Marcus Licinius Crassus
Encyclopedia
Marcus Licinius Crassus (Latin
: M·LICINIVS·P·F·P·N·CRASSVS) (ca. 115 BC – 53 BC) was a Roman
general
and politician
who commanded the right wing of Sulla's army at the Battle of the Colline Gate
, suppressed the slave revolt led by Spartacus
, provided political and financial support to Julius Caesar
and entered into the political alliance known as the First Triumvirate
with Pompey
and Caesar. At the height of his fortune he was allegedly worth more than 200,000,000 sestertii
. He is considered the wealthiest man in Roman history, and perhaps one of the richest men in all history. Crassus nonetheless desired recognition for his military victories; this ambition for acclaim eventually led him into Syria
, where he was defeated and killed in the Roman defeat at Carrhae
against a Parthian
Spahbod
(General) named Surena
.
, a man who had himself been consul in 97 BC and censor 89 BC. One brother died during the Social War; his father and another brother were killed or committed suicide to evade capture during the Marian purges in December 87 BC.
Crassus' grandfather was Marcus Licinius Crassus Agelastus, of whom little is known. This grandfather was descended from a consul and censor Publius Licinius Crassus Dives
, best known for being Pontifex Maximus
(from 212 BC to his death 183 BC) and consul (in 205 BC) and political ally of the Roman general and statesman Scipio Africanus
. Crassus could therefore claim to be descended from a man who was successively elected Pontifex Maximus, censor, and then consul, in a rather unusual chronological order.
Crassus and his brothers were raised together in a small modest house despite the family's great inherited wealth and his father's immense personal fortune. As was customary, the two elder brothers lived with their parents and youngest brother even after they married and had children.
After the Marian purges and the sudden death subsequently of Gaius Marius
, the surviving consul Lucius Cornelius Cinna
(better-known as father-in-law of Julius Caesar
) imposed proscription
s on those surviving Roman senators and equestrians who had supported Lucius Cornelius Sulla
in his 88 BC march on Rome and overthrow of the traditional Roman political arrangements.
Cinna's proscription forced Crassus to flee to Hispania
. After Cinna's death in 84 BC, Crassus went to the Roman province of Africa
where adherents of Sulla were gathering. When Sulla
invaded Italy after returning from partial successes in the inconclusive Second Mithridatic War
, Crassus joined Sulla and Metellus Pius, Sulla's closest ally. He was given command of the right wing in the Battle of the Colline Gate
when the remaining Marian adherents and the surviving Samnite
s marched on Rome in a last-ditch bid to oust Sulla from Rome. The Colline Gate was one of the entrances into Rome through the Servian Walls; Crassus and his troops ensured Sulla's victory, including destruction of the surviving Samnite troops and any other military opposition.
s ensured that his survivors would recoup their lost fortunes from the fortunes of wealthy adherents to Gaius Marius
or Lucius Cornelius Cinna
. Proscriptions meant that their political enemies lost their fortunes and their lives; that their female relatives (notably, widows and widowed daughters) were forbidden to remarry; and that in some cases, their families' hopes of rebuilding their fortunes and political significance were destroyed. Crassus is said to have made part of his money from proscriptions, notably the proscription of one man whose name was not initially on the list of those proscribed but was added by Crassus who coveted the man's fortune. Crassus's wealth is estimated by Pliny at approximately 200 million sestertii.
He was kinsman triumvir to Licinia, a Vestal Virgin
who owned a pleasant villa that he wanted to acquire on the cheap. Plutarch says: "And yet when he was further on in years, he was accused of criminal intimacy with Licinia, one of the vestal virgins and Licinia was formally prosecuted by a certain Plotius. Now Licinia was the owner of a pleasant villa in the suburbs which Crassus wished to get at a low price, and it was for this reason that he was forever hovering about the woman and paying his court to her, until he fell under the abominable suspicion. And in a way it was his avarice that absolved him from the charge of corrupting the vestal, and he was acquitted by the judges. But he did not let Licinia go until he had acquired her property."
The rest of Crassus' wealth was acquired more conventionally, through traffic in slaves, the working of silver mines, and judicious purchases of land and houses, especially those of proscribed citizens
. Most notorious was his acquisition of burning houses: when Crassus received word that a house was on fire, he would arrive and purchase the doomed property along with surrounding buildings for a modest sum, and then employ his army of 500 clients to put the fire out before much damage had been done. Crassus' clients employed the Roman method of firefighting—destroying the burning building to curtail the spread of the flames.
After rebuilding his fortune, Crassus' next concern was his political career. As an adherent of Sulla, and the wealthiest man in Rome, and a man who hailed from a line of consuls and praetors, Crassus' political future was apparently assured. His problem was that despite his military successes, he was eclipsed by his contemporary Pompey the Great who blackmailed the dictator Sulla into granting him a triumph for victory in Africa over a rag-tag group of dissident Romans; a first in Roman history on a couple of counts. First, Pompey was not even a praetor, on which grounds a triumph had been denied in 206 BC to the great Scipio Africanus
, who had brought Rome an entire province in Hispania. Second, Pompey had defeated fellow Romans; however, a precedent had been set when the consul Lucius Julius Caesar
(a relative of Gaius Julius Caesar
) had been granted a triumph for a small victory over Italian peoples in the Social War. Yet, until 82 BC, no triumph had been granted to any Roman for victory over another Roman general. Crassus's rivalry with Pompey and his envy of Pompey's triumph would influence his subsequent career.
, the sequence of offices held by Roman citizens seeking political power, when ordinary Roman politics were interrupted by two events – first, the Third Mithridatic War
, and second, the Third Servile War
, which was the organized two-year rebellion of Roman slaves under the leadership of Spartacus
(from summer 73 BC to spring 71 BC). In response to the first threat, Rome's best general, Lucius Licinius Lucullus
(consul in 74 BC), was sent to defeat Mithridates, followed shortly by his brother Varro Lucullus (consul in 73 BC). Meanwhile, Pompey was fighting in Hispania
against Quintus Sertorius
, the last effective Marian general, without notable advantage. Pompey succeeded only when Sertorius was assassinated by one of his own commanders.
The Senate did not initially take the slave rebellion seriously, until it became clear that Rome itself was under threat. Crassus offered to equip, train, and lead new troops, at his own expense, after several legions had been defeated and their commanders killed in battle or taken prisoner. Eventually, Crassus was sent into battle against Spartacus by the Senate. At first he had trouble both in anticipating Spartacus' moves and in inspiring his army and strengthening their morale. When a segment of his army fled from battle, abandoning their weapons, Crassus revived the ancient practice of decimation
– i.e., executing one out of every ten men, with the victims selected by drawing lots. Plutarch
reports that "many things horrible and dreadful to see" occurred during the infliction of punishment, which was witnessed by the rest of Crassus' army. Nevertheless, according to Appian
, the troops' fighting spirit improved dramatically thereafter, since Crassus had demonstrated that "he was more dangerous to them than the enemy."
Afterwards, when Spartacus retreated to the Bruttium peninsula in the southwest of Italy, Crassus tried to pen up his armies by building a ditch and a rampart across an isthmus in Bruttium, "from sea to sea." Despite this remarkable feat, Spartacus and part of his army still managed to break out. On the night of a heavy snowstorm, they sneaked through Crassus' lines and made a bridge of dirt and tree branches over the ditch, thus escaping.
