PREVIEW： Epochs #168 ｜ Crassus ： Part III
Episode Stats
Words per Minute
171.23416
Summary
The story of the fall of the Parthian Empire and the Roman invasion of Parthia. The story of how the Romans conquered the empire and established their own empire, and how they did so in the face of massive resistance.
Transcript
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A revolution had occurred in the Parthian Empire.
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The grandees of the kingdom, with the young, bold, and talented Grand Vizier at their head,
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had overthrown King Mithridates and placed his brother, Orodes, on the throne.
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Mithridates, therefore, made common calls with the Romans and resulted to the camp of Gabinius.
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Everything promised the best results to the enterprise of the Roman governor.
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When he unexpectedly received orders to conduct the king of Egypt back by force of arms,
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to Alexandria, he was obliged to obey, but in the expectation of soon coming back,
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he induced the dethroned Parthian prince, who solicited aid from him,
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to commence the war in the meanwhile at his own hand.
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Mithridates did so, and Babylon declared for him that the Vizier captured Seleucia by assault,
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having been in person the first to mount the battlements.
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And in Babylon, Mithridates himself was forced by famine to surrender,
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whereupon he was by his brother's orders put to death.
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His death was a palpable loss to the Romans, but it by no means put an end to the ferment
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in the Parthian Empire, and the Armenian war continued.
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Gabinius, after ending the Egyptian campaign, was just on the eve of turning to account
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the still favourable opportunity of resuming the interrupted Parthian war,
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when Crassus arrived in Syria, and along with the command, took up also the plans of his predecessor.
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Full of high-flown hopes, he estimated the difficulties of the march as slight,
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and the power of resistance in the armies of the enemy as yet slighter.
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He not only spoke confidently of the subjugation of the Parthians,
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but he was already in imagination the conqueror of the kingdom of Bactria and India.
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There is all sorts of conflict going on out in the east, from Armenia down to Egypt.
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It's actually largely infighting among themselves, and Rome, as always,
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is sort of playing the game of switching sides and getting involved here and there,
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and trying to manipulate events for their own benefit.
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But when Crassus turns up, basically, he's like, no, we're going on the all-out attack.
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Screw them and all the power structures that exist between them.
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We're just attacking everyone, and we're going to take everything.
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The new Alexander, he's being sarcastic there, he's talking about Crassus.
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Before he carried into effect these great plans,
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he found leisure for very tedious and very lucrative collateral transactions.
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stealing as much money from everyone he could at every opportunity.
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The temples of Derseto at Hierapolis and of Jehovah at Jerusalem
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were by order of Crassus despoiled of their treasures,
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and contingents, or still better, sums of money instead were levied from all the subjects.
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The military operation of the first summer was limited to an extensive reconnaissance
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The Parthian satrap was defeated at Inknae, that's near modern-day Raqqa,
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and the neighbouring towns, including the considerable one at Niceforium,
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after which the Romans, having left garrisons behind in them,
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They had hitherto been in doubt whether it was more advisable to march to Parthia
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by the circuitous route of Armenia or by the direct route through the Mesopotamian desert.
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The first route, leading through mountainous regions under the control of trustworthy allies,
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King Artavastes came in person to the Roman headquarters
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But that reconnaissance decided in favour of the march through Mesopotamia,
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the numerous and flourishing Greek and half-Greek towns in the region,
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All the Greek townships with which the Romans came into contact had now,
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practically shown how ready they were to shake off the intolerable foreign yoke
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and to receive the Romans as deliverers, almost as countrymen.
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The Arab prince, Abgarus, who commanded the desert of Edessa and Carhe,
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and thereby the usual route from the Euphrates to the Tigris,
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had arrived in the camp of the Romans to assure them in person of his devotedness.
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The Parthians had appeared to be wholly unprepared.
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To reach the Tigris from this point, they had the choice of two routes.
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Either the army might move downwards along the Euphrates to the latitude of Seleucia,
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where the Euphrates and Tigris are only a few miles distant from each other,
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or they might immediately, after crossing, take the shortest line to the Tigris,
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The former route led directly to the Parthian capital,
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which lay opposite Seleucia on the other bank of the Tigris.
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Several weighty voices were raised in favour of this route in the Roman Council of War.
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In particular, the creastor Gaius Cassius is going to become an important character in this story.
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Cassius pointed to the difficulties of the march in the desert
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and to the suspicious reports arriving from the Roman garrisons on the left bank of the Euphrates
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But in opposition to this, the Arab prince, Abgarus,
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announced that the Parthians were employed in evacuating their western provinces.
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They had already packed up their treasures and put themselves in motion to flee to Scythia,
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Only through a forced march by the shortest route was it at all possible still to reach them.
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But by such a march, the Romans would probably succeed in overtaking
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and cutting up at least the rearguard of the great army under the vizier
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which of course was something Crassus was very, very interested in.
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These reports of the friendly Bedouins decided the direction of march.
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The Roman army, consisting of seven legions, 4,000 cavalry and 4,000 slingers and archers,
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turned off from the Euphrates and away into the inhospitable plains of northern Mesopotamia, end quote.
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It's probably something like 40,000 men, probably something in that region.
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And Crassus has decided to march them straight into the desert of southwestern Turkey or northern Iraq.
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There's deserts and then there's real badass deserts.
