Antony's Disastrous Parthian Campaign
Avenging Carrhae was a standing Roman obsession; Mark Antony saw a Parthian campaign as the path to supreme glory. In 36 BCE he assembled a massive force — Plutarch says 100,000 men — and marched east through Armenia. The campaign went wrong almost from the start. Antony pushed ahead without his siege train in a rush to reach the Parthian capital before winter. The Parthians destroyed the siege train — sixteen legions' worth of equipment, 300 wagons — in a single ambush, killing 10,000 Roman troops. Without siege weapons Antony could not reduce Parthian fortified cities. As supplies dwindled and winter approached, Antony was forced to retreat. The retreat through the Armenian mountains in autumn-winter 36 BCE became a nightmare of harassment, cold, disease, and hunger. Plutarch records 24 engagements in 27 days during the retreat; perhaps 32,000 men died — a third of the force. Cleopatra met the remnant army in Syria with provisions and winter clothing — the practical generosity that bound Antony to her politically even as Octavian used the campaign's failure as propaganda.
- Year: 36 BCE
- Category: Military