Some time later, when the Roman armies led by Pompey and Varro Lucullus were recalled to Italy in support of Crassus, Spartacus decided to fight rather than find himself and his followers trapped between three armies, two of them returning from overseas action. In this last battle, the Battle of the Siler River
, Crassus gained a decisive victory, and captured six thousand slaves alive. During the fighting, Spartacus attempted to kill Crassus personally, slaughtering his way toward the general's position, but he succeeded only in killing two of the centurions guarding Crassus. Spartacus himself is believed to have been killed in the battle, although his body was never recovered. The six thousand captured slaves were crucified along the Via Appia by Crassus' orders. At his command, their bodies were not taken down afterwards but remained rotting along Rome's principal route to the South. This was intended as an object lesson to anyone who might think of defying Rome in the future.
Crassus effectively ended the Third Servile War in 71 BC, but his rival Pompey stole the victory with a letter to the Senate, in which he argued that Crassus had merely defeated some slaves, while Pompey had won the war. This caused much strife between Pompey and Crassus. Crassus was honored only with an ovation
(less than a triumph), even though the danger to Rome and the destruction to Roman lives and property merited much more. As a result, Crassus' animosity towards the upstart Pompey increased.
Nevertheless, Crassus was elected consul
for 70 BC, alongside Pompey. In that year, he displayed his wealth by entertaining the populace at 10,000 tables and distributing sufficient grain to last each family three months.
with another conservative Quintus Lutatius Catulus (Capitolinus)
, himself son of a consul. During that decade, Crassus was Caesar's patron in all but name, financing Caesar's successful campaign to become Pontifex Maximus
, despite all but abandoning his post as the priest of Jupiter or flamen dialis
, and his efforts to win command of military campaigns. Caesar's mediation between Crassus and Pompey led to the creation of the coalition between Crassus, Pompey, and Caesar (by now consul), known as the First Triumvirate
in 60 BC. This coalition would last until Crassus' own death.
In 55 BC, he was again consul with Pompey, and a law was passed assigning the provinces of the two Hispanias and Syria
to Pompey and Crassus respectively for five years.
glory and crossed the Euphrates
in an attempt to conquer Parthia
. Crassus attacked Parthia not only because of its great source of riches, but because of a desire to match the military victories of his two major rivals, Pompey the Great and Julius Caesar. The king of Armenia, Artavazdes II
, offered Crassus the aid of nearly forty thousand troops, ten thousand cataphracts and thirty thousand infantrymen, on the condition that Crassus invaded through Armenia so that the king could not only maintain the upkeep of his own troops but also provide a safer route for his men and Crassus'. Crassus refused, and chose the more direct route by crossing the Euphrates. His legions were defeated at Carrhae
(modern Harran
in Turkey
) in 53 BC by a numerically inferior Parthian force. Crassus' legions were mainly infantry men and were not prepared for the type of swift, cavalry-and-arrow
, attack that the Parthian troops were particularly adept at; the same type of attack that Genghis Khan later utilised to great effect. The Parthians would get within shooting range, rain a barrage of arrows down upon Crassus's troops, turn, fall back, and charge forth with another attack in the same vein. They were even able to shoot as well backwards as they could forwards
, increasing the deadliness of their onslaught. Crassus refused his quaestor
Gaius Cassius Longinus
's plans to reconstitute the Roman battle line, and remained in the testudo formation
thinking that the Parthians would eventually run out of arrows.
Subsequently Crassus' men, being near mutiny
, demanded he parley
with the Parthians, who had offered to meet with him. Crassus, despondent at the death of his son Publius
in the battle, finally agreed to meet the Parthian general. However, when Crassus mounted a horse to ride to the Parthian camp for a peace negotiation, his junior officer Octavius suspected a Parthian trap and grabbed Crassus' horse by the bridle, instigating a sudden fight with the Parthians which left the Roman party dead, including Crassus. A story later emerged that after Crassus' death the Parthians poured molten gold into his mouth as a symbol of his thirst for wealth.
The account given in Plutarch
's biography of Crassus also mentions that, during the feasting and revelry in the wedding ceremony of Artavazd's sister to the Parthian king Orodes II
's son and heir Pacorus
in Artashat
, Crassus' head was brought to Orodes II. Both kings were enjoying a performance of Euripides
' Greek tragedy The Bacchae
and a certain actor of the royal court, named Jason of Tralles, took the head and sang the following verses (also from the Bacchae):
Crassus' head was thus used in place of a prop head representing Pentheus
and carried by the heroine of the play, Agave
.
in 36 BC, a Han Dynasty
army led by General Chen Tang
encountered troops of Zhizhi Chanyu
that were using "a fish-scale formation" – which was hypothesized to mean the testudo formation
. It has also been argued that the account of the Chinese historian Ban Gu
, who lived during that time, implies that there were troops of Caucasian appearance fighting alongside Zhizhi Chanyu. In this account, the Chinese took these soldiers prisoner, but were so impressed by their courage and fighting abilities that they incorporated them into their army to defend the province of Gansu
, calling them Li-Jien.
In examining this hypothesis
, researchers had taken DNA
samples to try to determine if the people in Liqian village
did have some Europe
an ancestry, even as they acknowledged that there would be little way of knowing whether the ancestors would have in fact been from Crassus's troops. Although they confirmed the DNA as being of "European origins," narrowing it down further than that was impossible, based on the available supporting evidence. The results of the DNA test did not support the hypothesis that the inhabitants of Liqian were related to the Romans; instead the authors concluded "the current Liqian population is more likely to be a subgroup of the Chinese majority Han". And while Roman coins have been found in excavations of the area (as well as one helmet with the engraving, written in Chinese, saying "one of the prisoners") the artifacts were found in a village along the Silk Road
, so their discovery was unsurprising.
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
: M·LICINIVS·P·F·P·N·CRASSVS) (ca. 115 BC – 53 BC) was a Roman
Roman Republic
The Roman Republic was the period of the ancient Roman civilization where the government operated as a republic. It began with the overthrow of the Roman monarchy, traditionally dated around 508 BC, and its replacement by a government headed by two consuls, elected annually by the citizens and...
general
General
A general officer is an officer of high military rank, usually in the army, and in some nations, the air force. The term is widely used by many nations of the world, and when a country uses a different term, there is an equivalent title given....
and politician
Politician
A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...
who commanded the right wing of Sulla's army at the Battle of the Colline Gate
Battle of the Colline Gate
The battle of the Colline Gate, fought in November of 82 BC, was the final battle by which Sulla secured control of Rome following the civil war against his rivals. The Samnites led by Pontius Telesinus attacked Sulla's army at the Colline Gate on the northeastern wall, and fought all night before...
, suppressed the slave revolt led by Spartacus
Spartacus
Spartacus was a famous leader of the slaves in the Third Servile War, a major slave uprising against the Roman Republic. Little is known about Spartacus beyond the events of the war, and surviving historical accounts are sometimes contradictory and may not always be reliable...
