The Roman historian Ammianus Marcellinus served as an officer in the Roman army, and saw action on the eastern frontier, culminating in the emperor Julian’s campaign against the Sassanid Persians in Iraq. Travellers Gertrude Bell and Freya Stark both explored this territory, and in 1980 and 1988 I travelled through Syria, Jordan, Iraq, and Eastern Turkey to see many of the key sites for myself.   S