It is a hot day under a scorching sun in the desert sands of upper Mesopotamia, and a large Roman force of some 43,000 men marches to meet the enemy in battle. Faced with a force of only 10,000, no one would expect the enemy to put up any resistance or even dare to fight the experienced Roman legions. Despite their numerical inferiority, the cataphracts and cavalry archers decide to march forward and initiate the attack, in what would go down in history as one of the worst military disasters ever seen.

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Music:
Journeyman - Aakash Gandhi
Invincible - Aakash Gandhi
Chariots of War - Aakash Gandhi
Deep Space Sector 9 - Ezra Lipp
Timpani For The Devil - Ezra Lipp
Epic Journey - Yung Logos
The Long Night - Quincas Moreira

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Chapters
0:00 Intro
0:37 Preview
1:39 Cicero's opinion
1:50 Crassus' on Syria
2:03 The Armenian King
2:26 Crassus' thinking
3:00 March to the dessert
3:30 Betrayal
4:26 Battle of Carrhae
5:49 Publius' counterattack
6:30 Suicide
7:22 Late at night
8:22 Negotiations
9:10 Aftermath
10:12 Outro

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But let us look at the political situation in Rome shortly before the battle. Crassus was the richest man in the entire Roman Republic, but nevertheless, his prestige and fame was inferior to that of his two allies, Caesar and Pompey, with whom he formed part of the First Triumvirate. It is said that he was envious of Pompey's military triumphs, and on the other hand, Caesar was gaining military recognition for his advances in Gaul. As for Crassus, his only victories had been against Spartacus, and also his participation during the civil war of Sula, both events already forgotten for having occurred some 20 years earlier. The Roman was at this time about 62 years old, and it is said that he wanted to cement the military career of his son, Publius, who until then had served under Caesar at Gaul. For this reason he turned his attention to Parthia in order to annex it to the republic, and also because he regarded it as an easy target for conquest.

However, many people in the senate opposed this war, among them Cicero said that it was a “nulla causa”, a war without any justification.
Crassus arrived in Syria in 55 BC and used his immense fortune to assimilate a large army. He began by annexing the frontier cities without obtaining major resistance. At this point, the king of Armenia, who was an ally of Rome, advised him not to invade through the desert, but to do so from Armenian territory, and that he would give him the support of some 30,000 infantry and 10,000 cavalry. Strangely, the Roman refused. The reason for such a refusal of help is not known, but Crassus chose to make his military campaign across the desert.

For this, he needed a guide, and so he met the Arab Achmed bin Ariamnes, who offered to guide and accompany him with his 6,000 horsemen. Ariamnes convinced them that it would be best to march quickly during the summer and that in this way he would achieve an early victory over the enemy troops. In doing so, there would obviously be no time to establish supply points at the various oases, and to make matters worse, the legionnaires' sandals were studded with iron, and most of their armor and equipment was metal, which would make them boil hot. Despite this, the commander chose to follow this strategy, and during the march shouted to his troops:

quote: “Keep up, do you think you are in the vineyards of Campana?” end quote.

In total his forces consisted of around 38,000 infantry and 5,000 cavalry, among which were some 1,000 Gallic horsemen commanded by his son Publius.

The days went by and the soldiers, who had limited water reserves, were reaching the point of being completely exhausted. It was at this point that their guides surprisingly turned around and retreated, abandoning the Romans. Crassus had fallen into a trap. His guide, Ariamnes, had actually been sent by his enemy, the Parthian king Orodes II, who was aware of his plans. Everything he had told him was false, and it is said that he used flattery to get him to trust him.

Crassus sent scouts to see what was ahead, and they informed him that the Parthians were marching towards them. The Roman opted to form his troops in a broad horizontal line of three ranks, with infantry forming the center and cavalry on the wings, to meet the impending threat, but before the formation could be completed he changed his mind, and commanded that a quadrangular formation be adopted.

The Parthian troops consisted of about 1,000 cataphracts and 9,000 horse archers.

Crassus's generals advised him to camp to let his troops rest as they were very exhausted. However his son, was eager to fight and convinced Crassus to give battle.