, provided political and financial support to Julius Caesar
Julius Caesar
Gaius Julius Caesar was a Roman general and statesman and a distinguished writer of Latin prose. He played a critical role in the gradual transformation of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire....
and entered into the political alliance known as the First Triumvirate
First Triumvirate
The First Triumvirate was the political alliance of Gaius Julius Caesar, Marcus Licinius Crassus, and Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus. Unlike the Second Triumvirate, the First Triumvirate had no official status whatsoever; its overwhelming power in the Roman Republic was strictly unofficial influence, and...
with Pompey
Pompey
Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus, also known as Pompey or Pompey the Great , was a military and political leader of the late Roman Republic...
and Caesar. At the height of his fortune he was allegedly worth more than 200,000,000 sestertii
Sestertius
The sestertius, or sesterce, was an ancient Roman coin. During the Roman Republic it was a small, silver coin issued only on rare occasions...
. He is considered the wealthiest man in Roman history, and perhaps one of the richest men in all history. Crassus nonetheless desired recognition for his military victories; this ambition for acclaim eventually led him into Syria
Syria (Roman province)
Syria was a Roman province, annexed in 64 BC by Pompey, as a consequence of his military presence after pursuing victory in the Third Mithridatic War. It remained under Roman, and subsequently Byzantine, rule for seven centuries, until 637 when it fell to the Islamic conquests.- Principate :The...
, where he was defeated and killed in the Roman defeat at Carrhae
Battle of Carrhae
The Battle of Carrhae, fought in 53 BC near the town of Carrhae, was a major battle between the Parthian Empire and the Roman Republic. The Parthian Spahbod Surena decisively defeated a Roman invasion force led by Marcus Licinius Crassus...
against a Parthian
Parthian Empire
The Parthian Empire , also known as the Arsacid Empire , was a major Iranian political and cultural power in ancient Persia...
Spahbod
Spahbod
Spahbod or Spahbed , is derived from the words Spah and bod ; or "Aspah'Paeity" , and means commander of cavaliers/ knights; alternatively Spah Salar was a rank used in the Parthian empire and more widely in the Sassanid Empire of Persia...
(General) named Surena
Surena
Surena or Suren may refer to either a noble family of Parthia also known as the House of Suren, or to a renowned 1st century BC General Surena who was a member of that family....
.
Biography
Marcus Licinius Crassus was the third and youngest son of Publius Licinius Crassus DivesPublius Licinius Crassus Dives
Publius Licinius Crassus Dives was a member of the respected and prominent Crassi branch of the plebeian gens Licinia as well as the father of the famed Marcus Licinius Crassus...
, a man who had himself been consul in 97 BC and censor 89 BC. One brother died during the Social War; his father and another brother were killed or committed suicide to evade capture during the Marian purges in December 87 BC.
Crassus' grandfather was Marcus Licinius Crassus Agelastus, of whom little is known. This grandfather was descended from a consul and censor Publius Licinius Crassus Dives
Publius Licinius Crassus Dives (consul 205 BC)
Publius Licinius Crassus Dives Pontifex Maximus was consul in 205 BC with Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus ; he was also Pontifex Maximus since 213 or 212 BC , and held several other important positions. Licinius Crassus is mentioned several times in Livy's Histories...
, best known for being Pontifex Maximus
Pontifex Maximus
The Pontifex Maximus was the high priest of the College of Pontiffs in ancient Rome. This was the most important position in the ancient Roman religion, open only to patricians until 254 BC, when a plebeian first occupied this post...
(from 212 BC to his death 183 BC) and consul (in 205 BC) and political ally of the Roman general and statesman Scipio Africanus
Scipio Africanus
Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus , also known as Scipio Africanus and Scipio the Elder, was a general in the Second Punic War and statesman of the Roman Republic...
. Crassus could therefore claim to be descended from a man who was successively elected Pontifex Maximus, censor, and then consul, in a rather unusual chronological order.
Crassus and his brothers were raised together in a small modest house despite the family's great inherited wealth and his father's immense personal fortune. As was customary, the two elder brothers lived with their parents and youngest brother even after they married and had children.
After the Marian purges and the sudden death subsequently of Gaius Marius
Gaius Marius
Gaius Marius was a Roman general and statesman. He was elected consul an unprecedented seven times during his career. He was also noted for his dramatic reforms of Roman armies, authorizing recruitment of landless citizens, eliminating the manipular military formations, and reorganizing the...
, the surviving consul Lucius Cornelius Cinna
Lucius Cornelius Cinna
Lucius Cornelius Cinna was a four-time consul of the Roman Republic, serving four consecutive terms from 87 to 84 BC, and a member of the ancient Roman Cinna family of the Cornelii gens....
(better-known as father-in-law of Julius Caesar
Julius Caesar
Gaius Julius Caesar was a Roman general and statesman and a distinguished writer of Latin prose. He played a critical role in the gradual transformation of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire....
) imposed proscription
Proscription
Proscription is a term used for the public identification and official condemnation of enemies of the state. It is defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as a "decree of condemnation to death or banishment" and is a heavily politically charged word, frequently used to refer to state-approved...
s on those surviving Roman senators and equestrians who had supported Lucius Cornelius Sulla
Lucius Cornelius Sulla
Lucius Cornelius Sulla Felix , known commonly as Sulla, was a Roman general and statesman. He had the rare distinction of holding the office of consul twice, as well as that of dictator...
in his 88 BC march on Rome and overthrow of the traditional Roman political arrangements.
Cinna's proscription forced Crassus to flee to Hispania
Hispania
Another theory holds that the name derives from Ezpanna, the Basque word for "border" or "edge", thus meaning the farthest area or place. Isidore of Sevilla considered Hispania derived from Hispalis....
. After Cinna's death in 84 BC, Crassus went to the Roman province of Africa
North Africa during the Classical Period
The history of North Africa during the period of Classical Antiquity can be divided roughly into the History of Egypt in the east and the history of Ancient Libya in the west. The Roman Republic established the province of Africa in 146 BC after the defeat of Carthage...
where adherents of Sulla were gathering. When Sulla
Lucius Cornelius Sulla
Lucius Cornelius Sulla Felix , known commonly as Sulla, was a Roman general and statesman. He had the rare distinction of holding the office of consul twice, as well as that of dictator...
invaded Italy after returning from partial successes in the inconclusive Second Mithridatic War
Second Mithridatic War
The Second Mithridatic War was one of three wars fought between Pontus and the Roman Republic. The second Mithridatic war was fought between King Mithridates VI of Pontus and the Roman general Lucius Licinius Murena....
, Crassus joined Sulla and Metellus Pius, Sulla's closest ally. He was given command of the right wing in the Battle of the Colline Gate
Battle of the Colline Gate
The battle of the Colline Gate, fought in November of 82 BC, was the final battle by which Sulla secured control of Rome following the civil war against his rivals. The Samnites led by Pontius Telesinus attacked Sulla's army at the Colline Gate on the northeastern wall, and fought all night before...
when the remaining Marian adherents and the surviving Samnite
Samnium
Samnium is a Latin exonym for a region of south or south and central Italy in Roman times. The name survives in Italian today, but today's territory comprising it is only a small portion of what it once was. The populations of Samnium were called Samnites by the Romans...
s marched on Rome in a last-ditch bid to oust Sulla from Rome. The Colline Gate was one of the entrances into Rome through the Servian Walls; Crassus and his troops ensured Sulla's victory, including destruction of the surviving Samnite troops and any other military opposition.
