Thread Rating:
  • 0 Vote(s) - 0 Average
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
New Non-Fiction book on Crassus and Carrahe
#1
Just received this pre-publication notice on a new book dealing with Crassus, the defeat at Carrhae and how that defeat changed Rome and the Republic.

Book Description
During the last stages of the Republic, Rome suffered its greatest military disaster since Hannibal's invasion of Italy over 150 years earlier, though this defeat had more far-reaching consequences. While Rome was able to recover from its disaster at Cannae, it never did retrieve the results of Carrhae, a defeat that sealed the East as an impenetrable barrier to Roman ambition, and also signaled the demise of the Republic. In 53 BC, Marcus Crassus, the richest member of Rome's ruling Triumvirate, which also included Caesar and Pompey, decided to enhance his military stature with an invasion of the Parthian Empire centered on Mesopotamia (today's Iraq). His 36,000 legionaries crossed the Euphrates and were met by a much smaller Parthian army, albeit one mounted on horseback in the dispersed, missile-firing steppe-war tradition. In the desolate territory around Carrhae the Roman legions were surrounded and beset by elusive horse warriors, who alternated deadly arrow-fire from recurved bows with devastating attacks by armored horsemen, wielding lances in the fashion of future European knights. At one point Crassus dispatched his son with the Roman cavalry and light infantry to break a hole through the deadly ring. The Parthians concentrated on the party and destroyed it. Crassus was just about to move with the main body to its aid when partian horsemen rode up wielding his son's head on the tip of a spear. Severely unnerved, Crassus ordered a retreat, the Parthians moving in to massacre the 4,000 wounded he left behind. The next day, called to a parlay he was forced to attend by his nearly mutinous soldiers, Crassus and his officers were murdered by the Parthians. The now-leaderless Roman army disintegrated, only some 6,000 able to escape. At least 20,000 Roman legionaries were dead on the field, with 10,000 more captured. In this book, Dr. Gareth Sampson, currently a tutor in ancient history at the University of Manchester, lays out the gruesome outcome of the battle and its consequences. First, unlike Alexander's Greeks, who had marched all the way to the Indus, Rome was never again to challenge the civilizations beyond the Euphrates. Second, with Crasus dead, Caesar and Pompey engaged in a bloody civil war that would end the Republic and result in political dictatorship. The author also provides an analysis of the mysterious Parthians, a people who vied with Rome as the most powerful empire on earth. Though their polity and records have long since disappeared, the Parthians' mark on history is clear enough through their decisive victory over Rome at Carrhae.

DEFEAT OF ROME IN THE EAST, THE: Crassus, Carrhae and the Invasion of the East (Hardcover)
by Gareth Sampson (Author)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
List Price: $32.95
Price: $21.75 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details
You Save: $11.20 (34%)
Special Offers Available
Save an extra 5% on all Books pre-orders. Details

Availability: This title has not yet been released. You may order it now and we will ship it to you when it arrives. Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
Hardcover: 224 pages
Publisher: Casemate (April 2008)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1932033890
ISBN-13: 978-1932033892

http://www.amazon.com/DEFEAT-ROME-EAST- ... 4E91Q5BE5C

:wink:

Narukami
David Reinke
Burbank CA
Reply
#2
Quote:In this book, Dr. Gareth Sampson, currently a tutor in ancient history at the University of Manchester, lays out the gruesome outcome of the battle and its consequences. First, unlike Alexander's Greeks, who had marched all the way to the Indus, Rome was never again to challenge the civilizations beyond the Euphrates. Second, with Crasus dead, Caesar and Pompey engaged in a bloody civil war that would end the Republic and result in political dictatorship. The author also provides an analysis of the mysterious Parthians, a people who vied with Rome as the most powerful empire on earth.

Strong conclusions... I'd like to see how he proves them! For one, Rome for sure managed to challenge the civilizations beyond the Euphrates, the Parthians among them. And although it would be interesting to speculate about Crassus' role in the struggle between Caesar and Pompey that's all it can be - speculation. And that 'mystrious' sounds ominously like ''mysterious Mayas' or 'mysterious Marsians'... Big Grin ? Wasn't China more of a competitor in that class?

