Although the history of ancient Greece and Rome continues to dominate the study of antiquity, in recent years there has been growing interest in reconsidering the influence and role of subject and neighboring peoples within the wider Greek and Roman worlds on their own terms. This session helps bring to the foreground the agency and impact of both subjects and rivals of the ancient Greeks and Romans. All four presentations investigate new trends in historiography and source evaluation within the study of ancient Mediterranean and Middle Eastern history to challenge traditional interpretations of Greek and Roman cultural influence and rule. The geographical focus of this session also helps bring to the foreground vibrant communities and leaders within regions of the Greek and Roman world underrepresented in modern scholarship. Reevaluations of the life and legacy of peoples living along the periphery of the Greek and Roman worlds allow scholars and audiences to obtain new appreciations of non-Greek-centric or non-Roman-centric perspectives on politics, society, and commerce. By investigating the ancient peoples of North Africa and the Middle East both through the spectrum of the surviving Greek and Roman sources but also on their own terms, this session offers a unique methodological approach to reinterpreting image, power, opportunity, and spirituality in antiquity, while providing a rare occasion for historians in a wide array of fields to engage the roots of imperial propaganda, international relations, provincialism, and religious identity and tension. This session introduces political and cultural exchanges between the west and east across the Classical Era, Hellenistic Era, and Roman Era by reevaluating literature, art, and archaeology to demonstrate the relevancy and need for understanding the crucial influence and role subject and neighboring peoples played in that exchange. Graeco-Roman culture and western imperialism were not simply a top-down or one-way development and experience. Although overlooked and underappreciated, rival powers, indigenous groups, and immigrant communities each added to these developments and experiences immeasurably. This session draws upon a diverse group of scholars researching a diverse group of underrepresented ancient peoples across a vast multi-cultural, multi-lingual, and multi-religious landscape. The first presentation investigates the cultural impact of the ancient Persians on the political ideologies of biblical and Greek sources. The second presentation reevaluates the agency of the ancient Parthians in their budding rivalry with Rome. The third presentation reinterprets the cultural and religious identity of Jews in Roman Egypt. Finally, the fourth presentation examines the economic exchanges of subjects and ruler in Roman Africa. Thus, this session shares new perspectives and new findings in the underrepresented field of ancient history at the American Historical Association that advance new trends of methodology and source criticism within the broader discipline of history. Although it is challenging to bring to life the distant voices of the ancient past, this session strives to do so to highlight the accomplishments of overlooked or underappreciated peoples to a diverse, national audience.