The Podcast of the Lotus Eaters


PREVIEW： Epochs #168 ｜ Crassus ： Part III


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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.

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00:00:00.000 A revolution had occurred in the Parthian Empire.
00:00:03.240 The grandees of the kingdom, with the young, bold, and talented Grand Vizier at their head,
00:00:08.160 had overthrown King Mithridates and placed his brother, Orodes, on the throne.
00:00:13.300 Mithridates, therefore, made common calls with the Romans and resulted to the camp of Gabinius. 0.95
00:00:19.900 Everything promised the best results to the enterprise of the Roman governor.
00:00:24.040 When he unexpectedly received orders to conduct the king of Egypt back by force of arms,
00:00:30.000 to Alexandria, he was obliged to obey, but in the expectation of soon coming back,
00:00:35.360 he induced the dethroned Parthian prince, who solicited aid from him,
00:00:39.280 to commence the war in the meanwhile at his own hand.
00:00:43.380 Mithridates did so, and Babylon declared for him that the Vizier captured Seleucia by assault, 0.52
00:00:51.300 having been in person the first to mount the battlements.
00:00:54.380 And in Babylon, Mithridates himself was forced by famine to surrender,
00:00:58.000 whereupon he was by his brother's orders put to death.
00:01:01.740 His death was a palpable loss to the Romans, but it by no means put an end to the ferment 0.96
00:01:06.860 in the Parthian Empire, and the Armenian war continued.
00:01:10.380 Gabinius, after ending the Egyptian campaign, was just on the eve of turning to account
00:01:16.160 the still favourable opportunity of resuming the interrupted Parthian war,
00:01:20.760 when Crassus arrived in Syria, and along with the command, took up also the plans of his predecessor.
00:01:27.180 Full of high-flown hopes, he estimated the difficulties of the march as slight,
00:01:31.620 and the power of resistance in the armies of the enemy as yet slighter.
00:01:36.420 He not only spoke confidently of the subjugation of the Parthians, 0.99
00:01:40.040 but he was already in imagination the conqueror of the kingdom of Bactria and India.
00:01:44.400 So a fair bit there in at least that last bit.
00:01:48.240 There is all sorts of conflict going on out in the east, from Armenia down to Egypt.
00:01:53.060 It's actually largely infighting among themselves, and Rome, as always,
00:01:58.820 is sort of playing the game of switching sides and getting involved here and there,
00:02:05.080 and trying to manipulate events for their own benefit.
00:02:07.700 But when Crassus turns up, basically, he's like, no, we're going on the all-out attack.
00:02:13.680 Screw them and all the power structures that exist between them.
00:02:18.260 We're just attacking everyone, and we're going to take everything.
00:02:21.300 Again, Alexander style.
00:02:23.060 Momsen goes on.
00:02:23.980 The new Alexander, he's being sarcastic there, he's talking about Crassus.
00:02:26.860 The new Alexander, however, was in no haste.
00:02:30.220 Before he carried into effect these great plans,
00:02:32.760 he found leisure for very tedious and very lucrative collateral transactions.
00:02:36.760 It's a polite 19th century way of saying,
00:02:40.100 stealing as much money from everyone he could at every opportunity.
00:02:44.480 The temples of Derseto at Hierapolis and of Jehovah at Jerusalem 0.97
00:02:49.560 and other such shrines of the Syrian province
00:02:52.220 were by order of Crassus despoiled of their treasures,
00:02:55.460 and contingents, or still better, sums of money instead were levied from all the subjects.
00:03:00.780 The military operation of the first summer was limited to an extensive reconnaissance
00:03:05.780 in Mesopotamia.
00:03:08.060 The Euphrates was crossed.
00:03:09.660 The Parthian satrap was defeated at Inknae, that's near modern-day Raqqa, 0.91
00:03:14.740 and the neighbouring towns, including the considerable one at Niceforium,
00:03:19.240 which is Raqqa, were occupied,
00:03:21.660 after which the Romans, having left garrisons behind in them,
00:03:24.720 returned to Syria.
