By the middle of the 1st century BC, the Roman state had already defeated its strongest enemy in the Mediterranean, Carthage. Subdued all the lands of Western Europe (with the exception of Scandinavia) and invaded Asia Minor. It began to seem to the rulers of Rome that there were no longer any barriers in the world for them … But the powerful Parthia had a different opinion.
The Roman Republic in the middle of the 1st century BC was ruled simultaneously by three representatives of the Roman nobility (First Triumvirate) - Gneus Pompeii Magnus, Guy Julius Caesar and Mark Licinius Crassus. They entered into an agreement among themselves on joint political leadership. The Triumvirs divided spheres of influence in different parts of the state. Pompeii received Spain as his inheritance, Caesar waged wars in Gaul, and the winner of Spartacus Crassus, having achieved the transfer of Syria and Judea to him, began to prepare for a major offensive war against Parthia.
Scorching desert
Dreaming of military glory, Crassus wished to make a grandiose march to the East, as the Greek historian Plutarch wrote about: “It was no longer Syria and not the Parthians that he limited the field of his success … his dreams extended to the Bactrians, Indians and to the sea lying behind them …”.
By the spring of 53 BC, the opponents had finished their preparations. Crassus was at the head of an army of nine legions (about 50 thousand people). In addition, the commander received reinforcements from Caesar - a thousand Gallic horsemen, who were brought to Syria by his son Publius Licinius Crassus.
The main striking force of the Parthian army, which ensured its military victories, was the heavy cavalry (cataphracts). Dressed from head to toe in chain mail, the riders were armed with long spears and bows as ranged weapons. They were united in detachments - dragons, a thousand people each. In addition, there were units of lightly armed horse archers, who were skirmishers at the beginning of the battle and covered the rear and flanks of the main units of the army. The poorly armed and poorly organized infantry did not have any serious significance among the Parthians.
The core of the army of the Parthian king Orodes was the cataphracts under the command of Surena, the most noble nobleman after the king. The Parthians were the first to attack the Roman garrisons left behind in several cities on the Euphrates, and then quickly retreated to the east. In response, Crassus crossed the Euphrates.
Trying to quickly catch up with the enemy, the Roman took the shortest route to the east through the waterless desert lying between the Euphrates and the lower reaches of the Belisse River (these are lifeless areas lying behind the modern Syrian city of Raqqa). The land here is a treeless limestone that forms a shining soil under the rays of the sun, covered with sand dunes that create terrible clouds of dust. The legions of Crassus followed this bleak path (the temperature at this time of the year reaches 40 ° C), followed by a wagon train: 3,500 pack animals carrying tents and provisions. The army stretches over 21 kilometers in length.
The death of the younger
On May 9, Julian calendar, after a four-day march, an extremely tired Roman army approached the fertile part of the Belissa Valley. Here her vanguard was unexpectedly attacked by the Parthians, who then retreated to their main forces. Having received news of the approach of the enemy, Crassus built his forces in square. Crassus entrusted the command over one of the flanks to the quaestor Gaius Cassius Longinus, over the other - to his son Publius, and led the center himself. In this order, the Romans approached the swampy shores of Belissa south of the city of Karra (present-day Harran) and began their crossing.
Many of the subordinate commanders offered Crassus to give rest to the troops, set up a camp on the banks of the Belissa and make reconnaissance of the forces and disposition of the enemy. But Crassus, urged by his son and his riders to go forward, decided to join the battle immediately.
The Parthians appeared from the southeast direction, that is, against the right flank of the Romans, which was led by Crassus the Younger. They pushed forward light detachments of horse archers, who began to bombard the dense mass of the Romans with a hail of arrows from a distance.
“Crassus ordered the lightly armed to rush to the enemy, but before they had time to run even a few steps, they were met with a cloud of arrows; they retreated back into the ranks of heavy infantry, and laid the foundation for confusion and confusion in the army, seeing with what speed and force the Parthian arrows fly, breaking weapons and piercing all protective covers - both hard and soft - in the same way, Plutarch writes about further …
Attempts at Roman attacks failed completely. The hope of an end to the shelling seemed futile, as whole caravans of camels brought new supplies of arrows to the Parthian horsemen. Then the elder Crassus ordered his son with a detachment (1.3 thousand cavalry, 500 lightly armed and 4 thousand legionnaires) to push back the enemy, thereby giving respite and time for the rest of the army to regroup.
Young Crassus's initial attack was successful. The enemy quickly retreated. Inflamed Publius rushed to pursue, as it seemed to him, the "broken" enemy. However, when he lost sight of the main Roman army, the Parthians suddenly stopped and launched a counterattack from the front and flanks. At the same time, a strong detachment of cataphracts cut the route of retreat for the Romans. Attacked by superior forces, they unsuccessfully tried to break out of the encirclement, but were pushed back to a sandy hill and died here, covered with a hail of arrows. Young Crassus also died.
Of all his soldiers, only single fighters broke through to the main army. Soon, slowly moving forward, the regrouped Roman army saw the Parthian horsemen approaching it again, at the end of the spear of one of which the severed head of Publius Crassus loomed.
The death of this detachment - the best part of the Roman cavalry - made a further offensive impossible. Having lost a large number of their comrades in arms, the Roman soldiers, exhausted from the heat under the weight of armor and metal weapons, stood under a hail of Parthian arrows, only occasionally trying to launch unsuccessful counterattacks. However, all the Parthians' attempts to break into the middle of the battle formations of the Romans also failed.
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The last ultimatum
At nightfall, the Parthians withdrew. Crassus began to hastily retreat northward up Belissa, trying to break away from his terrible enemy and quickly reach Carr. This retreat was extremely disorganized. The order was given by the quaestor Guy Cassius and the legate of Crassus Octavius, since the commander-in-chief himself was in a deranged state. Over 4,000 wounded Romans were thrown at the mercy of the victors, who were exterminated by the Parthians the next morning. Four cohorts under the command of the legate Varguntei lost their way and in the morning were surrounded and destroyed by the Parthian cavalry.
On the afternoon of May 10, masses of demoralized Roman soldiers reached Carr and settled down to rest within the walls of the city, where Suren soon approached at the head of his army. He began to offer the Roman troops a free retreat, subject to the extradition of Crassus and Cassius. But I did not hear an answer. At night Crassus tried to leave to the northeast, towards Armenia. However, near the Sinnak mountain range, it was surrounded by the Parthians, who again offered their terms for peace. Forced to go to negotiate with Surena, Crassus, Octavius and other military leaders were killed. The severed head of Crassus was delivered to the Parthian king in the form of a trophy of war.
About 10 thousand legionaries were taken prisoner and settled on the eastern outskirts of Parthia in the area of the modern city of Mary (Turkmenistan). Over 20 thousand Roman soldiers died during the Battle of Carrhae and during the subsequent retreat. Only about 12-14 thousand returned to Syria. Among those who survived was Gaius Cassius, who, at the head of a detachment of 500 horsemen, managed to break away from the Parthians.
Magazine: Mysteries of History No. 21, Mikhail Efimov