Rise to power and wealth
Marcus Licinius Crassus' next concern was to rebuild the fortunes of his family, which had been confiscated during the Marian-Cinnan proscriptions. Sulla's own proscriptionProscription
Proscription is a term used for the public identification and official condemnation of enemies of the state. It is defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as a "decree of condemnation to death or banishment" and is a heavily politically charged word, frequently used to refer to state-approved...
s ensured that his survivors would recoup their lost fortunes from the fortunes of wealthy adherents to Gaius Marius
Gaius Marius
Gaius Marius was a Roman general and statesman. He was elected consul an unprecedented seven times during his career. He was also noted for his dramatic reforms of Roman armies, authorizing recruitment of landless citizens, eliminating the manipular military formations, and reorganizing the...
or Lucius Cornelius Cinna
Lucius Cornelius Cinna
Lucius Cornelius Cinna was a four-time consul of the Roman Republic, serving four consecutive terms from 87 to 84 BC, and a member of the ancient Roman Cinna family of the Cornelii gens....
. Proscriptions meant that their political enemies lost their fortunes and their lives; that their female relatives (notably, widows and widowed daughters) were forbidden to remarry; and that in some cases, their families' hopes of rebuilding their fortunes and political significance were destroyed. Crassus is said to have made part of his money from proscriptions, notably the proscription of one man whose name was not initially on the list of those proscribed but was added by Crassus who coveted the man's fortune. Crassus's wealth is estimated by Pliny at approximately 200 million sestertii.
He was kinsman triumvir to Licinia, a Vestal Virgin
Vestal Virgin
In ancient Roman religion, the Vestals or Vestal Virgins , were priestesses of Vesta, goddess of the hearth. The College of the Vestals and its well-being was regarded as fundamental to the continuance and security of Rome, as embodied by their cultivation of the sacred fire that could not be...
who owned a pleasant villa that he wanted to acquire on the cheap. Plutarch says: "And yet when he was further on in years, he was accused of criminal intimacy with Licinia, one of the vestal virgins and Licinia was formally prosecuted by a certain Plotius. Now Licinia was the owner of a pleasant villa in the suburbs which Crassus wished to get at a low price, and it was for this reason that he was forever hovering about the woman and paying his court to her, until he fell under the abominable suspicion. And in a way it was his avarice that absolved him from the charge of corrupting the vestal, and he was acquitted by the judges. But he did not let Licinia go until he had acquired her property."
The rest of Crassus' wealth was acquired more conventionally, through traffic in slaves, the working of silver mines, and judicious purchases of land and houses, especially those of proscribed citizens
Proscription
Proscription is a term used for the public identification and official condemnation of enemies of the state. It is defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as a "decree of condemnation to death or banishment" and is a heavily politically charged word, frequently used to refer to state-approved...
. Most notorious was his acquisition of burning houses: when Crassus received word that a house was on fire, he would arrive and purchase the doomed property along with surrounding buildings for a modest sum, and then employ his army of 500 clients to put the fire out before much damage had been done. Crassus' clients employed the Roman method of firefighting—destroying the burning building to curtail the spread of the flames.
After rebuilding his fortune, Crassus' next concern was his political career. As an adherent of Sulla, and the wealthiest man in Rome, and a man who hailed from a line of consuls and praetors, Crassus' political future was apparently assured. His problem was that despite his military successes, he was eclipsed by his contemporary Pompey the Great who blackmailed the dictator Sulla into granting him a triumph for victory in Africa over a rag-tag group of dissident Romans; a first in Roman history on a couple of counts. First, Pompey was not even a praetor, on which grounds a triumph had been denied in 206 BC to the great Scipio Africanus
Scipio Africanus
Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus , also known as Scipio Africanus and Scipio the Elder, was a general in the Second Punic War and statesman of the Roman Republic...
, who had brought Rome an entire province in Hispania. Second, Pompey had defeated fellow Romans; however, a precedent had been set when the consul Lucius Julius Caesar
Lucius Julius Caesar
In Ancient Rome, several men of the Julii Caesares family were named Lucius Julius Caesar. Distinct by their praenomen, "Lucius", none of these members of the Julii Caesares family can be confused with their distant relative and much more famous Gaius Julius Caesar, the Roman who conquered Gaul,...
(a relative of Gaius Julius Caesar
Gaius Julius Caesar
Gaius Julius Caesar most commonly refers to:* Gaius Julius Caesar , conqueror of Gaul and Roman dictator.Others with the name include:* Gaius Julius Caesar I, son of Sextus Julius Caesar I...
) had been granted a triumph for a small victory over Italian peoples in the Social War. Yet, until 82 BC, no triumph had been granted to any Roman for victory over another Roman general. Crassus's rivalry with Pompey and his envy of Pompey's triumph would influence his subsequent career.
Crassus and Spartacus
Crassus was rising steadily up the cursus honorumCursus honorum
The cursus honorum was the sequential order of public offices held by aspiring politicians in both the Roman Republic and the early Empire. It was designed for men of senatorial rank. The cursus honorum comprised a mixture of military and political administration posts. Each office had a minimum...
, the sequence of offices held by Roman citizens seeking political power, when ordinary Roman politics were interrupted by two events – first, the Third Mithridatic War
Third Mithridatic War
The Third Mithridatic War was the last and longest of three Mithridatic Wars fought between Mithridates VI of Pontus and his allies and the Roman Republic...
, and second, the Third Servile War
Third Servile War
The Third Servile War , also called the Gladiator War and the War of Spartacus by Plutarch, was the last of a series of unrelated and unsuccessful slave rebellions against the Roman Republic, known collectively as the Roman Servile Wars...
, which was the organized two-year rebellion of Roman slaves under the leadership of Spartacus
Spartacus
Spartacus was a famous leader of the slaves in the Third Servile War, a major slave uprising against the Roman Republic. Little is known about Spartacus beyond the events of the war, and surviving historical accounts are sometimes contradictory and may not always be reliable...
(from summer 73 BC to spring 71 BC). In response to the first threat, Rome's best general, Lucius Licinius Lucullus
Lucullus
Lucius Licinius Lucullus , was an optimate politician of the late Roman Republic, closely connected with Sulla Felix...
(consul in 74 BC), was sent to defeat Mithridates, followed shortly by his brother Varro Lucullus (consul in 73 BC). Meanwhile, Pompey was fighting in Hispania
Hispania
Another theory holds that the name derives from Ezpanna, the Basque word for "border" or "edge", thus meaning the farthest area or place. Isidore of Sevilla considered Hispania derived from Hispalis....
against Quintus Sertorius
Quintus Sertorius
Quintus Sertorius was a Roman statesman and general, born in Nursia, in Sabine territory. His brilliance as a military commander was shown most clearly in his battles against Rome for control of Hispania...
, the last effective Marian general, without notable advantage. Pompey succeeded only when Sertorius was assassinated by one of his own commanders.
