Multilingualism and Empires: Byzantium and Sasanian Persia

The article investigates the multilingual dimension of the Sasanian empire, focusing in particular on the procedures adopted by Persians and Byzantines in the redaction of the long text concerning the Peace Treaty of the Lazika War. The study shows the high level of cooperation between the two administrative diplomatic groups, in particular in the very delicate phases of mutual determination of the bilingual text (Greek and Middle-Persian). It is probable that the Persian delegation had to write the Greek version, while the Romans were writing the Persian one, in order to be sure (on both sides) that all the contents were absolutely correct and word for word corresponding each other