00:03:25.920 They had hitherto been in doubt whether it was more advisable to march to Parthia
00:03:31.120 by the circuitous route of Armenia or by the direct route through the Mesopotamian desert.
00:03:38.400 The first route, leading through mountainous regions under the control of trustworthy allies,
00:03:43.180 commended itself by its greater safety.
00:03:45.680 King Artavastes came in person to the Roman headquarters
00:03:48.940 to advocate this plan of the campaign.
00:03:51.260 But that reconnaissance decided in favour of the march through Mesopotamia,
00:03:55.320 the numerous and flourishing Greek and half-Greek towns in the region,
00:03:59.440 along the Euphrates and Tigris,
00:04:01.840 above all the great city of Seleucia,
00:04:04.220 were altogether adverse to the Parthian rule.
00:04:06.800 All the Greek townships with which the Romans came into contact had now,
00:04:11.080 like the citizens of Carhe at an earlier time,
00:04:14.740 practically shown how ready they were to shake off the intolerable foreign yoke 1.00
00:04:18.640 and to receive the Romans as deliverers, almost as countrymen.
00:04:22.420 The Arab prince, Abgarus, who commanded the desert of Edessa and Carhe,
00:04:27.780 and thereby the usual route from the Euphrates to the Tigris,
00:04:31.560 had arrived in the camp of the Romans to assure them in person of his devotedness.
00:04:36.540 The Parthians had appeared to be wholly unprepared.
00:04:39.640 Accordingly, the Euphrates was crossed.
00:04:41.900 To reach the Tigris from this point, they had the choice of two routes.
00:04:45.640 Either the army might move downwards along the Euphrates to the latitude of Seleucia,
00:04:50.200 where the Euphrates and Tigris are only a few miles distant from each other,
00:04:54.080 or they might immediately, after crossing, take the shortest line to the Tigris,
00:04:58.320 right across the great Mesopotamian desert.
00:05:00.560 The former route led directly to the Parthian capital,
00:05:03.840 Tessiphon, which is near Ish, Baghdad,
00:05:06.660 which lay opposite Seleucia on the other bank of the Tigris.
00:05:09.940 Several weighty voices were raised in favour of this route in the Roman Council of War.
00:05:14.480 In particular, the creastor Gaius Cassius is going to become an important character in this story.
00:05:19.580 Cassius, Monson continues,
00:05:21.000 Cassius pointed to the difficulties of the march in the desert
00:05:24.000 and to the suspicious reports arriving from the Roman garrisons on the left bank of the Euphrates
00:05:29.620 as to the Parthian war-like preparations.
00:05:32.940 But in opposition to this, the Arab prince, Abgarus,
00:05:36.580 announced that the Parthians were employed in evacuating their western provinces.
00:05:40.440 They had already packed up their treasures and put themselves in motion to flee to Scythia,
00:05:45.760 i.e. just further, deeper into Central Asia.
00:05:47.980 Only through a forced march by the shortest route was it at all possible still to reach them.
00:05:52.620 But by such a march, the Romans would probably succeed in overtaking 1.00
00:05:55.800 and cutting up at least the rearguard of the great army under the vizier
00:05:59.980 and obtaining enormous spoil,
00:06:02.680 which of course was something Crassus was very, very interested in.
00:06:05.760 These reports of the friendly Bedouins decided the direction of march.
00:06:09.980 The Roman army, consisting of seven legions, 4,000 cavalry and 4,000 slingers and archers,
00:06:17.280 turned off from the Euphrates and away into the inhospitable plains of northern Mesopotamia, end quote.
00:06:23.440 It's probably something like 40,000 men, probably something in that region.
00:06:26.940 So a big army, 40,000 men is pretty big.
00:06:30.980 And Crassus has decided to march them straight into the desert of southwestern Turkey or northern Iraq.
