Information about Marcus Licinius Crassus

Marcus Licinius Crassus (Latin: M·LICINIVS·P·F·P·N·CRASSVS^[1]) (ca. 115 BC – 53 BC) was a Roman general and politician who commanded Sulla's decisive victory at Colline gate, suppressed the slave revolt led by Spartacus and entered into a secret pact, known as the First Triumvirate, with Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus and Gaius Julius Caesar. One of the richest men of the era, Crassus still hankered for recognition for military victories in the shape of a triumph. This desire for a triumph led him into Syria, where he was killed after the disastrous Roman defeat at Carrhae.

Crassus's significance in world history, however, stems from his financial and political support of the impoverished young Julius Caesar, which support allowed Caesar to embark upon his own political career.

Biography

Marcus Licinius Crassus was apparently the third and youngest son of Publius Licinius Crassus Dives, a man who had himself been consul in 97 BC and censor 89 BC. One brother died during the Social War; his father and another brother were killed or committed suicide to evade capture during the Marian purges in December 87 BC.

Crassus's grandfather was Marcus Licinius Crassus Agelastus, of whom little is known. This grandfather was descended from a consul and censor Publius Licinius Crassus Dives, best known for being Pontifex Maximus (from 212 BC to his death 183 BC) and consul (in 205 BC) and political ally of the Roman general and statesman Scipio Africanus. Crassus could therefore claim to be descended from a man who was successively elected Pontifex Maximus, censor, and then consul, in a rather unusual chronological order. Crassus's own father was himself consul and censor.

Crassus and his brothers were apparently raised together in a small modest house despite the family's great inherited wealth and his father's immense personal fortune. As was customary, the two elder brothers lived with their parents and youngest brother even after they married and had children.

After the Marian purges and the sudden death subsequently of Gaius Marius, the surviving consul Lucius Cornelius Cinna (better-known as father-in-law of Julius Caesar) imposed proscriptions on those surviving Roman senators and equestrians who had supported Lucius Cornelius Sulla in his 88 BC march on Rome and overthrow of the traditional Roman political arrangements. (In Sulla's defence, he had marched on Rome only when Gaius Marius and a tribune of the plebs removed Sulla, while consul, from his legally granted command of the army designated to attack Mithridates. Some of those Romans, like the elder Publius Licinius Crassus and his sons who had supported Sulla, had done so, believing that they were supporting a restoration of the mos maiorum).

Cinna's proscription forced Crassus to flee to Hispania. After Cinna's death in 84 BC, Crassus went to the Roman province of Africa where adherents of Sulla were gathering. When Sulla invaded Italy after returning from partial successes in the inconclusive Second Mithridatic War, Crassus joined Sulla and Metellus Pius, Sulla's closest ally. He was given command of the right wing in the Battle of the Colline Gate when the remaining Marian adherents and the surviving Samnites marched on Rome in a last-ditch bid to oust Sulla from Rome. The Colline Gate was one of the entrances into Rome through the Servian Walls; Crassus and his troops ensured Sulla's victory including destruction of the surviving Samnite troops and any other military opposition. Apparently, he also enjoyed engaging in questionable affairs with questionable women.

Rise to power

Marcus Licinius Crassus's next concern was to rebuild the fortunes of his family, which had been confiscated during the Marian-Cinnan proscriptions. Sulla's own prosciptions ensured that his survivors would recoup their lost fortunes from the fortunes of wealthy adherents to Gaius Marius or Lucius Cornelius Cinna. Proscriptions meant that their political enemies lost their fortunes and their lives; that their female relatives (notably, widows and widowed daughters) were forbidden to remarry; and that in some cases, their families's hopes of rebuilding their fortunes and political significance were destroyed. Crassus is said to have made part of his money from proscriptions, notably the proscription of one man whose name was not initially on the list of those proscribed but was added by Crassus who coveted the man's fortune.^[2]

The rest of Crassus's wealth was acquired more conventionally, through traffic in slaves, the working of silver mines, and judicious purchases of land and houses, especially those of proscribed citizens. Most notorious was his acquisition of burning houses: when Crassus received word that a house was on fire, he would arrive and purchase the (apparently lost) property along with surrounding buildings for a modest sum, and then employ his army of 500 clients to put the fire out before much damage had been done. Crassus's clients employed the Roman method of firefighting -- destroying the burning building to curtail the spread of the flames.

By Sulla's death in 79 BC or later, Marcus Licinius Crassus had become a powerful figure in Roman politics on account of his great wealth; he was nicknamed Dives, meaning "rich". This cognomen had been also given to his father and to his ancestor, the consul of 205 BC, and to other relatives. Crassus was thus not the first Roman to be nicknamed "Dives".

