inspiration for the story, everything else is invented, including Azátē.

The city of Nicopolis is another fiction, although as stated at the start there were a number of cities of this name in the Hellenistic world. Alexander the Great formed a sort of punishment battalion of men suspected of disloyalty or other crimes, but they are mentioned just once in our sources and no hint given of their ultimate fate. Alexander’s campaigns made the spread of Greek language and culture much more rapid throughout the Near and Middle East. Yet this was a region where civilisation had very old roots, and the Greek layer co-existed with older and more recent sets of thought, belief and language. Cities like Nicopolis tended to have Greek institutions, such as magistrates and councils, but very mixed communities. Best known is Dura-Europos on the Euphrates in northern Syria, a heavily excavated site, which unfortunately suffered from looting and deliberate destruction in the recent conflict.

Large Jewish communities were present in many cities, including Dura, and formed a significant group in Seleucia and Babylon. The destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem severely disrupted Jewish customs, most obviously by bringing an end to animal sacrifice. Yet the people and the faith adapted and survived, and even in areas which archaeologically show little trace of distinctive practices in the second century AD, became openly Jewish in lifestyle in later periods, which strongly suggests that there was more continuity than material culture reveals. At Dura-Europos there was a substantial synagogue, decorated with colourful paintings showing scenes such as the crossing of the Jordan into Canaan. While conflicting with the very rare depiction of the human form in Second Temple Judaea, these still testify to a vibrant and confident community, living alongside Gentile neighbours. There is evidence for considerable interest in and sympathy for Jewish practices from several dynasties in the region, with some royalty even converting.