The Senate did not initially take the slave rebellion seriously, until it became clear that Rome itself was under threat. Crassus offered to equip, train, and lead new troops, at his own expense, after several legions had been defeated and their commanders killed in battle or taken prisoner. Eventually, Crassus was sent into battle against Spartacus by the Senate. At first he had trouble both in anticipating Spartacus' moves and in inspiring his army and strengthening their morale. When a segment of his army fled from battle, abandoning their weapons, Crassus revived the ancient practice of decimation
Decimation (Roman Army)
Decimation |ten]]") was a form of military discipline used by officers in the Roman Army to punish mutinous or cowardly soldiers. The word decimation is derived from Latin meaning "removal of a tenth".-Procedure:...
– i.e., executing one out of every ten men, with the victims selected by drawing lots. Plutarch
Plutarch
Plutarch then named, on his becoming a Roman citizen, Lucius Mestrius Plutarchus , c. 46 – 120 AD, was a Greek historian, biographer, essayist, and Middle Platonist known primarily for his Parallel Lives and Moralia...
reports that "many things horrible and dreadful to see" occurred during the infliction of punishment, which was witnessed by the rest of Crassus' army. Nevertheless, according to Appian
Appian
Appian of Alexandria was a Roman historian of Greek ethnicity who flourished during the reigns of Trajan, Hadrian, and Antoninus Pius.He was born ca. 95 in Alexandria. He tells us that, after having filled the chief offices in the province of Egypt, he went to Rome ca. 120, where he practised as...
, the troops' fighting spirit improved dramatically thereafter, since Crassus had demonstrated that "he was more dangerous to them than the enemy."
Afterwards, when Spartacus retreated to the Bruttium peninsula in the southwest of Italy, Crassus tried to pen up his armies by building a ditch and a rampart across an isthmus in Bruttium, "from sea to sea." Despite this remarkable feat, Spartacus and part of his army still managed to break out. On the night of a heavy snowstorm, they sneaked through Crassus' lines and made a bridge of dirt and tree branches over the ditch, thus escaping.
Some time later, when the Roman armies led by Pompey and Varro Lucullus were recalled to Italy in support of Crassus, Spartacus decided to fight rather than find himself and his followers trapped between three armies, two of them returning from overseas action. In this last battle, the Battle of the Siler River
Battle of the Siler River
The Battle of the Siler River was the final, decisive action of the Roman Servile Wars. Crassus trapped Spartacus in Bruttium by building a 40 mile long system of ditches and walls....
, Crassus gained a decisive victory, and captured six thousand slaves alive. During the fighting, Spartacus attempted to kill Crassus personally, slaughtering his way toward the general's position, but he succeeded only in killing two of the centurions guarding Crassus. Spartacus himself is believed to have been killed in the battle, although his body was never recovered. The six thousand captured slaves were crucified along the Via Appia by Crassus' orders. At his command, their bodies were not taken down afterwards but remained rotting along Rome's principal route to the South. This was intended as an object lesson to anyone who might think of defying Rome in the future.
Crassus effectively ended the Third Servile War in 71 BC, but his rival Pompey stole the victory with a letter to the Senate, in which he argued that Crassus had merely defeated some slaves, while Pompey had won the war. This caused much strife between Pompey and Crassus. Crassus was honored only with an ovation
Ovation
The ovation was a lower form of the Roman triumph. Ovations were granted, when war was not declared between enemies on the level of states, when an enemy was considered basely inferior or when the general conflict was resolved with little to no bloodshed or danger to the army itself.The general...
(less than a triumph), even though the danger to Rome and the destruction to Roman lives and property merited much more. As a result, Crassus' animosity towards the upstart Pompey increased.
Nevertheless, Crassus was elected consul
Consul
Consul was the highest elected office of the Roman Republic and an appointive office under the Empire. The title was also used in other city states and also revived in modern states, notably in the First French Republic...
for 70 BC, alongside Pompey. In that year, he displayed his wealth by entertaining the populace at 10,000 tables and distributing sufficient grain to last each family three months.
Later career
In 65 BC, Crassus was elected censorCensor (ancient Rome)
The censor was an officer in ancient Rome who was responsible for maintaining the census, supervising public morality, and overseeing certain aspects of the government's finances....
with another conservative Quintus Lutatius Catulus (Capitolinus)
Quintus Lutatius Catulus (Capitolinus)
Quintus Lutatius Catulus , sometimes called "Capitolinus", was a politician in the late Roman Republic. His father was the like-named Quintus Lutatius Catulus , also a politician.-Biography:...
, himself son of a consul. During that decade, Crassus was Caesar's patron in all but name, financing Caesar's successful campaign to become Pontifex Maximus
Pontifex Maximus
The Pontifex Maximus was the high priest of the College of Pontiffs in ancient Rome. This was the most important position in the ancient Roman religion, open only to patricians until 254 BC, when a plebeian first occupied this post...
, despite all but abandoning his post as the priest of Jupiter or flamen dialis
Flamen Dialis
In ancient Roman religion, the Flamen Dialis was the high priest of Jupiter. There were 15 flamines, of which three were flamines maiores, serving the three gods of the Archaic Triad...
, and his efforts to win command of military campaigns. Caesar's mediation between Crassus and Pompey led to the creation of the coalition between Crassus, Pompey, and Caesar (by now consul), known as the First Triumvirate
First Triumvirate
The First Triumvirate was the political alliance of Gaius Julius Caesar, Marcus Licinius Crassus, and Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus. Unlike the Second Triumvirate, the First Triumvirate had no official status whatsoever; its overwhelming power in the Roman Republic was strictly unofficial influence, and...
in 60 BC. This coalition would last until Crassus' own death.
In 55 BC, he was again consul with Pompey, and a law was passed assigning the provinces of the two Hispanias and Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
to Pompey and Crassus respectively for five years.
Syrian governorship and death
Crassus received Syria as his province, which promised to be an inexhaustible source of wealth. It would have been had he not also sought militaryMilitary
A military is an organization authorized by its greater society to use lethal force, usually including use of weapons, in defending its country by combating actual or perceived threats. The military may have additional functions of use to its greater society, such as advancing a political agenda e.g...
glory and crossed the Euphrates
Euphrates
The Euphrates is the longest and one of the most historically important rivers of Western Asia. Together with the Tigris, it is one of the two defining rivers of Mesopotamia...
in an attempt to conquer Parthia
Parthian Empire
The Parthian Empire , also known as the Arsacid Empire , was a major Iranian political and cultural power in ancient Persia...
. Crassus attacked Parthia not only because of its great source of riches, but because of a desire to match the military victories of his two major rivals, Pompey the Great and Julius Caesar. The king of Armenia, Artavazdes II
Artavasdes II of Armenia
King Artavasdes II ruled Armenia from 53 to 34 BC. He succeeded his father, Tigranes the Great. Artavasdes was an ally of Rome, but when Orodes II of Parthia invaded Armenia following his victory over the Roman general Marcus Licinius Crassus at the Battle of Carrhae in 53 BC, he was forced to...
