Surena (Parthian General)

Surena was the Parthian commander who destroyed Crassus at Carrhae and was executed by his own king shortly afterwards. Born around 84 BC, he belonged to the House of Suren, one of the great feudal families of Parthia, which held the hereditary right to crown the king. Plutarch describes him as the second man in the empire after the king, of exceptional courage and ability, and travelling with a baggage train of a thousand camels and two hundred wagons for his concubines. He restored Orodes II to the throne in about 54 BC, taking Seleucia by escalade in person. When Crassus invaded Mesopotamia in 53 BC with seven legions, Orodes took the main army to punish Armenia and left Surena with a much smaller force — around a thousand cataphracts, nine thousand horse archers and no infantry — to delay him. At Carrhae he did far more than delay. He drew the Romans into open plain, surrounded the legionary square with mounted archers, and prevented them from either closing or withdrawing: the cataphracts punished any attempt to charge, and the archers shot continuously. The Romans expected the arrows to run out; Surena had arranged a train of camels carrying reserve supplies, which is the detail that turned harassment into destruction. Crassus's son Publius was killed leading a sortie, and his head displayed. Around twenty thousand Romans died and ten thousand were captured, and the eagles were lost. Crassus was killed at a parley. Orodes, alarmed at a subject with that much prestige, had him put to death within a year.

• Lived: 84 BCE – 53 BCE
• Nationality: Parthian
• Roles: general