00:06:37.960 Completely inhospitable deserts.
00:06:40.300 There's deserts and then there's real badass deserts.
00:06:43.460 This is one of those no-joke badass deserts where it's kind of crazy to march men into it.
00:06:51.560 If you're an Arab Bedouin and you know about making long marches through the desert 0.95
00:06:57.600 and you're all mounted on camels and you know exactly where the oaseses are and all that sort of thing,
00:07:03.380 then maybe, just about maybe, okay.
00:07:05.820 But if you don't really know what you're doing and men are on foot
00:07:08.700 and you haven't made the great provisions for water,
00:07:13.120 then that's crazy.
00:07:14.820 That was a crazy decision for Crassus to make.
00:07:17.280 Again, it's hubris or it's his desire for glory and spoils which seems to have blinded him.
00:07:26.540 And he was told by Cassius, his most important lieutenant, not to do that, that that's crazy.
00:07:32.540 You don't march an army of Romans into a Mesopotamian desert.
00:07:36.300 You don't do that.
00:07:37.560 But Crassus was the CO.
00:07:39.380 He was the overall commanding officer.
00:07:41.460 So that was the decision he made.
00:07:44.620 Let Plutarch pick up the story.
00:07:46.100 He says this,
00:08:16.100 This is an interesting bit of Plutarch.
00:08:23.480 People always thought he was not sure really what he means here.
00:08:26.080 It must just be exaggeration or hyperbole.
00:08:28.460 He said,
00:08:28.700 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.
00:08:38.860 And their armoured cavalry has weapons of offence which will cut through everything and offensive equipment which will stand up to any blow.
00:08:46.780 That's interesting.
00:08:47.380 Not really sure what the missile weapons is talking about there because they didn't have anything particularly special.
00:08:51.720 They did have quite good bows though.
00:08:54.580 Better bows than the Romans or anyone in the West. 0.99
00:08:57.900 And they were great horsemen.
00:09:00.880 Brilliant horsemen.
00:09:02.200 Same old story.
00:09:03.600 The peoples from Central Asia or Scythia are always great on a horse. 1.00
00:09:08.540 I mean brilliant.
00:09:09.120 They're bred in the saddle.
00:09:10.040 And one thing they could do is turn round in the saddle while still galloping away from you.
00:09:16.200 Turn round and shoot back at you.
00:09:18.500 The famous Parthian shot. 0.83
00:09:21.040 So even if you're trying to pursue them, you probably won't catch them because they're better on horses than you are.
00:09:26.400 Even if you try to do that, they'll still be shooting at you.
00:09:30.040 Accurately from the saddle.
00:09:32.840 Yeah, the classic Parthian shot. 0.99
00:09:34.560 Plutarch continues.
00:09:35.420 This news had a most depressing effect on the soldiers' spirits, the Roman soldiers.
00:09:40.680 Up to now, they had believed that the Parthians were just the same as the Armenians or even the Cappadocians,
00:09:46.960 whom Lucullus had gone on plundering until he was tired of it.
00:09:51.180 And they had imagined that the main difficulties of the campaign would be the long journey
00:09:55.580 and the pursuing of troops who would not come to close quarters.
00:09:59.400 Now, however, they found themselves in the unexpected position of having to face real fighting and great danger.
00:10:05.820 Some of the officers, amongst whom was Cassius the Criestor,
00:10:10.880 thought that Crassus ought to call a halt and reconsider the whole undertaking.
00:10:15.660 The professional prophets also quietly spread the news that at their sacrifices,
00:10:21.040 the omens for Crassus were invariably bad and inauspicious.
00:10:25.060 But Crassus paid no attention to them or to anyone else who gave any advice other than to press forward.
00:10:30.580 So Crassus can see that he hasn't got great morale in his army.
00:10:36.880 And that's a massive thing in all armies at all times, or even just in a boxing match or an MMA fight.