Let's hope this is the 'blurb' from the publisher..
Robert Vermaat
MODERATOR
FECTIO Late Romans
THE CAUSE OF WAR MUST BE JUST
(Maurikios-Strategikon, book VIII.2: Maxim 12)
Reply
#3
It will make an interesting read anyway. I have been wanting something along this line for some time! 8)
Visne partem mei capere? Comminus agamus! * Me semper rogo, Quid faceret Iulius Caesar? * Confidence is a good thing! Overconfidence is too much of a good thing.
[b]Legio XIIII GMV. (Q. Magivs)RMRS Remember Atuatuca! Vengence will be ours!
Titus Flavius Germanus
Batavian Coh I
Byron Angel
Reply
#4
Quote:While Rome was able to recover from its disaster at Cannae, it never did retrieve the results of Carrhae, a defeat that sealed the East as an impenetrable barrier to Roman ambition, and also signaled the demise of the Republic.
I agree that the meaning of Carrhae has been perhaps overlooked, but this is a quite bold claim to make for centuries to come...
Virilis / Jyrki Halme
PHILODOX
Moderator
[Image: fectio.png]
Reply
#5
Guys, who do you think writes the pre-publication blurb?
Greets!

Jasper Oorthuys
Webmaster & Editor, Ancient Warfare magazine
Reply
#6
You? :lol:
Visne partem mei capere? Comminus agamus! * Me semper rogo, Quid faceret Iulius Caesar? * Confidence is a good thing! Overconfidence is too much of a good thing.
[b]Legio XIIII GMV. (Q. Magivs)RMRS Remember Atuatuca! Vengence will be ours!
Titus Flavius Germanus
Batavian Coh I
Byron Angel
Reply
#7
Hi guys,

Just read your comments and checked out the pre-publication blurb that you are referring to. Funnily enough I've never read that version before; so to answer your question, it's been done by the US agents, and has nothing to do with me.

To be quite honest, its an overly dramatic account of what the book is about, and I assume done to attract the general reader.

A more balanced description of the book can be found on amazon.

Cheers

Gareth Sampson
Reply
#8
Welcome to the Forum

Not surprised by any of this -- the advertising blurb for the book I am currently reading (Rome & Jerusalem by Goodman) claimed the Romans were responsible for anti-Semitism. :? That is one small chapter at the end of a 550+ page book but of course the point of the blurb is to sell books and nothing sells like a little controversy.

Crassus and the battle of Carrhae are a topic I know of, but very little detail about, so I have added the book to my Amazon list.

I think you will find the members here to be voracious readers on a wide range of topics -- no doubt your book is on several member's lists already.

Once again welcome to the Forum.

:wink:

Narukami
David Reinke
Burbank CA
Reply
#9
Thanks for that.

I'm afraid thats all too true, though that one did go too far; there are no 'msyterious parthians' or impenetrable barriers'.

It was written to fill a gap in our knowledge, hope people enjoy it.

Cheers

Gareth
Reply
#10
Hi Gareth,

That's a relief - it sounds like a very interesting book.

PS, may I remind you to write your real name in your signature (profile)?
Robert Vermaat
MODERATOR
FECTIO Late Romans
THE CAUSE OF WAR MUST BE JUST
(Maurikios-Strategikon, book VIII.2: Maxim 12)
Reply
#11
I recommend this book. It is well written and informative. I would have liked a little more detail about the various troop types, but then I am never completely satisfied. Get this book and see a better view of the whole Crassus/Carrhae event. 5 stars
Caius Fabius Maior
Charles Foxtrot
moderator, Roman Army Talk
link to the rules for posting
[url:2zv11pbx]http://romanarmy.com/rat/viewtopic.php?t=22853[/url]
Reply
#12
I agree, this book is excellent. Five stars. Just a shame it wasn't out when I was researching my book!
Ben Kane, bestselling author of the Eagles of Rome, Spartacus and Hannibal novels.

