Silaces (also spelled Sillakes) was a Parthian commander who fought against the Roman general and triumvir Marcus Licinius Crassus. Initially the satrap of Ichnae, a fortress in Mesopotamia, he was defeated and wounded by Crassus' forces, and fled to the Parthian court, where he informed king Orodes II (r. 57–37 BC) of the Roman invasion.[1] Silaces later commanded the Parthian contingent alongside Surena at the Battle of Carrhae in 53 BC, where Crassus was defeated and killed.[2] Crassus' defeat at Carrhae was one of the worst military defeats of Roman history.[3] Parthia's victory cemented its reputation as a formidable if not equal power with Rome.[4] While Orodes and Artavasdes II of Armenia were observing a play of The Bacchae of Euripides (c. 480–406 BC) at the Armenian court in honor of the wedding of Orodes' son Pacorus I and Artavasdes' sister, Silaces announced the news of the victory at Carrhae, and put the head of Crassus at Orodes' feet.[5] The head was given to the producer of the play, who decided to use Crassus' actual severed head in place of the stage-prop head of Pentheus.[6]

References

  1. ↑ Cassius Dio, Book 40, 12.1.
  2. ↑ Plutarch, vol III. XXI.
  3. ↑ Kennedy 1996, p. 78.
  4. ↑ Bivar 1983, pp. 55–56; Brosius 2006, p. 96
  5. ↑ Dąbrowa 2018, p. 80; Bivar 1983, p. 56
  6. ↑ Bivar 1983, p. 56.

Bibliography

Ancient works

Modern works

  • Bivar, A.D.H. (1983). "The Political History of Iran Under the Arsacids". In Yarshater, Ehsan (ed.). The Cambridge History of Iran, Volume 3(1): The Seleucid, Parthian and Sasanian Periods. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 21–99. ISBN 0-521-20092-X..
  • Brosius, Maria (2006), The Persians: An Introduction, London & New York: Routledge, ISBN 978-0-415-32089-4.
  • Dąbrowa, Edward (2018). "Arsacid Dynastic Marriages". Electrum. 25: 73–83. doi:10.4467/20800909EL.18.005.8925.
  • Kennedy, David (1996), "Parthia and Rome: eastern perspectives", in Kennedy, David L.; Braund, David (eds.), The Roman Army in the East, Ann Arbor: Cushing Malloy Inc., Journal of Roman Archaeology: Supplementary Series Number Eighteen, pp. 67–90, ISBN 978-1-887829-18-2

Further reading

  • Overtoom, Nikolaus Leo (2021). "Reassessing the Role of Parthia and Rome in the Origins of the First Romano-Parthian War (56/5–50 BCE)". Journal of Ancient History. 9 (2): 238–268. doi:10.1515/jah-2021-0007.
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