After rebuilding his fortune, Crassus's next concern was his political career. As an adherent of Sulla, and the wealthiest man in Rome, and a man who hailed from a line of consuls and praetors, Crassus's political future was apparently assured. His problem was that despite his military successes, he was eclipsed by his contemporary Pompey the Great who blackmailed the dictator Sulla into granting him a triumph for victory in Africa over a rag-tag group of dissident Romans; a first in Roman history on several counts. (For one, Pompey was not even a praetor, on which grounds a triumph had been denied in 206 BC to the great Scipio Africanus who had brought Rome an entire province in Hispania. For another, Pompey had defeated fellow Romans; however, a precedent had been set when the consul Lucius Julius Caesar (a relative of the Julius Caesar) had been granted a triumph for a small victory over Italian peoples in the Social War). Yet, until 82 BC, no triumph had been granted to any Roman for victory over another Roman general). Crassus's rivalry with Pompey and his envy of Pompey's triumph would influence his subsequent career.

Crassus and Spartacus

Crassus was rising steadily up the political ladder (see cursus honorum) when ordinary Roman politics was interrupted by two events - firstly, the Third Mithridatic War, and secondly, the Third Servile War, which was the organized two-year rebellion of many Roman slaves under the leadership of Spartacus. Rome's best general Lucius Licinius Lucullus (consul in 74 BC) was sent to defeat Mithridates, followed shortly by his brother Varro Lucullus (consul in 73 BC). Pompey had been sent to Hispania to defeat Quintus Sertorius, the last effective Marian general, and had nearly failed in that effort. (Pompey succeeded only when and because Sertorius was assassinated by one of his own commanders).

The Senate did not initially take the slave rebellion seriously, until it became clear that Rome itself was under threat. Crassus offered to equip, train, and lead new troops, at his own expense, after several legions had been defeated and their commanders killed in battle or taken prisoner. Finally, Crassus was sent into battle against Spartacus by the Senate. Initially, Crassus had trouble both in anticipating Spartacus's moves and in inspiring his army. For the latter, he employed the tactic of decimation, in a legion that had retreated from battle. This tactic, although effective in inspiring (or persuading) the rest of the men, did not win him love from his soldiers or respect from the Roman populace.

Crassus tried to pen up Spartacus in the extreme south of Italy, by building a wall across the boot of Italy. However, Spartacus and his army broke out, by employing subterfuge (in a tactic borrowed from Hannibal, who had been similarly penned up by Fabius Maximus). Some time later, when Roman armies led by Pompey and Varro Lucullus were recalled to Italy and about to land, Spartacus decided to fight rather than find himself and his army trapped between three Roman armies, two of them blooded overseas. In this last battle, Crassus gained a decisive victory, and captured six thousand slaves alive. Spartacus himself was killed in the battle. The six thousand captured slaves who had rebelled under Spartacus were crucified along the Via Appia by Crassus's orders. Also, under his orders, the bodies of the slaves were not taken down afterwards but remained rotting along Rome's principal route to the South. This was intended as an object lesson to anyone that might think of revolting against Rome in the future.

Crassus won the Third Servile War, but his rival Pompey would steal his victory with a letter to the Senate claiming credit for ending the war. (This caused much strife between Pompey and Crassus, which would later be mended by Caesar). Crassus was only honored with an ovation (lesser than a triumph) although the danger to Rome and the destruction to Roman lives and property much greater. Crassus's animosity towards the upstart Pompey increased as a result.

Soon afterwards, Crassus was nevertheless elected consul with Pompey for 70 BC. In that year, he displayed his wealth by entertaining the populace at 10,000 tables and distributing sufficient grain to last each family three months.

Later career

In 65 BC Crassus was elected censor with another conservative Quintus Lutatius Catulus (himself son of a consul and a patrilineal relative of Julius Caesar. During that decade, Crassus was Caesar's patron in all but name, financing Caesar's successful campaign to become Pontifex Maximus (despite all but abandoning his post as the priest of Jupiter or flamen dialis) and his efforts to win command of military campaigns. Caesar's mediation between Crassus and Pompey led in 60 BC, to the creation of the coalition between Crassus, Pompey, and Caesar (by now consul), known as the First Triumvirate. This coalition would last until Crassus's own death

In 55 BC he was again consul with Pompey, and a law was passed assigning the provinces of the two Hispanias and Syria to Pompey and Crassus respectively for five years.