00:10:42.880 If you feel yourself beaten, you are half beaten already.
00:10:46.780 If you're really, really scared of the enemy, if you haven't got confidence in your own abilities,
00:10:52.800 you're going to have a tough time of it.
00:10:54.880 And it seems that that's just what happened in Crassus' army.
00:10:59.060 For whatever reason, they didn't have a lot of faith in themselves.
00:11:02.220 They didn't have a lot of faith in Crassus.
00:11:04.860 That's one thing both Pompey and Caesar, but particularly Caesar, enjoyed.
00:11:07.920 People had complete confidence in him, even when he found himself massively outnumbered and surrounded
00:11:14.400 and it looked like everything was lost.
00:11:18.340 Almost with just a word from Caesar saying, you know, we've got this, guys.
00:11:22.660 We've got this.
00:11:23.140 Don't worry.
00:11:24.180 The men would just say, OK, great.
00:11:25.780 Yeah.
00:11:26.940 Caesar's got confidence, so that's good enough for me.
00:11:29.980 Crassus did not enjoy that sort of confidence from his men and officers.
00:11:34.800 Crassus, it seems, was just filled with sort of a kind of,
00:11:37.920 arrogance at this point, again, which is out of character for the rest of his life and career.
00:11:42.840 He just wouldn't listen to anyone else.
00:11:45.000 And he even talks about after they cross the Euphrates that he will
00:11:47.280 destroy the bridge they just built behind them so men can't retreat.
00:11:52.600 You know, we're committed to this.
00:11:54.300 But it had the sort of the wrong effect.
00:11:56.180 Instead of galvanizing the men and getting them all on board,
00:11:59.440 it just scares them even more.
00:12:01.740 Plutarch then says, quote,
00:12:03.160 He then marched along the river with seven legions, nearly 4,000 cavalry,
00:12:07.740 and about the same number of light troops.
00:12:10.020 His scouts had been taking reconnaissance,
00:12:12.380 and some of them now came back and reported that there was no men to be seen in the area,
00:12:16.600 but that they had come across the tracks of a great number of horses,
00:12:19.920 which appeared to have wheeled around and have fled when pursued.
00:12:23.720 That's sort of ominous, isn't it?
00:12:25.120 Can't see any of the enemy cavalry.
00:12:27.600 But you know they're around.
00:12:30.180 They must be in the area somewhere.
00:12:33.160 Yeah, very ominous.
00:12:34.540 Plutarch continues, quote,
00:12:35.600 Crassus was still considering and weighing up these arguments
00:12:38.140 when an Arab chieftain called Agabus put in an appearance.
00:12:43.460 This Agabus was a sly, treacherous character.
00:12:46.980 Indeed, he played the greatest and the most decisive part in all that combination of evil
00:12:51.400 which fortune had designed for the destruction of the Romans.
00:12:55.060 A few paragraphs later, Plutarch continues,
00:12:56.920 Now Agabus succeeded in getting him, Crassus, to do as he wished.
00:13:01.540 He drew him away from the river and led him right into the open plains.
00:13:05.380 At first the route was a good one and the going was easy.
00:13:08.380 Soon, however, the march became difficult as they entered a district
00:13:11.640 where there was deep sand underfoot,
00:13:14.040 a level plain with no trees and no water going on so far as the eye could see forever.
00:13:19.200 The men were not only exhausted by thirst, but by the difficulties of the march.
00:13:23.800 They were also overcome by a kind of sullen despair when they looked around them,
00:13:28.740 for there was not a single growing thing in sight,
00:13:31.360 not a stream, not a sign of any rising ground, not a blade of grass.
00:13:35.760 There was a sea of sand and nothing else.
00:13:38.420 And the desert billows of this sea were sweeping around the army on every side.
00:13:43.040 This in itself was enough to make them suspect that they were being tricked.
00:13:46.500 So as Plutarch tells us there, the men were under no illusions.