, offered Crassus the aid of nearly forty thousand troops, ten thousand cataphracts and thirty thousand infantrymen, on the condition that Crassus invaded through Armenia so that the king could not only maintain the upkeep of his own troops but also provide a safer route for his men and Crassus'. Crassus refused, and chose the more direct route by crossing the Euphrates. His legions were defeated at Carrhae
Battle of Carrhae
The Battle of Carrhae, fought in 53 BC near the town of Carrhae, was a major battle between the Parthian Empire and the Roman Republic. The Parthian Spahbod Surena decisively defeated a Roman invasion force led by Marcus Licinius Crassus...
(modern Harran
Harran
Harran was a major ancient city in Upper Mesopotamia whose site is near the modern village of Altınbaşak, Turkey, 24 miles southeast of Şanlıurfa...
in Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
) in 53 BC by a numerically inferior Parthian force. Crassus' legions were mainly infantry men and were not prepared for the type of swift, cavalry-and-arrow
Mounted archery
A horse archer, horsed archer, or mounted archer is a cavalryman armed with a bow, able to shoot while riding from horseback. Archery has occasionally been used from the backs of other riding animals...
, attack that the Parthian troops were particularly adept at; the same type of attack that Genghis Khan later utilised to great effect. The Parthians would get within shooting range, rain a barrage of arrows down upon Crassus's troops, turn, fall back, and charge forth with another attack in the same vein. They were even able to shoot as well backwards as they could forwards
Parthian shot
The Parthian shot was a military tactic made famous by the Parthians, ancient Iranian people. The Parthian archers, mounted on light horse, would feign retreat; then, while at a full gallop, turn their bodies back to shoot at the pursuing enemy. The maneuver required superb equestrian skills,...
, increasing the deadliness of their onslaught. Crassus refused his quaestor
Quaestor
A Quaestor was a type of public official in the "Cursus honorum" system who supervised financial affairs. In the Roman Republic a quaestor was an elected official whereas, with the autocratic government of the Roman Empire, quaestors were simply appointed....
Gaius Cassius Longinus
Gaius Cassius Longinus
Gaius Cassius Longinus was a Roman senator, a leading instigator of the plot to kill Julius Caesar, and the brother in-law of Marcus Junius Brutus.-Early life:...
's plans to reconstitute the Roman battle line, and remained in the testudo formation
Testudo formation
In Ancient Roman warfare, the testudo or tortoise formation was a formation used commonly by the Roman Legions during battles, particularly sieges. Testudo is the Latin word for "tortoise"...
thinking that the Parthians would eventually run out of arrows.
Subsequently Crassus' men, being near mutiny
Mutiny
Mutiny is a conspiracy among members of a group of similarly situated individuals to openly oppose, change or overthrow an authority to which they are subject...
, demanded he parley
Parley
Parley is a discussion or conference, especially one between enemies over terms of a truce or other matters. The root of the word parley is parler, which is the French verb "to speak"; specifically the conjugation parlez "you speak", whether as imperative or indicative.Beginning in the High Middle...
with the Parthians, who had offered to meet with him. Crassus, despondent at the death of his son Publius
Publius Licinius Crassus (son of triumvir)
Publius Licinius Crassus was one of two sons of the triumvir Marcus Licinius Crassus and Tertulla. He belonged to the last generation of Roman nobiles who came of age and began a political career before the collapse of the Republic...
in the battle, finally agreed to meet the Parthian general. However, when Crassus mounted a horse to ride to the Parthian camp for a peace negotiation, his junior officer Octavius suspected a Parthian trap and grabbed Crassus' horse by the bridle, instigating a sudden fight with the Parthians which left the Roman party dead, including Crassus. A story later emerged that after Crassus' death the Parthians poured molten gold into his mouth as a symbol of his thirst for wealth.
The account given in Plutarch
Plutarch
Plutarch then named, on his becoming a Roman citizen, Lucius Mestrius Plutarchus , c. 46 – 120 AD, was a Greek historian, biographer, essayist, and Middle Platonist known primarily for his Parallel Lives and Moralia...
's biography of Crassus also mentions that, during the feasting and revelry in the wedding ceremony of Artavazd's sister to the Parthian king Orodes II
Orodes II of Parthia
Orodes II of Parthia ruled the Parthian Empire from 57 to 38 BC. Orodes was a son of Phraates III, whom he murdered in 57 BC, assisted by his brother Mithridates...
's son and heir Pacorus
Pacorus I of Parthia
Pacorus I of Parthia was the son of king Orodes II and queen Laodice of the Parthian Empire. It is possible that he was co-ruler with his father for at least part of his father's reign...
in Artashat
Artashat
Artashat , is a city on Araks River in the Ararat valley, 30 km southeast of Yerevan. Being one of the oldest cities of Armenia, Artashat is the capital of Ararat Province. Modern Artashat is situated on the Yerevan-Nakhichevan-Baku and Nakhichevan-Tabriz railway and on...
, Crassus' head was brought to Orodes II. Both kings were enjoying a performance of Euripides
Euripides
Euripides was one of the three great tragedians of classical Athens, the other two being Aeschylus and Sophocles. Some ancient scholars attributed ninety-five plays to him but according to the Suda it was ninety-two at most...
' Greek tragedy The Bacchae
The Bacchae
The Bacchae is an ancient Greek tragedy by the Athenian playwright Euripides, during his final years in Macedon, at the court of Archelaus I of Macedon. It premiered posthumously at the Theatre of Dionysus in 405 BC as part of a tetralogy that also included Iphigeneia at Aulis, and which...
and a certain actor of the royal court, named Jason of Tralles, took the head and sang the following verses (also from the Bacchae):
Crassus' head was thus used in place of a prop head representing Pentheus
Pentheus
In Greek mythology, Pentheus was a king of Thebes, son of the strongest of the Spartes, Echion, and of Agave, daughter of Cadmus, the founder of Thebes, and the goddess Harmonia....
and carried by the heroine of the play, Agave
Agave (mythology)
In Greek mythology, Agave was the daughter of Cadmus, the king and founder of the city of Thebes, Greece, and of the goddess Harmonia. Her sisters were Autonoë, Ino and Semele, and her brother was Polydorus. She married Echion, one of the five Spartoi, and was the mother of Pentheus, a king of...
.
Hypothesis about Parthian captives from Crassus' army
There has been speculation that seventeen years after the defeat of Crassus's forces by the Parthians, a detachment of troops, which was said to have used a typically Roman military tactic, had been captured by Chinese forces. In this account, during the Battle of ZhizhiBattle of Zhizhi
The Battle of Zhizhi was fought in 36 BC between the Han Dynasty and the Xiongnu chieftain Zhizhi Chanyu. Zhizhi was defeated and killed. The battle was probably fought near Taraz on the Talas River in eastern Kazakhstan, which makes it one of the westernmost points reached by a Chinese army...
in 36 BC, a Han Dynasty
Han Dynasty
The Han Dynasty was the second imperial dynasty of China, preceded by the Qin Dynasty and succeeded by the Three Kingdoms . It was founded by the rebel leader Liu Bang, known posthumously as Emperor Gaozu of Han. It was briefly interrupted by the Xin Dynasty of the former regent Wang Mang...
army led by General Chen Tang
Chen Tang
Chen Tang , born in Jining, Shandong, was famous for his battle against Zhizhi in 36 BC , and a quote 夫胡兵五而当汉兵一 "a single soldier of Han is equivalent to five Central Asian soldiers"....
encountered troops of Zhizhi Chanyu
Zhizhi Chanyu
Zhizhi Chanyu was a Chanyu of the Xiongnu at the time of the first Xiongnu civil war, who held the north and west in contention with his younger brother Huhanye who held the south. His original name in Chinese transcription was Luanti Hutuwusi, i.e...
that were using "a fish-scale formation" – which was hypothesized to mean the testudo formation
Testudo formation
In Ancient Roman warfare, the testudo or tortoise formation was a formation used commonly by the Roman Legions during battles, particularly sieges. Testudo is the Latin word for "tortoise"...
