If Julius Caesar lived to invade Parthia?

[Alexandr K]

On the other hand, he probably planned to take along Cassius Longinus, one of the few survivors of Carrhae and an outstanding officer, who managed to extricate his men from the debacle.

Hmmmm, Cassius simply used the fact that he and a few of his companions were on horseback, deserted his commander and fled to Syria... (after all for cavalry it was much easier to escape than for infantry) I don't see this as an exhibition of his qualities as an officer.

On the other hand, later he was able to defend Syria against Parthian invasion only with two legions assembled from survivors of the Carrhae disaster and even defeat the Parthian army. Although mostly he was fortified in Antioch and tried to avoid battle with the Parthians and later won by setting and ambush, I think this is much more noteworthy.

Anyway, although he probably wasn't a bad commander, I don't think he was that good either.

Another question: how much of the Parthian victory can be attributed to the general Surena? Would he have been in command against Caesar?

Surena was executed by Orodes probably quite shortly after the battle of Carrhae (Plut. Crassus 33).


By the way, those interested in Caesar's planned Parthian campaign and able to read German may find this article by J. Malitz interesting.

Greetings,
Alexandr