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Crassus landed in Asia Minor with a large army, some estimate it to be 50,000 strong. The Roman commander had little military experience, but his son was a seasoned and respected campaigner. The Romans knew little about the lands that they were going to invade<ref> Sicker, Martin"Carrhae," in The Pre-Islamic Middle East (Greenwood Publishing Group, 2000), pp. 149–51</ref>. The king of Armenia offered to allow the invading army to invade Parthia via his kingdom. This would have allowed the Roman legions to march down into modern Iraq and on to the capital of Parthia, Ctesiphon. Instead Crassus invaded by way of Turkey. This was an area largely of plains and it was ideal for cavalry. Several Roman commanders including Cassius tried to dissuade him from this course. However, Crassus was overconfident and believed that his army was invincible. The Romans outnumbered the Parthians and their allies by up to four to one. The Parthians were mainly cavalry and they had little infantry. They were led by a general of genius Surena, who came from Central Asia. Suren adopted guerrilla tactics at first and used his superior cavalry to harass and inflict casualties on the Romans<ref>Sicker, p.150</ref>. Surena decided to confront the advancing Crassus at the small town of Carrhae in modern Turkey. The Parthians used their cavalry archers to launch hit and runs attacks on the Romans who were in tight formation. Crassus hoped that the Parthians would run out of arrows, but Suren used Bactrian camels to re-supply his forces with arrows. Under the relentless showers of arrows, the Roman legionnaires could not move, and their supplies ran low. According to Plutarch ‘"Now if they had hopes that the enemy would exhaust their missiles and desist from battle or fight at close quarters, the Romans held out; but when they perceived that many camels laden with arrows were at hand, from which the Parthians who first encircled them took a fresh supply’ </ref> Plutarch, Life of Crassus, xxi </ref>. The Roman commander repeatedly ordered that his army move forward and engage with the enemy. However, each time the legions advanced the Parthian cavalry retreated and firing arrows as they did. This caused many casualties among the Romans and their morale began to collapse <ref>Sicker, p. 149</ref>. It is claimed that many of the Parthian arrows could pierce armor and pinned Romans to ground. that their hands were riveted to their shields and their feet nailed through and through to the ground, so that they were helpless either for flight or for self-defence. The army of Crassus was on the verge of mutiny. They forced Crassus to negotiate with Suren. This may have allowed the Romans to withdraw safely from Parthian territory in return for the evacuation of several Roman garrisons from east of the Euphrates (in modern Iraq). However, during the meeting between the Roman and the Parthian commanders one of the soldiers of Suren seized the reins of Crassus horse and this lead to a skirmish<ref>Plutarch, xxiii</ref>. In this Crassus and his son were killed. This left the Romans leaderless and they were effectively cut off in enemy territory. Surena then ordered his heavy cavalry the cataphracts (the forerunners of the medieval knight) to charge into the Roman lines. They were ineffective, but they caused panic among the legionnaires. The Romans began a disorganized retreat and they came under constant attack from the forces of Suren. Many Romans made it back safely to Syria, but it is estimated that some 20,000 legionnaires were killed and another 10,000 captured. Those captured were paraded through the Parthian Capital and later made to work as slaves in Central Asia<ref>Sicker, p. 151</ref>.

[[File: Carrhae 3.jpg|200px|thumb|left|A bust of a Parthian soldier]]

==Roman and Parthian Wars ==

Prior to Carrhae, Rome had expanded rapidly and almost at will. However, the defeat at Carrhae and ended this seemingly remorseless expansion in the Middle East. In the aftermath of the defeat, Rome withdrew some garrisons from the eastern side of the Euphrates River. However, the defeat was a national humiliation and especially the legionary eagles that were seized by the Parthians at Carrhae. Caesar swore revenge, and many believe that he was going to invade Parthia before his assassination. The defeat at Carrhae, was something that the Romans had to be avenged. During the civil wars the Parthians supported the enemies of Caesar. During the Roman civil wars in the 40s BCE the Parthians were able to occupy much of the Roman East<ref> Holland, Tom. Rubicon : the last years of the Roman Republic (London, Doubleday, 2005), p 45</ref>. The end of the second Roman Civil War allowed the Romans to retake their possessions. Mark Anthony later launched an invasion of Parthia to punish the victors, but this too ended in a disaster. The lessons from the defeat were not learned. It was up to Augustus to develop a strategy that led to a period of peace. He was later able to negotiate to have the legionary standards that were captured at the defeat to be returned to Rome. However, the defeat continued to haunt Rome and many emperors dreamt of avenging that most calamitous defeat. There were persistent tensions between Rome and Parthia. The two countries were strategic rivals after the battle and each vied for influence in the strategically important kingdom of Armenia<ref>Holland, p. 203</ref>. The relative calm of the 1st century was ended by the invasion of Trajan of Parthia and the next few decades saw many wars between the two great powers in the Ancient Near. Carrhae was the beginning of some two centuries of mistrust and occasionally war between Rome and Parthia.