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This is one of those no-joke badass deserts where it's kind of crazy to march men into it.
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If you're an Arab Bedouin and you know about making long marches through the desert
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and you're all mounted on camels and you know exactly where the oaseses are and all that sort of thing,
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But if you don't really know what you're doing and men are on foot
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and you haven't made the great provisions for water,
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Again, it's hubris or it's his desire for glory and spoils which seems to have blinded him.
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And he was told by Cassius, his most important lieutenant, not to do that, that that's crazy.
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You don't march an army of Romans into a Mesopotamian desert.
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People always thought he was not sure really what he means here.
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They employ a new kind of missile which travels faster than sight and pierces through whatever is in the way before one can see who is discharging these weapons.
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And their armoured cavalry has weapons of offence which will cut through everything and offensive equipment which will stand up to any blow.
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Not really sure what the missile weapons is talking about there because they didn't have anything particularly special.
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Better bows than the Romans or anyone in the West.
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The peoples from Central Asia or Scythia are always great on a horse.
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And one thing they could do is turn round in the saddle while still galloping away from you.
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So even if you're trying to pursue them, you probably won't catch them because they're better on horses than you are.
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Even if you try to do that, they'll still be shooting at you.
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This news had a most depressing effect on the soldiers' spirits, the Roman soldiers.
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Up to now, they had believed that the Parthians were just the same as the Armenians or even the Cappadocians,
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whom Lucullus had gone on plundering until he was tired of it.
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And they had imagined that the main difficulties of the campaign would be the long journey
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and the pursuing of troops who would not come to close quarters.
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Now, however, they found themselves in the unexpected position of having to face real fighting and great danger.
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Some of the officers, amongst whom was Cassius the Criestor,
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thought that Crassus ought to call a halt and reconsider the whole undertaking.
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The professional prophets also quietly spread the news that at their sacrifices,
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the omens for Crassus were invariably bad and inauspicious.
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But Crassus paid no attention to them or to anyone else who gave any advice other than to press forward.
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So Crassus can see that he hasn't got great morale in his army.
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And that's a massive thing in all armies at all times, or even just in a boxing match or an MMA fight.
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If you feel yourself beaten, you are half beaten already.
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If you're really, really scared of the enemy, if you haven't got confidence in your own abilities,
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And it seems that that's just what happened in Crassus' army.
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For whatever reason, they didn't have a lot of faith in themselves.
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That's one thing both Pompey and Caesar, but particularly Caesar, enjoyed.
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People had complete confidence in him, even when he found himself massively outnumbered and surrounded
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Almost with just a word from Caesar saying, you know, we've got this, guys.
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Caesar's got confidence, so that's good enough for me.
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Crassus did not enjoy that sort of confidence from his men and officers.
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Crassus, it seems, was just filled with sort of a kind of,
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arrogance at this point, again, which is out of character for the rest of his life and career.
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And he even talks about after they cross the Euphrates that he will
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destroy the bridge they just built behind them so men can't retreat.
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Instead of galvanizing the men and getting them all on board,
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He then marched along the river with seven legions, nearly 4,000 cavalry,
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and some of them now came back and reported that there was no men to be seen in the area,
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but that they had come across the tracks of a great number of horses,
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which appeared to have wheeled around and have fled when pursued.
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Crassus was still considering and weighing up these arguments
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when an Arab chieftain called Agabus put in an appearance.
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Indeed, he played the greatest and the most decisive part in all that combination of evil
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which fortune had designed for the destruction of the Romans.
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Now Agabus succeeded in getting him, Crassus, to do as he wished.
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He drew him away from the river and led him right into the open plains.
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At first the route was a good one and the going was easy.
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Soon, however, the march became difficult as they entered a district
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a level plain with no trees and no water going on so far as the eye could see forever.
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The men were not only exhausted by thirst, but by the difficulties of the march.
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They were also overcome by a kind of sullen despair when they looked around them,
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for there was not a single growing thing in sight,
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not a stream, not a sign of any rising ground, not a blade of grass.
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And the desert billows of this sea were sweeping around the army on every side.
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This in itself was enough to make them suspect that they were being tricked.
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So as Plutarch tells us there, the men were under no illusions.
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We don't just march into endless deserts like this.
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But for some reason, Crassus himself believed what this Arab leader,
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For some reason, he just bought into all this, all Abgarus's liars.
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What evil spirit have you brought upon us, you villain, he said.
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What drugs and sorceries have you been using to persuade Crassus
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to pour his army into a great yawning wilderness
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for a captain of Arabian robbers than for a Roman imperator.
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he tried to encourage them and beg them to endure for a little longer.
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He would run alongside and beside the soldiers,
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helping them with their tasks, laughing and making jokes.
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Do you think you are marching through Campania, he would say.
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Are you longing for the fountains and streams there
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Oh no, you must remember that the country you are going through
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So the native managed the Romans as if they were children
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and rode off himself before his treachery was discovered.
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by sowing confusion in the minds of the enemy, end quote.
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So after leading them into the middle of an utterly unforgiving desert,
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because he just believed everything this guy was telling him.
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It's really naive, in the end, suicidally naive.
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Mopson tells us about this march through the desert.
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the first horsemen of the enemy were described.
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The Parthian squadrons retired up to and over the river
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who had fought with the greatest distinction in Gaul under Caesar
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was inflamed with a vehement desire for the fight.