Battle of Carrhae (53 BC): Parthian Empire vs. Romans.

Roman Consul Marcus Licinius Crassus, a member of the First Roman Triumvirate and the wealthiest man in Rome, has marched his large army of 43,000 soldiers directly through the deserts of Mesopotamia. Crassus had been enticed by the prospect of military glory and riches and as such has opted to invade the lands of the great Parthian Empire. In light of his ambition and confidence, Crassus has embarked on this campaign without official consent of the Roman Senate and thus he had raised the army through his own funds. Another major factor that enticed Crassus to embark on this campaign to invade Parthia was the expected ease of the campaign. The Roman legions had easily crushed the numerically superior armies of other eastern powers such as Pontus and Armenia and Crassus expected Parthia to be no different. Upon arriving in Syria, Crassus received support of about 6,000 cavalry from Artevasdes, the Armenian king. Artevasdes then advised him to take a route through Armenia to avoid the desert and offered him further reinforcements, in which Crassus refused the offer and decided to take the direct route through Mesopotamia and to capture the great cities in the region. In response to this unprovoked invasion, the Parthian king, Erodes II, divided his forces and took most of his army, mainly infantry, with foot archers and a small amount of cavalry, and invaded Armenia to punish them for their alliance with the Romans. Erodes then sent the rest of his forces, an all-cavalry force, under the command of Spabod Surena, to scout out and harass Crassus' army. Erodes did not anticipate that Surena's heavily outnumbered force would be able to even challenge Crassus' force, let alone defeat them. Erodes merely wanted Surena to harass and delay the Romans. Philosopher Plutarch described Surena's force as a thousand male-clad horsemen and a still greater number of light-armed cavalry, including slaves and vassals. Surena's expedition numbered 10,000 in total, supported by a baggage train of 1,000 camels, whom carried supplies, primarily caches of arrows. After being informed of the presence of the Parthian army, Crassus' army was panicked. Crassus' commanding general, Cassius, recommended that the army be deployed in the traditional Roman fashion, with infantry forming the centre and cavalry on the wings. At first, Crassus agreed, but he soon changed his mind and redeployed his men into a hollow square, each side formed by 12 cohorts. That formation would protect his forces from being outflanked, but at the cost of mobility. Single formation! The Parthians had been stalking the Roman army and, completely oblivious to Crassus and his men, they had walked right into a trap. The two armies would meet near the town of Carrhae. The stage was now set. Surena sprung his attack. The Romans lifted their shields and braced themselves for what was to come. Surena ordered his heavy cataphracts forward to charge the front of the Roman lines, whilst the bulk of his force, consisting of horse archers, encircled the Roman position, trapping them in place. The Parthian cataphracts, after loosening up the Romans' defensive formation, withdraw in good order. Now was the time for Surena's grand plan. The Parthian horse archers rode forward and began raining arrows down on the Romans. Completely surrounded from all sides by swift riders, the Roman infantry were not quick enough to pursue the Parthian light cavalry and were forced to stay in formation. Although the Romans' shield and armour is mostly effective at repelling the arrow fire, some managed to slip through the cracks, causing many casualties. Crassus assumed that his legionaries would stave off a few arrow volleys before the Parthian horse archers ran out of arrows. Then he would order his men to give pursuit. However, he was gravely mistaken. For Surena was well aware of Roman military tactics, and in preparation for the battle, he used his large caravan of camels to carry caches of extra arrows, which he then used to resupply his horse archers on the battlefield. The Romans were now trapped under continuous immense arrow fire and could not endure this assault for much longer. Upon this realisation, Crassus dispatched his son Publius with a few thousand cavalry and infantry to drive off the horse archers. The horse archers feigned a retreat and drew Publius' force further away from their main force. Once Publius and his men were sufficiently separated from the rest of the army, the Parthian cataphracts turned and confronted them, while the horse archers cut off their retreat. In the ensuing combat, Publius and his men fought bravely, but their inferiority against the heavy Parthian cataphract was evident. They eventually were surrounded, and Publius committed suicide as opposed to being captured while the rest of his men were slaughtered. Crassus, unaware of his son's fate but realising that Publius was in danger, ordered a general advance. He was confronted with the sight of his son's head on a spear. The Parthian horse archers began to surround the Roman infantry and shot at them from all directions. Meanwhile, the cataphracts mounted a series of charges against the disorganised Romans. As the day came to a close, the Parthians withdrew back to their camp. The onslaught did not cease until nightfall, with the Romans having suffered heavy casualties. Crassus, deeply shaken and distraught by his son's death, was relinquished of his command by fellow Roman officers, whom gathered the surviving Roman soldiers and ordered a retreat to the nearby town of Carhae, leaving behind 4,000 Roman soldiers to fend for themselves. The following morning, Serena sent his cataphracts to finish off the few thousand wounded Roman soldiers whom were left to die, cutting them down without much of a fight. Serena then sent an envoy to Carhae, looking to negotiate with Crassus. Serena proposed a truce to allow the Roman army to return to Syria safely in exchange for Rome giving up all territory east of the Euphrates. Serena either sent an embassy to the Romans by the hills or went himself to state he wanted a peace conference on an evacuation. Crassus was reluctant to meet with the Parthians, but his troops threatened to mutiny otherwise. It was reported that at the meeting, a Parthian pulled at Crassus' reins and sparked violence in which Crassus and his generals were killed. After his death, the Parthians allegedly poured molten gold down Crassus' throat in a symbolic gesture mocking his renowned greed. The remaining Romans at Carhae attempted to flee, but most were captured or killed. According to the ancient historian Plutarch, Roman casualties amounted to about 20,000 killed and 10,000 captured, which made the battle one of the costliest defeats in Roman history. Parthian casualties were minimal.