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53 BCEReputable source · 2 sourcesWell documented

The Battle of Carrhae and the Parthian Shot

Rome's richest general invades Parthia for glory and loses his army, his life, and the myth of Roman invincibility in the east

On the timeline · around 53 BCE · Alexander, the Seleucids, and the Parthian EmpireAlexander, the Seleucids, and the Parthian EmpireThe Battle of Carrhae and the Parthian Shot200 BCE150 BCE100 BCE50 BCE1 CE50 CE100 CE

Quick facts

Roman commander
Marcus Licinius Crassus (killed)
Parthian commander
Surena, for King Orodes II
Roman force
About 40,000; roughly 5,000 escaped
Key tactic
The Parthian shot

What happened

Marcus Licinius Crassus, a member of Rome's First Triumvirate alongside Pompey and Caesar and one of the wealthiest men in Rome, launched an unprovoked invasion of Parthian territory in 54-53 BCE, seeking military glory to match his rivals. At Carrhae, on the plain east of Harran, the Parthian general Surena, commanding forces loyal to King Orodes II, met Crassus's roughly 40,000-strong army with a force built around horse archers and heavily armored cataphract cavalry. The Parthian archers used a tactic that came to be called the Parthian shot, firing accurately backward at full gallop while feigning retreat, surrounding and exhausting the Roman infantry's supply of shields and formation cohesion while the cataphracts delivered repeated charges. Crassus was killed, reportedly lured into a parley under false pretenses, and only around 5,000 of his original 40,000 men escaped the disaster.

Why it matters

Carrhae was the worst Roman military defeat since Cannae two centuries earlier and permanently established Parthia, not the Seleucids or any Hellenistic remnant, as Rome's peer power in the east. It ended the Triumvirate as an active balance of three, leaving only Pompey and Caesar, whose subsequent rivalry led directly to Rome's civil war.

How we know

The battle is described in detail by both Roman sources like Cassius Dio and Plutarch and later specialized studies of Parthian cavalry tactics; the specific tactical detail of the Parthian shot recurs across multiple independent ancient accounts.

Sources

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Part of a timelineAncient Persia27 events · Three empires in a row, Achaemenid, Parthian, and Sassanid, ran the largest state the ancient world had seen and left cuneiform, coinage, and a fire religion behindView all →
The Battle of Carrhae and the Parthian Shot · Ancient Persia · SourcedStory