00:13:50.440 Like, you know, what is this?
00:13:51.820 We don't just march into endless deserts like this.
00:13:54.860 This is mad.
00:13:55.720 And Cassius saw it as well.
00:13:58.640 But for some reason, Crassus himself believed what this Arab leader,
00:14:05.360 Abgarus, was telling him.
00:14:06.560 For some reason, he just bought into all this, all Abgarus's liars. 1.00
00:14:11.480 But Cassius was sort of having none of it.
00:14:13.920 Plutarch says, quote,
00:14:15.180 Cassius once again strongly disapproved.
00:14:17.940 Seeing that his attitude only annoyed Crassus,
00:14:20.760 he gave up trying to advise him.
00:14:22.740 But he took the native chieftain aside
00:14:24.500 and spoke to him without mincing his words.
00:14:27.280 What evil spirit have you brought upon us, you villain, he said.
00:14:30.560 What drugs and sorceries have you been using to persuade Crassus
00:14:34.040 to pour his army into a great yawning wilderness
00:14:36.740 and to follow a route that is better fitted
00:14:40.600 for a captain of Arabian robbers than for a Roman imperator.
00:14:44.580 The native, however, was full of cunning.
00:14:47.320 Putting on the most humble air,
00:14:49.340 he tried to encourage them and beg them to endure for a little longer.
00:14:53.240 He would run alongside and beside the soldiers,
00:14:56.460 helping them with their tasks, laughing and making jokes.
00:15:00.120 Do you think you are marching through Campania, he would say.
00:15:02.820 Are you longing for the fountains and streams there
00:15:05.660 and the shady places?
00:15:07.420 Yes, the baths and the taverns.
00:15:09.720 Oh no, you must remember that the country you are going through
00:15:13.060 is the borderland between Assyria and Arabia.
00:15:16.100 So the native managed the Romans as if they were children 1.00
00:15:18.880 and rode off himself before his treachery was discovered.
00:15:22.500 He went with the full knowledge of Crassus.
00:15:24.680 In fact, he had actually persuaded Crassus
00:15:26.640 that he was going to work in his interests
00:15:29.100 by sowing confusion in the minds of the enemy, end quote.
00:15:32.820 So after leading them into the middle of an utterly unforgiving desert,
00:15:38.600 he then rides off and leaves them.
00:15:40.540 And Crassus even allowed him to do it
00:15:42.200 because he just believed everything this guy was telling him.
00:15:46.780 It's really naive, in the end, suicidally naive.
00:15:51.660 Mopson tells us about this march through the desert.
00:15:54.280 Quote,
00:15:54.460 Far and wide,
00:15:55.900 not an enemy showed himself.
00:15:57.460 Only hunger and thirst
00:15:58.520 and the endless sandy desert
00:16:00.000 seemed to keep watch at the gates of the east.
00:16:03.560 At length,
00:16:04.460 after many days of toilsome marching,
00:16:07.200 not far from the first river
00:16:08.620 which the Roman army had to cross,
00:16:10.860 the Balassus,
00:16:11.780 today the Belic,
00:16:12.840 the first horsemen of the enemy were described.
00:16:15.600 Abgarus with his Arabs 1.00
00:16:16.800 was sent out to Reconnoiter.
00:16:18.340 The Parthian squadrons retired up to and over the river
00:16:22.140 and vanished in the distance,
00:16:24.600 pursued by Abgarus and his followers.
00:16:26.940 With impatience,
00:16:27.720 the Romans waited for his return
00:16:29.260 and for more exact information.
00:16:31.660 The general hoped here at length
00:16:33.140 to come upon the constantly retreating foe.
00:16:36.640 His young and brave son, Publius,
00:16:38.860 who had fought with the greatest distinction in Gaul under Caesar
00:16:41.680 and had been sent by the latter
00:16:43.800 at the head of a Celtic squadron of horse
00:16:46.220 to take part in the Parthian war,
00:16:48.500 was inflamed with a vehement desire for the fight.
