Battle of Carrhae
The
Battle of Carrhae was a decisive battle fought in the year
53 BC near the town of Carrhae (now the present-day ruins of
Harran,
Turkey) between the
Roman Republic under the Roman general
Crassus and the
Parthian Empire under the Parthian
Iran Spahbod Surena. The result of the battle was an overwhelming victory for the Parthian Empire.
In 55 BC,
Marcus Licinius Crassus had just finished serving his joint-
consul year with
Pompey. At the time, Crassus, Pompey, and
Julius Caesar had a powerful triumvirate that all but controlled Rome. Being part of this group, Crassus had a great desire to bring glory to his name. He had seen no action since his defeat of
Spartacus nearly 20 years earlier. Crassus drew out the maps of the Roman Empire looking for a target to attack, and he felt that the most glorious target would be
Parthia. Many members of the Roman Senate tried to dissuade him from this course of action, but Caesar and Pompey stood firmly behind him and the senate relented.
Crassus arrived in
Syria in late 55 BC. With aid of
Hellenic settlements in Syria and support of
Artavasdes, the Armenian king, Crassus marched directly to the Parthian mainland instead of attacking from the mountains of Armenia. In response, the Parthian king
Orodes II divided his army and sent half, which were infantry troops, to punish the Armenians and sent the other half, which were cavalry units, to combat Crassus. The two armies subsequently encountered each other near the town of Carrhae.
The Parthians, although outnumbered, used 1000 heavily armed and armored horsemen, called "
cataphracts," in conjunction with 9000 horse archers to defeat the Roman heavy infantry. The horse archers shot repeated volleys of arrows into the densely packed formation of the Roman
legionaries. To sustain their barrage, the Parthians employed camels to carry additional loads of arrows.
When the Romans attempted to charge the horse archers, the Parthians followed their custom of feigning retreat, turning suddenly and shooting arrows at the enemy while fleeing (known as the "
Parthian shot"). If the Romans tried to form into a protective
testudo, the cataphracts would charge them and the legionnaires would be unable to fight effectively due to their tight formation. Although the Romans' large
scuta gave them some measure of protection against the volleys of arrows, many soldiers eventually collapsed from
thirst and
heat exhaustion even when otherwise unwounded due to the exertion required in attempting to defend themselves from the seemingly endless fusillades of Parthian arrows. The Parthian arrows were devastating, "When Publius urged them to charge the enemy's mail-clad horsemen, they showed him that their hands were riveted to their shields and their feet nailed through and through to the ground, so that they were helpless either for flight or for self-defence." (Plutarch, Life of Crassus, XXV)
The result was one of the worst defeats suffered by the Roman Republic in its entire history. During the battle, Crassus's son Publius was slain and his head was put on a pike for the legionaries to see. Crassus himself was slain after the battle. His head was sent to the Parthian king,
Orodes II. The other half of the Parthian army who were sent to Armenia defeated the Armenians and captured Armenia. However, these victories made the Parthian king,
Orodes II, suspicious and jealous of Surena, and he ordered his execution. Following Surena's death, Orodes II himself took command of Parthian army and later led an unsuccessful military campaign in Syria.
Gaius Cassius Longinus, a legatus under Crassus, led approximately 10,000 surviving soldiers from the battlefield back to Syria, where he governed as a proquaestor for two years defending Syria from Orodes II's continued attacks. He would eventually defeat the Parthians and receive praise from
Cicero for his victory. Cassius would later play a key role in the conspiracy to assassinate
C. Julius Caesar in 44 B.C.
An important implication of this battle was that it opened up the European continent to a new and beautiful material:
silk. The Romans that managed to survive the battle reported seeing brilliant, shimmering banners (apparently made of silk) used by the Parthians as they slaughtered the fleeing legions. Subsequently, interest in
Europe grew for this material and trade routes were extended from
China to Western Europe. This effectively marked the
beginnings of the
Silk Road, one of the greatest and richest trade routes in history.
The battle is also believed to have eventually led to the first
Sino-Roman relations. According to Pliny, in 54 BC, after losing at the battle of Carrhae, 10,000 Roman prisoners were sent by the Parthians to Margiana to help guard the eastern frontier of the Parthian Empire. The
Han Chinese later captured this area and the Roman prisoners were likely among the first westerners to meet the Chinese directly[
1]
Another result of the disaster for the Romans was the endurance of a myth that legionary armies could not successfully fight Parthian cavalry - a myth that even the sacking of the Parthian capital three times in the 2nd century could not end.
*
The Ancient Iranian Army CAIS
The only two ancient records of the battle:
*
Plutarch's
Life of Crassus, 23-27 (
Online)
*
Cassius Dio's
Roman History, 40:21-4 (
Online)
An in-depth description:
*
Battle of CarrhaeA useful summary:
*
Battle of Carrhae