. It has also been argued that the account of the Chinese historian Ban Gu
Ban Gu
Ban Gu , courtesy name Mengjian , was a 1st century Chinese historian and poet best known for his part in compiling the Book of Han. He also wrote in the main poetic genre of the Han era, a kind of poetry interspersed with prose called fu. Some are anthologized by Xiao Tong in his Selections of...
, who lived during that time, implies that there were troops of Caucasian appearance fighting alongside Zhizhi Chanyu. In this account, the Chinese took these soldiers prisoner, but were so impressed by their courage and fighting abilities that they incorporated them into their army to defend the province of Gansu
Gansu
' is a province located in the northwest of the People's Republic of China.It lies between the Tibetan and Huangtu plateaus, and borders Mongolia, Inner Mongolia, and Ningxia to the north, Xinjiang and Qinghai to the west, Sichuan to the south, and Shaanxi to the east...
, calling them Li-Jien.
In examining this hypothesis
Hypothesis
A hypothesis is a proposed explanation for a phenomenon. The term derives from the Greek, ὑποτιθέναι – hypotithenai meaning "to put under" or "to suppose". For a hypothesis to be put forward as a scientific hypothesis, the scientific method requires that one can test it...
, researchers had taken DNA
DNA
Deoxyribonucleic acid is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms . The DNA segments that carry this genetic information are called genes, but other DNA sequences have structural purposes, or are involved in...
samples to try to determine if the people in Liqian village
Liqian village
Liqian is a defunct county in today's northern province of Gansu in China. Today, the ancient Liqian city is situated in a village called Zhelaizhai.The area of the former Liqian city is known for its inhabitants...
did have some Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
an ancestry, even as they acknowledged that there would be little way of knowing whether the ancestors would have in fact been from Crassus's troops. Although they confirmed the DNA as being of "European origins," narrowing it down further than that was impossible, based on the available supporting evidence. The results of the DNA test did not support the hypothesis that the inhabitants of Liqian were related to the Romans; instead the authors concluded "the current Liqian population is more likely to be a subgroup of the Chinese majority Han". And while Roman coins have been found in excavations of the area (as well as one helmet with the engraving, written in Chinese, saying "one of the prisoners") the artifacts were found in a village along the Silk Road
Silk Road
The Silk Road or Silk Route refers to a historical network of interlinking trade routes across the Afro-Eurasian landmass that connected East, South, and Western Asia with the Mediterranean and European world, as well as parts of North and East Africa...
, so their discovery was unsurprising.
Chronology
- 117 BC – Crassus born, the second of three sons of P. Licinius Crassus (cos.97, cens.89)
- 97 BC – Father is ConsulConsulConsul was the highest elected office of the Roman Republic and an appointive office under the Empire. The title was also used in other city states and also revived in modern states, notably in the First French Republic...
of RomeRomeRome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half... - 87 BC – Crassus flees to HispaniaHispaniaAnother theory holds that the name derives from Ezpanna, the Basque word for "border" or "edge", thus meaning the farthest area or place. Isidore of Sevilla considered Hispania derived from Hispalis....
from MarianGaius MariusGaius Marius was a Roman general and statesman. He was elected consul an unprecedented seven times during his career. He was also noted for his dramatic reforms of Roman armies, authorizing recruitment of landless citizens, eliminating the manipular military formations, and reorganizing the...
forces - 84 BC – Joins Sulla against Marians
- 82 BC – Commanded the victorious right wing of Sulla's army at the Colline GateBattle of the Colline GateThe battle of the Colline Gate, fought in November of 82 BC, was the final battle by which Sulla secured control of Rome following the civil war against his rivals. The Samnites led by Pontius Telesinus attacked Sulla's army at the Colline Gate on the northeastern wall, and fought all night before...
, the decisive battle of the civil war, fought Kalends of November - 78 BC – Sulla died in the spring
- 73 BC – Revolt of SpartacusSpartacusSpartacus was a famous leader of the slaves in the Third Servile War, a major slave uprising against the Roman Republic. Little is known about Spartacus beyond the events of the war, and surviving historical accounts are sometimes contradictory and may not always be reliable...
, probable year Crassus was praetorPraetorPraetor was a title granted by the government of Ancient Rome to men acting in one of two official capacities: the commander of an army, usually in the field, or the named commander before mustering the army; and an elected magistratus assigned varied duties...
(75, 74, 73 all possible) - 72 BC – Crassus given special command of the war against SpartacusSpartacusSpartacus was a famous leader of the slaves in the Third Servile War, a major slave uprising against the Roman Republic. Little is known about Spartacus beyond the events of the war, and surviving historical accounts are sometimes contradictory and may not always be reliable...
following the ignominious defeats of both consuls - 71 BC – Crassus destroys the remaining slave armies in the spring, elected consul in the summer
- 70 BC – Consulship of Crassus and PompeyPompeyGnaeus Pompeius Magnus, also known as Pompey or Pompey the Great , was a military and political leader of the late Roman Republic...
- 65 BC – Crassus Censor with Quintus Lutatius Catulus
- 63 BC – Catiline Conspiracy
- 59 BC – First TriumvirateFirst TriumvirateThe First Triumvirate was the political alliance of Gaius Julius Caesar, Marcus Licinius Crassus, and Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus. Unlike the Second Triumvirate, the First Triumvirate had no official status whatsoever; its overwhelming power in the Roman Republic was strictly unofficial influence, and...
formed. CaesarJulius CaesarGaius Julius Caesar was a Roman general and statesman and a distinguished writer of Latin prose. He played a critical role in the gradual transformation of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire....
is Consul - 56 BC – Conference at LucaLuccaLucca is a city and comune in Tuscany, central Italy, situated on the river Serchio in a fertile plainnear the Tyrrhenian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Lucca...
- 55 BC – Second consulship of Crassus and PompeyPompeyGnaeus Pompeius Magnus, also known as Pompey or Pompey the Great , was a military and political leader of the late Roman Republic...
. In November, Crassus leaves for Syria - 54 BC – Campaign against the Parthians
- 53 BC – Crassus dies in the Battle of CarrhaeBattle of CarrhaeThe Battle of Carrhae, fought in 53 BC near the town of Carrhae, was a major battle between the Parthian Empire and the Roman Republic. The Parthian Spahbod Surena decisively defeated a Roman invasion force led by Marcus Licinius Crassus...