00:16:51.680 When no tidings came,
00:16:53.280 they resolved to advance at a venture.
00:16:56.180 The signal for starting was given
00:16:57.580 and the Balassus was crossed.
00:16:59.820 The army,
00:17:00.400 after a brief insufficient rest at noon,
00:17:02.720 was led on without delay at a rapid pace.
00:17:05.960 Then suddenly the kettle drums of the Parthian
00:17:08.100 sounded all around.
00:17:09.480 On every side,
00:17:10.120 their silk and gold embroidered banners
00:17:11.880 were seen waving
00:17:13.120 and their iron helmets
00:17:14.420 and coats of mail
00:17:15.560 glittering in the blaze
00:17:17.360 of the hot noonday sun.
00:17:19.120 And by the side of the vizier
00:17:20.480 stood Prince Abgarus
00:17:22.120 with his Bedouins,
00:17:23.500 end quote.
00:17:24.260 So suddenly the Parthian army
00:17:26.040 shows itself,
00:17:27.240 shows its hand
00:17:27.960 and Crassus finds himself
00:17:30.000 in a sticky situation.
00:17:32.540 He's completely fallen for the trap,
00:17:34.540 hook, line and sinker.
00:17:36.120 Plutarch says that,
00:17:36.960 quote,
00:17:37.500 Crassus himself was absolutely thunderstruck
00:17:39.920 end quote.
00:17:41.480 Crassus sort of couldn't really believe it.
00:17:44.000 It's a bit like,
00:17:44.460 it reminds me of that story
00:17:45.540 when Stalin got news
00:17:47.700 that Hitler had broken the Nazi Soviet pack 0.82
00:17:49.880 and he'd invaded Soviet territory.
00:17:52.800 Stalin just sort of couldn't believe it.
00:17:54.300 Everyone had been telling Stalin for ages
00:17:56.120 that this was going to happen
00:17:57.200 or that it has in fact started to happen
00:17:59.380 and he just refused to believe it.
00:18:01.180 And when it became clear that it just was,
00:18:03.000 there was no denying it anymore,
00:18:04.320 he just was thunderstruck.
00:18:06.400 Just couldn't believe it.
00:18:07.700 Apart from anything else,
00:18:08.420 it's sort of humiliating, isn't it?
00:18:09.700 It sort of shows that
00:18:10.540 your judgment is terrible.
00:18:13.860 It shows that you believed a liar
00:18:16.640 far longer than you should have done
00:18:18.640 when everyone around you could see it.
00:18:21.540 Well, so,
00:18:22.720 Crassus forms up into square,
00:18:24.780 basically his whole army
00:18:25.920 into a giant square
00:18:27.220 because the Parthians very quickly
00:18:29.020 almost surround them,
00:18:30.660 not completely surround them,
00:18:31.860 but at least start to flank them
00:18:33.080 on three sides.
00:18:34.580 Well, actually,
00:18:34.980 so at first,
00:18:35.360 Crassus forms up in a massive long line,
00:18:37.980 a giant line of battle,
00:18:40.140 but he sees that the Parthians outnumber them
00:18:42.560 and they're all mounted.
00:18:44.340 They're basically nearly all mounted
00:18:45.840 and they start to outflank them
00:18:48.100 despite how long Crassus' battle line is.
00:18:51.220 So he changes his mind
00:18:52.480 and forms them into a giant square,
00:18:54.400 you know,
00:18:54.600 like a nearly 40,000 man strong square
00:18:57.060 and starts moving along slowly
00:18:59.820 in this square.
00:19:01.460 Plutarch says,
00:19:01.940 He began to make his dispositions hurriedly
00:19:04.880 and without much consistency.
