CENTRAL ASIA AND THE CAUCASUS
Volume 12 Issue 1 2011
51
I
R E G I O N A L P O L I T I C S
IRAN AND
THE SOUTHERN CAUCASUS:
A STRUGGLE FOR
INFLUENCE
Mahir KHALIFA-ZADEH
Ph.D., Member of the Center for
Research on Globalization (CRG),
an independent research and
media organization based in Montreal
(Montreal, Canada)
I n t r o d u c t i o n
1
See: Legio XII Fulminata: one of the Roman le-
gions. Its name means “the lightning legion” (see [http://
www.livius.org/le-lh/legio/xii_fulminata.html]); History of
Azerbaijan, Embassy of the Republic of Azerbaijan to the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland,
available at [http://www.azembassy.org.uk/sehife.php?
lang=eng&page=0105].
t is a well-known fact that for many centuries
the Southern Caucasus was of strategic im-
portance for the great powers that dominated
at different historical times. The Roman Army’s
advances on the Caucasus under the command of
General Pompey (66-65 BC) and General Mark
Antony (36 BC) mark the beginning of the great
powers’ struggle and provide ample evidence of
the attempts to secure their interests in this stra-
tegic part of the world. And in 75 AD, Roman
Emperor Domitian sent Legio XII Fulminata to
support the allied kingdoms of Iberia and Alba-
nia (the present-day republics of Georgia and
Azerbaijan, respectively). A rock inscription was
found near the shores of the Caspian Sea (Gobus-
tan, 60-70 km from Baku in the Azerbaijan Re-
public) that mentions the presence of one of the
centurions of XII Fulminata named Lucius Julius
Maximus.
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