The Birth, Life and Death of... Marcus Licinius Crassus

The Birth Crassus was born in 115 B.C.E to a wealthy Plebeian family He was the third and youngest son of Publius Licinius Crassus Dives, a former consul He spent his childhood in a small house, where he lived with his parents, his brothers and their families

Marius Purges Crassus and his family sided with the Optimates, and a man named Sulla When Sulla was out of the city fighting the Mithridatic war, his rivals, Marius and Cinna, took control of Rome in 87 B.C.E Crassus' family were on the top of their top list of targets. Before escaping to Spain, Crassus' father and one of his brothers were killed He hid in a cave provided by Vibius Pacacius for over 8 months When Sulla began to march on Rome. Crassus eagerly joined him, and turned the tide at the Battle of the Colline Gate After Sulla took control of Rome, he passed a policy of proscription and confiscation, leading to Crassus' later fortune

Beginning of his Wealth Crassus began to make his fortune by buying and selling the houses and belongings of the victims of Sulla's policy With the money he made, he bought hundreds of slaves He used these slaves as a firefighting brigade, and offered to buy the burning houses off of the owner. If they refused, he let it burn to the ground If they sold their homes, he put out the fire, rebuilt the house, and either sold it or rented it, sometimes back to the former owner He also made considerable sums of money in training and selling slaves, and buying mines

Before the Slave Rebellion After building his wealth that was confiscated by Cinna back, Crassus focused on politics He built a powerful following by acts of kindness, influencing courts, providing loans, or supporting political campaigns He was elected Praetor around 70 B.C.E, only a few years before Spartacus' revolt When the Third Servile War broke out, he was selected to lead the army in 74 B.C.E

Third Servile War After Spartacus had defeated multiple Praetors and their armies, Crassus was selected to defeat Spartacus Crassus harshly disciplined his own men. An example of this is where he killed 500 of his own men for showing cowardice After Spartacus outwitted Crassus a couple of times, he called for the Senate for assistance Crassus regretted this, as they sent their hero, Pompey to help Crassus knew Pompey would take all the credit, and he did. Pompey killed or captured most of Spartacus' men Crassus crucified the remainder of Spartacus' army along the Appian Way, as a warning to all future rebelling slaves

The First Triumvirate Crassus never forgave Pompey for stealing all the glory in the Third Servile war They still shared a consulship, and both worked to restore the rights of the Tribunes In 59 B.C.E, Julius Caesar persuaded them to settle their differences and create a Triumvirate, to further their power Crassus served as a campaign funder for Caesar, and in return Caesar supported laws that benefited the Triumvirate They ruled Rome unopposed for a couple years, and in 55 B.C.E Crassus and Pompey once again shared a term as consul During this time, he was appointed governorship of Syria, a wealthy province

Governorship of Syria Crassus chose to Syria for a couple of reasons One being the prospect of enhancing his wealth, as Syria was a wealthy province Another being because of Syria's proximity to the Parthians, a mighty empire Crassus had always been overshadowed by Pompey's and Caesar's military process, and he sought to be their equals He charged headfirst into war, ignoring his advisers. This would later become his undoing

Crassus' Death When the war began, King Artabazes of Armenia visited Crassus and told him to invade through Armenia Crassus ignored Artavasdes, and invaded Parthia through Mesopotamia, following the Euphrates River Crassus met a Parthian spy called Ariamnes, who advised Crassus to cut across Parthia to attack Surena, the most powerful man in Parthia Crassus was led into the desert and abandoned by Ariamnes, saying he would spy on the Parthians. Crassus was later ambushed His son, Publius, seeing the battle was lost, committed suicide. The Parthians put his head on a pike for Crassus to see Crassus, saddened, began to retreat. The Parthians took advantage of this and shot him and his army to pieces Crassus died in 53 B.C.E, and one of the legends told is that the Parthians poured molten gold into his mouth, as a mark of his burning greed

Bibliography Www.unrv.com/roman-republic/crassus.php http://antiquitatis.com/rome/biographies/bio_crassus.html http://ancienthistory.about.com/cs/people/a/crassus.htm http://www.roman-empire.net/republic/crassus.html http://www.google.com/ http://www.google.com/imghp