00:19:06.700 First,
00:19:07.000 he followed the advice of Cassius
00:19:08.420 and with a view
00:19:09.560 to preventing the enemy
00:19:11.120 from surrounding them,
00:19:12.420 extended his line of infantry
00:19:13.700 as far as possible
00:19:14.580 across the plain
00:19:15.360 without giving it much depth
00:19:17.560 and dividing all the cavalry
00:19:19.200 between the two wings.
00:19:20.660 Then he changed his mind
00:19:21.820 and concentrated his forces
00:19:23.220 into a compact body,
00:19:24.960 forming them up
00:19:25.700 in a hollow square,
00:19:26.860 ready to face
00:19:27.520 in four directions
00:19:28.320 and with 12 cohorts
00:19:29.820 on each side.
00:19:31.120 To each cohort,
00:19:31.900 a squadron of cavalry
00:19:32.800 was assigned
00:19:33.760 so that no part of the line
00:19:35.380 might be without
00:19:36.300 the support of cavalry
00:19:37.240 and the whole force
00:19:38.380 could advance
00:19:39.160 with equal protection everywhere.
00:19:41.380 But Cassius in command
00:19:42.500 of one of the wings
00:19:43.920 and the young Crassus,
00:19:45.480 this is Crassus' son,
00:19:46.640 Publius,
00:19:47.280 in command of the other,
00:19:48.780 while he himself
00:19:49.540 took up his position
00:19:50.780 in the center.
00:19:51.940 In this formation,
00:19:52.760 they marched forward
00:19:53.380 until they came to a stream
00:19:54.660 called the Basilus.
00:19:56.160 It was a small stream
00:19:57.060 in any case
00:19:57.780 and now there was
00:19:58.680 not much water in it.
00:20:00.020 But by this time,
00:20:00.860 it was a pleasant enough sight
00:20:02.060 to the soldiers
00:20:02.680 who were hot and thirsty
00:20:04.300 after their hard march
00:20:05.980 without water at all.
00:20:07.740 It was therefore
00:20:08.280 the opinion
00:20:08.780 of most of the officers
00:20:09.820 that they should camp there
00:20:11.240 for the night
00:20:11.780 and after finding out
00:20:13.100 what they could
00:20:13.620 about the numbers
00:20:14.560 of the enemy
00:20:15.180 and their order of battle,
00:20:17.080 advanced against them
00:20:18.020 at dawn.
00:20:18.740 Crassus, however,
00:20:19.660 was carried away
00:20:20.520 by the eagerness
00:20:21.180 of his son
00:20:21.900 and of the cavalry
00:20:22.920 who were with him
00:20:24.080 and who were all in favor
00:20:25.580 of pressing on
00:20:26.440 and engaging the enemy.
00:20:27.960 He therefore gave orders
00:20:29.020 that those who need
00:20:30.220 to do so
00:20:30.860 should eat and drink
00:20:31.960 standing as they were
00:20:33.080 in their ranks
00:20:33.740 and even before
00:20:34.920 they had all had time
00:20:36.580 to do this,
00:20:37.860 he again led them forward.
00:20:39.500 Instead of making them
00:20:40.300 march slowly
00:20:40.900 and halting from time to time
00:20:42.380 as is usual
00:20:43.360 when on the way to battle,
00:20:45.500 he kept up a quick pace
00:20:46.780 until the enemy
00:20:47.660 came into sight.
00:20:48.860 The Romans 0.92
00:20:49.300 were surprised
00:20:50.240 to observe
00:20:50.940 that they were
00:20:51.780 neither so numerous
00:20:53.020 nor so splendidly armed
00:20:54.580 as they had expected.
00:20:55.820 This was in fact
00:20:57.020 because the vizier
00:20:58.100 this is sort of
00:20:58.960 the grand vizier
00:20:59.800 of the Parthian army
00:21:01.060 because the vizier
00:21:02.180 had hidden his main force
00:21:03.840 behind the front ranks
00:21:05.160 and had ordered them
00:21:06.440 to cover themselves
00:21:07.340 with coats and skins
00:21:08.540 so as to conceal
00:21:09.920 the glittering
00:21:10.860 of their armor.