Fictional depictions
- Marcus Licinius Crassus is a major character in the 1956 Alfred DugganAlfred DugganAlfred Duggan was an English historian, archeologist and best-selling historical novelist during the 1950s. Although he was raised in England, Duggan was born Alfred Leo Duggan in Buenos Aires, Argentina to a family of wealthy landowners of Irish descent. His family moved to England when he was...
novel, Winter Quarters. The novel follows two fictional Gallic nobles who join Julius CaesarJulius CaesarGaius Julius Caesar was a Roman general and statesman and a distinguished writer of Latin prose. He played a critical role in the gradual transformation of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire....
's cavalry then find their way into the service of Marcus' son, Publius Licinius CrassusPublius Licinius Crassus (son of triumvir)Publius Licinius Crassus was one of two sons of the triumvir Marcus Licinius Crassus and Tertulla. He belonged to the last generation of Roman nobiles who came of age and began a political career before the collapse of the Republic...
, in Gaul. The characters eventually become clients of Publius Crassus and by extension, his father Marcus. The second half of the novel is related by its Gallic narrator from within the ranks of Crassus' doomed army en route to do battle with Parthia. The book depicts an over-confident and militarily incompetent Crassus up to the moment of his death. - Marcus Licinius Crassus is a principal character in the 1960 film SpartacusSpartacus (film)Spartacus is a 1960 American epic historical drama film directed by Stanley Kubrick and based on the novel of the same name by Howard Fast...
, played by actor Laurence OlivierLaurence OlivierLaurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier, OM was an English actor, director, and producer. He was one of the most famous and revered actors of the 20th century. He married three times, to fellow actors Jill Esmond, Vivien Leigh, and Joan Plowright...
. The film is based on Howard FastHoward FastHoward Melvin Fast was an American novelist and television writer. Fast also wrote under the pen names E. V. Cunningham and Walter Ericson.-Early life:Fast was born in New York City...
's 1951 novel of the same name. - Marcus Crassus, along with Palene, is one of the two narrators in Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of SpartacusJeff Wayne's Musical Version of SpartacusJeff Wayne's Musical Version of Spartacus was a 1992 concept album by Jeff Wayne and others, telling the story of Roman gladiator, Spartacus....
. He is played by Anthony HopkinsAnthony HopkinsSir Philip Anthony Hopkins, KBE , best known as Anthony Hopkins, is a Welsh actor of film, stage and television...
. - Marcus Licinius Crassus is a principal character in the 2004 TV film, SpartacusSpartacus (2004 film)Spartacus is a 2004 North American Movie directed by Robert Dornhelm and produced by Ted Kurdyla from a teleplay by Robert Schenkkan. It stars Goran Visjnic, Alan Bates, Angus Macfadyen, Rhona Mitra, Ian McNeice, Ross Kemp and Ben Cross. It is based on the novel of the same name by Howard Fast...
, played by actor Angus MacfadyenAngus MacfadyenAngus Macfadyen is a Scottish actor.Angus Macfadyen was born in Glasgow and was brought up partly in Africa, France, the Philippines and Singapore. His father was a doctor in the World Health Organisation. He was once engaged to actress Catherine Zeta-Jones.Angus attended the University of...
. - Crassus is a major character in the novels Fortune's FavouritesFortune's Favourites (novel)Fortune's Favourites is the third historical novel in Colleen McCullough's Masters of Rome series. In the United States of America, it has been published as Fortune's Favorites.-Plot summary:...
and Caesar's WomenCaesar's WomenCaesar's Women is the fourth historical novel in Colleen McCullough's Masters of Rome series, published on 21 March 1996.-Plot summary:...
by Colleen McCulloughColleen McCulloughColleen McCullough-Robinson, , is an internationally acclaimed Australian author.-Life:McCullough was born in Wellington, in outback central west New South Wales, in 1937 to James and Laurie McCullough. Her mother was a New Zealander of part-Māori descent. During her childhood, her family moved...
. He is portrayed as a brave but mediocre general, a brilliant financier, and a true friend of Caesar. - Crassus is a major character in the 1992 novel Arms of Nemesis by Steven SaylorSteven SaylorSteven Saylor is an American author of historical novels. He is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin, where he studied history and Classics....
. He is portrayed as the cousin and patron of Lucius Licinius, the investigation of whose murder forms the basis of the novel. - He also appeared in the video game Spartan: Total WarriorSpartan: Total WarriorSpartan: Total Warrior is a spin-off action game of the Total War series, developed by The Creative Assembly and published by Sega. It was released on Xbox, PlayStation 2 and GameCube...
, as one of the villains. In this interpretation, he has supernaturalSupernaturalThe supernatural or is that which is not subject to the laws of nature, or more figuratively, that which is said to exist above and beyond nature...
powers. - In David DrakeDavid DrakeDavid Drake is an American author of science fiction and fantasy literature. A Vietnam War veteran who has worked as a lawyer, he is now one of the premier authors of the military science fiction subgenre.-Biography:...
's Ranks of Bronze, the Lost Legion is the major participant, although Crassus himself has been killed before the book begins. - Crassus is a major character in Conn Iggulden's Emperor series
- The story of the Battle of CarrhaeBattle of CarrhaeThe Battle of Carrhae, fought in 53 BC near the town of Carrhae, was a major battle between the Parthian Empire and the Roman Republic. The Parthian Spahbod Surena decisively defeated a Roman invasion force led by Marcus Licinius Crassus...
is the centrepiece of Ben KaneBen KaneBen Kane, is a novelist, known for his novels in the historical fiction genre. He is best-known for The Forgotten Legion and Hannibal Enemy Of Rome which reached number 4 in the Sunday Times best seller list in 2009....
's novel The Forgotten Legion (2008). Crassus is depicted as a vain man with poor military judgement. - Crassus is a major character in Robert Harris's novel "Lustrum" (published as "Conspirata" in the USA), the sequel to "Imperium", which both chronicle the career of Marcus Tullius Cicero.
- Crassus appears in a third season episode of Xena: Warrior PrincessXena: Warrior PrincessXena: Warrior Princess is an American–New Zealand supernatural fantasy adventure series that aired in syndication from September 4, 1995 until June 18, 2001....
, where he is beheaded in the Colosseum.
Primary sources
- Dio Cassius Book 40, Stanza 26 http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Cassius_Dio/40*.html
Modern works
- Bivar, A.D.H. (1983). "The Political History of Iran Under the Arsacids," in The Cambridge History of Iran (Vol 3:1), 21–99. Edited by Ehsan Yarshater. London, New York, New Rochelle, Melbourne, and Sydney: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-20092-X.
- Marshall, B A: Crassus: A Political Biography (Adolf M Hakkert, Amsterdam, 1976)
- Ward, Allen Mason: Marcus Crassus and the Late Roman Republic (University of Missouri Press, 1977)
- Twyman, Briggs L: critical review of Marshall 1976 and Ward 1977, Classical Philology 74 (1979), 356–61
- Sampson, Gareth C: The defeat of Rome: Crassus, Carrhae & the invasion of the east (Pen & Sword Books, 2008) ISBN 978-1-84415-676-4.
- Marcus Licinius Crassus
- Lang, David Marshall: Armenia: cradle of civilization (Allen & Unwin, 1970)
External links
- Crassus entry in historical sourcebook by Mahlon H. Smith