Crassus in Syria

Crassus received Syria as his province, which promised to be an inexhaustible source of wealth. It would have been had he not also sought military glory and crossed the Euphrates in an attempt to conquer Parthia. Crassus was reportedly the richest man in Rome, and attacked Parthia not only because of its great wealth, but because of a desire to match the military exploits of his two major rivals, Pompey the Great and Julius Caesar, and indeed those of Alexander the Great. We are told that the King of Armenia offered Crassus the aid of some forty-thousand troops on the condition that Crassus invade through Armenia so that the king could provide for his troops. Crassus refused, and invaded across the Euphrates. His legions were defeated at Carrhae (modern Harran in Turkey) in 53 BC by a numerically inferior Parthian force composed mainly of armoured heavy cavalry and horse archers. Crassus' legions were unable to maneuver as swiftly as their opponents. Crassus refused his quaestor Gaius Cassius Longinus' plans to reconstitute the Roman battle line, and remained in the testudo formation. Subsequently Crassus' men, being near mutiny, demanded he parley with the Parthians, who had offered to meet with him. Crassus, despondent at the death of his son in the battle, finally agreed to meet the Parthian general. Upon his arrival in the Parthian camp he was seized and killed. Legend has it that Crassus was killed by having molten gold poured down his throat to finally sate his thirst for wealth, though this is possibly a rumor spread by his many Roman enemies after the fact.

Chronology

• ca. 115 BC - Crassus Born
• 97 BC - Father is Consul of Rome
• 87 BC - Crassus flees to Hispania from Marian Forces
• 84 BC - Joins Sulla against Marians
• 78 BC - Sulla dies
• 74 BC - Revolt of Spartacus
• 73 BC - Crassus is praetor
• 71 BC - Crassus defeats Spartacus
• 70 BC - Consulship of Crassus and Pompey
• 65 BC - Crassus is Censor
• 63 BC - Catiline Conspiracy
• 59 BC - First Triumvirate formed. Caesar is Consul
• 56 BC - Conference at Luca
• 55 BC - Second consulship of Crassus and Pompey. In November, Crassus leaves for Syria
• 54 BC - Campaign against the Parthians
• 53 BC - Crassus dies immediately after the Battle of Carrhae

Fictional depictions

• Marcus Licinius Crassus is a principal character in the 1960 film Spartacus, played by actor Laurence Olivier. ^[3] The film is based on Howard Fast's 1951 novel of the same name.
• Marcus Crassus, along with Palene, is one of the two narrators in Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of Spartacus. He is played by Anthony Hopkins.
• Marcus Licinius Crassus is a principal character in the 2004 TV film, Spartacus, played by actor Angus Macfadyen.
• Crassus is a major character in the novels Fortune's Favourites and Caesar's Women by Colleen McCullough. He is portrayed as a brave but mediocre general, a brilliant financier, and a true friend of Caesar's.
• He also appeared in video game , as one of the villains. This fictional portrayal sees him using supernatural powers.

Notes

References

Primary sources

• Plutarch's Life of Crassus D G L
• Cicero's letters G

Secondary sources

• Hennessy, Dianne. (1990). Studies in Ancient Rome. Thomas Nelson Australia. ISBN 0-17-007413-7. 
• Holland, Tom. (2003). Rubicon. 
• Marcus Licinius Crassus

External links

• Crassus entry in historical sourcebook by Mahlon H. Smith

Preceded by Publius Cornelius Lentulus Sura and Gnaeus Aufidius Orestes	Consul of the Roman Republic with Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus 70 BC	Succeeded by Quintus Caecilius Metellus Creticus and Quintus Hortensius
Preceded by Gnaeus Cornelius Lentulus Marcellinus and Lucius Marcius Philippus	Consul of the Roman Republic with Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus 55 BC	Succeeded by Appius Claudius Pulcher and Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus

•  • [ e] The Works of Plutarch
The Works	Parallel Lives The Moralia Pseudo-Plutarch
The Lives	Alcibiades and Coriolanus1 Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar Aratus of Sicyon & Artaxerxes and Galba & Otho2 Aristides and Cato the Elder1 Crassus and Nicias1 Demetrius and Antony1 Demosthenes and Cicero1 Dion and Brutus1 Fabius and Pericles1 Lucullus and Cimon1 Lysander and Sulla1 Numa and Lycurgus1 Pelopidas and Marcellus1 Philopoemen and Flamininus1 Phocion and Cato the Younger Pompey and Agesilaus1 Poplicola and Solon1 Pyrrhus and Gaius Marius Romulus and Theseus1 Sertorius and Eumenes1 Tiberius Gracchus & Gaius Gracchus and Agis & Cleomenes1 Timoleon and Aemilius Paulus1 Themistocles and Camillus
The Translators	John Dryden Thomas North Jacques Amyot Philemon Holland Arthur Hugh Clough
1 Comparison extant 2 Four unpaired Lives