00:21:11.760 Now, when they were
00:21:12.540 near the Romans
00:21:13.180 and their general
00:21:14.260 gave the signal,
00:21:15.500 first of all
00:21:16.080 the whole plain
00:21:16.740 was filled
00:21:17.260 with a deep
00:21:17.840 and terrifying
00:21:18.460 roaring sound.
00:21:19.780 For the Parthians, 0.98
00:21:20.920 instead of having
00:21:21.620 horns or trumpets
00:21:22.620 to sound the attack,
00:21:23.940 made use of hollow drums,
00:21:25.160 of stretched hide
00:21:26.380 to which bronze bells
00:21:27.760 were attached.
00:21:28.780 They beat on these drums
00:21:29.600 all at once
00:21:30.220 in many different parts
00:21:31.080 of the field
00:21:31.600 and the sound produced
00:21:32.780 is most eerie
00:21:33.980 and terrifying,
00:21:35.380 like the roaring
00:21:36.080 of wild animals
00:21:37.060 with something
00:21:38.020 of the sharpness
00:21:38.820 of a peal of thunder.
00:21:40.300 They have, it seems,
00:21:41.580 correctly observed
00:21:42.520 that the sense of hearing
00:21:43.920 has the most disturbing
00:21:45.240 effect on us
00:21:46.180 of all our senses,
00:21:47.860 most quickly arouses
00:21:48.960 our emotions
00:21:49.680 and most effectively
00:21:50.840 overpowers our judgment.
00:21:52.360 Before the Romans 0.95
00:21:53.140 had recovered
00:21:53.840 from their consternation
00:21:55.020 at this din,
00:21:56.000 the enemy suddenly
00:21:56.800 dropped the coverings
00:21:57.700 of their armor.
00:21:58.680 Now they could be seen
00:21:59.480 clearly,
00:22:00.360 their helmets
00:22:00.800 and breastplates
00:22:01.600 blazing like fire,
00:22:03.160 their Marjianian steel
00:22:04.440 glittering keen
00:22:05.340 and bright,
00:22:06.180 their horses armoured
00:22:07.100 with plates of bronze
00:22:08.040 and steel,
00:22:09.080 end quote.
00:22:09.840 So there's one particular
00:22:10.820 type of cavalry
00:22:11.860 the Parthians have got, 0.69
00:22:13.160 which are really,
00:22:14.120 really,
00:22:14.460 really heavily armoured,
00:22:16.080 a bit like medieval knights.
00:22:17.780 It says they're sort of
00:22:18.500 armoured from head to toe
00:22:19.980 in sort of chain mail,
00:22:21.540 not necessarily
00:22:21.940 sort of medieval plate mail,
00:22:23.500 but they're just heavily armoured
00:22:24.440 and even their horses
00:22:25.140 are armoured.
00:22:26.840 So it's like heavy cavalry.
00:22:28.900 The Romans hadn't really seen
00:22:30.100 the like of it before,
00:22:31.840 not like this anyway.
00:22:33.580 Just to say quickly,
00:22:34.620 the Romans and the Parthians
00:22:35.920 hadn't really come into
00:22:37.300 large scale contact before.
00:22:39.560 Big, big, massive set piece battles
00:22:41.440 with giant 10,000 man
00:22:43.260 a side armies like this.
00:22:44.900 So they're sort of feeling
00:22:45.780 each other out
00:22:46.420 for the first time.
00:22:47.380 So the grand Parthian vizier
00:22:49.340 starts trying to surround
00:22:50.940 this square,
00:22:52.220 as I said,
00:22:52.980 and in order to try
00:22:53.760 and avoid that,
00:22:54.820 Crassus decides
00:22:55.680 he has to break out,
00:22:56.560 send a contingent of his men
00:22:57.960 to break out
00:22:59.160 of this giant square.
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