Marcus Licinius Crassus † Publius Licinius Crassus † Gaius Cassius Longinus
Surena Silaces
Strength
36,000–43,000 men
28,000–35,000 legionaries
4,000 cavalry
1,000 Gallic cavalry
4,000 light infantry
10,000
1,000 cataphracts
9,000 horse archers
Casualties and losses
30,000
20,000 killed[2]
10,000 captured
5,000–10,000 escaped
Unknown, but minimal
v
t
e
Roman–Persian Wars
Roman–Parthian Wars
Carrhae
Caesar's planned invasion
Pompeian–Parthian invasion
Cilician Gates
Amanus Pass
Mt Gindarus
Mark Antony's campaign
Armenian War of 58–63
Trajan's Parthian campaign
Lucius Verus' campaigns
2nd Ctesiphon
Parthian war of Caracalla
Nisibis
Roman–Sasanian wars
Mesopotamia
Campaign of Severus Alexander
Nisibis (235)
Hatra
Resaena
Misiche
Nisibis (252)
Barbalissos
Antioch
Dura-Europos
Edessa
Caesarea (260)
3rd Ctesiphon
Carrhae (296)
Satala
Perso-Roman wars of 337–361
1st Singara
Amida
2nd Singara
Julian's Persian expedition
Pirisabora
Maiozamalcha
Ctesiphon
Maranga
Samarra
Bagrevand
Byzantine–Sasanian wars
War of 421–422
War of 440
Anastasian War
Iberian War
Lazic War
War of 572–591
War of 602–628
The Battle of Carrhae (Latin pronunciation:[ˈkarrae̯]) was fought in 53 BC between the Roman Republic and the Parthian Empire near the ancient town of Carrhae (present-day Harran, Turkey). An invading force of seven legions of Roman heavy infantry under Marcus Licinius Crassus was lured into the desert and decisively defeated by a mixed cavalry army of heavy cataphracts and light horse archers led by the Parthian general Surena. On such flat terrain, the Legion proved to have no viable tactics against the highly-mobile Parthian horsemen, and the slow and vulnerable Roman formations were surrounded, exhausted by constant attacks, and eventually crushed. Crassus was killed along with the majority of his army. It is commonly seen as one of the earliest and most important battles between the Roman and Parthian Empires and one of the most crushing defeats in Roman history. According to the poet Ovid in Book 6 of his poem Fasti, the battle occurred on 9 June.
Crassus, a member of the First Triumvirate and the wealthiest man in Rome, had been enticed by the prospect of military glory and riches and decided to invade Parthia without the official consent of the Senate. Rejecting an offer from the Armenian King Artavasdes II to allow Crassus to invade Parthia via Armenia, Crassus marched his army directly through the deserts of Mesopotamia. His forces clashed with Surena's troops near Carrhae. Surena's cavalry killed or captured most of the Roman soldiers. Crassus himself was killed when truce negotiations turned violent.
His death ended the First Triumvirate. The following four-year period of peace between the remaining two members of the Triumvirate, Julius Caesar and Pompey, argues against the view that Crassus had been a peacekeeper within the group and supports the views of most Roman historians that friction between Crassus and Pompey had always been a greater cause of tension than that between Caesar and Pompey.
^ abShahbazi 1990.
^Plutarch's Lives: Crassus, Perseus tufts
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