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Carrhae
Andrew
By the late Republican era Rome was ruled by three power hungry men who
had much influence and power over the senate. The three men where locked
in a struggle for power in Rome. Each thriving to be the sole hero of Rome,
and master of the senate. Julius Caesar, a cunning politician, seized power
and fame in his campaigns in Gaul. Pompeii, after gaining power in the East,
was in Rome swaying the mob in favour. And Crassus, the oldest of the
three, and the richest man in Rome.
Crassus did not have the military fame that he thieved for. In 73 BC Crassus
had suppressed a salve revolt led by the slave Spartacus. Although, Pompeii
took all the credit. But now, Crassus was ready to conquer lands and fame
that would rival even the Great Alexander’s. Tremendously ambitious,
Crassus wanted to conquer the Parthian land to the East then carry on as far
as China. In 53 BC, he had recruited 7 legions of about 38000 men. And
marched into Parthia.
Crassus, eager for his victories, marched not to the North, where his
Armenian allies were, but straight Eastward. Obsessed with finding
destroying the nearest Parthian army. Crassus’s legions caught up with a
Parthian army, 10000 strong near a town called Carrhae. Against the advice
of his generals, Crassus ordered his troops into a defensive square. The
Parthian, with their 10000 cavalrymen, where able to manoeuvre better in
the open desert, and shot thousands of arrows into the Roman ranks. Crassus
ordered his son Pouplius (who commanded a section of the Roman cavalry),
to chase away the mounted archers that were inflicting serious casualties to
the Romans. Puplius obeyed and chased the enemy calvary away. But he had
charged the farther away from the main force than he should have, and in his
isolation, was killed by the Parthian heavy cavalry. Then the horse archers
returned and the bombardment continued. With Parthians displaying the
head of Crassus’s son on a spear. This put Crassus in a state of shock. The
Parthians, well supplied with arrows, kept up the bombardment. Under these
conditions, Crassus and his men retreated, in cover of night to the town of
Carrhae. But with too little food in the town to feed his legions, Crassus was
forced to come to terms with the Parthian prince Seirana. Crassus was
humiliated in the irony of the out come. During the negotiations, a fight
broke out and Crassus was killed, his troops fled, but were hack down by the
Partian Cataphracs (heavy cavalry). Few men of the 7 legions survived. It
was one of Rome’s greatest military disasters. Led by a man who wanted to
eclipse Alexander in his conquest.