Eagles in the Storm released in UK on March 23, 2017.
Aguilas en la tormenta saldra en 2017.


www.benkane.net
Twitter: @benkaneauthor
Facebook: facebook.com/benkanebooks
Reply
#13
Looking forward to getting this, it slipped my mind for a while!
Visne partem mei capere? Comminus agamus! * Me semper rogo, Quid faceret Iulius Caesar? * Confidence is a good thing! Overconfidence is too much of a good thing.
[b]Legio XIIII GMV. (Q. Magivs)RMRS Remember Atuatuca! Vengence will be ours!
Titus Flavius Germanus
Batavian Coh I
Byron Angel
Reply
#14
Recently while doing some research about the battle of Carrhae I've read this book. Well, I have quite mixed feelings about the publication. The positive aspects of the book first. I really appreciate one of the main themes of the book - a reversed look at the battle, which is viewed as a victory of Parthia (Surenas) rather than defeat of Rome. The great effort of the author to try to see the situation not only from Roman point of view, but also from the Parthian one is certainly to be praised. It is a difficult task given the nature of our sources, but Sampson mostly tackles it quite well, I think. He is also certainly right that it is not correct to leave all the blame for this defeat to Crassus (though the reevaluation of Crassus is nothing new in the literature). May be he is pushing this a little bit too far, because Crassus certainly did some mistakes. What I really liked are the preparatory chapters about Rome's rise to power and conquest of the east and about the development of Parthia.

On the other hand I wasn't impressed by Sampson's analysis of the campaign and actual battle at all. Some of his speculations are too speculative for my liking. But ok, that could be a matter of opinion. However there is a number of other shortcomings and errors in the book. The fact that on two places of the book Sampson arrives at two different totals for Crassus' army at Carrhae using two different methods of counting is just one example of author's problems with numbers and their evaluation. Another one is that Sampson once again repeats the old myth about the Parthian army at Carrhae being 10000 strong (1000 heavy cavalry, 9000 horse archers). In fact we do not know exactly how many Parthians joined the battle. And there are a few others.

What I particularly didn't like is that sometimes Sampson simply fights a battle against our sources instead of trying to find a way how to interpret them. He is certainly right that the ancient authors are to a certain degree biased against Crassus whom they generally unjustly portray as the main and almost only culprit of the defeat. Nevertheless the author is pushing this too far, often dismissing the sources on the pretext of their bias and putting forward his own constructions, which however are not backed up by hard data and sometimes go in fact against them. It is perhaps best seen in Sampson's description of the march from Zeugma to the site of battle. Although Cassius Dio clearly states that the aim of the expedition was Seleucia and Plutarch indicates the same, although Plutarch informs us that the Romans marched south along the Euphrates river before turning east, according to Sampson this is all nonsense and Crassus' primary objective according to him was to find and destroy the Parthian army wherever it could be and therefore left the Euphrates and headed east immediately after crossing it. When Plutarch and Florus tell us that the Roman army had to march through inhospitable desert, according to Sampson this is just another invention to denigrate poor Crassus, because in the line of march he propagates there are no deserts (what about a different line of march then, perhaps?), etc. This whole passage is quite in contrast with Regling's article, where he very ably puts all these various elements together and provides a reasonable and much more convincing reconstruction which actually corresponds to our sources.

Sometimes the whole account of the campaign resembles some kind of panegyric on Surenas. While I certainly do not deny the genius of this great commander who won the battle, Sampson's uncritical praise of everything Surenas did and building upon that is a little bit annoying (redesigning Parthian bows and arrows specially for this one battle? Confusedhock: ).

Unfortunately although Regling's important article (Crassus' Partherkrieg), is mentioned in the bibliography, it is cited nowhere in endnotes and from the text itself it seems that Sampson has actually not read it (and also some other publications about the battle). This is quite a pity, because should the author be familiar with this work, some of the shortcomings of his book could have been avoided.

So ironically I wasn't impressed by the part dealing with the campaign and battle itself, but I quite enjoyed the part that preceded it. From all the accounts of the battle I've read, I think the best overall analysis of the campaign and battle itself is by far still that of Kurt Regling in Klio 7, 1907 (in German).

Alexandr
Reply


Forum Jump: