Parthian war of Caracalla
Parthian war of Caracalla | |
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Part of Western Asia | |
Result |
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Territorial changes | Status quo ante bellum |
Macrinus
The Parthian war of Caracalla was an unsuccessful campaign by the
Events leading up to the war
In the years immediately before the war, Parthia was roiled by a conflict between the two sons of King
According to the Roman historian Cassius Dio, the Osroenean king Abgar X aroused discontent among his people by ruling them harshly. Caracalla used this as a pretext to overthrow Abgar, summoning him to a meeting and then imprisoning the king. With Abgar out of the way, Caracalla proceeded to annex Osroene and make it a Roman province. Three years later, he intervened in a civil conflict between Khosrov I of Armenia and his sons. The emperor offered to mediate in their dispute but proceeded to imprison the king and his quarrelling sons, provoking an uprising among the Armenians. The uprising was still ongoing at the time of Caracalla's death in 217.[5]
Caracalla travelled to the eastern Mediterranean in 215 and remained in the region for the rest of his reign, making
Parthian campaign and assassination
During the winter of 215–16, Caracalla stayed in Nicomedia with the Roman army preparing to launch a campaign against the Armenians and Parthians. According to Dio, Caracalla sought a pretext for war in the refusal by the Parthian king Vologases VI to release a pair of hostages – Tiridates of Armenia and a Cynic philosopher named Antiochus. However, when Vologases was deposed by his brother Artabanus the hostages were sent to Caracalla, temporarily depriving the emperor of a casus belli.[7]
Caracalla instead invented a new basis for war, though Dio and Herodian present conflicting accounts of what happened. Both historians record that Caracalla justified his war on the grounds that Artabanus had denied the emperor's request to marry the Parthian king's daughter. Dio states that Artabanus refused because he believed, probably correctly, that Caracalla would use the marriage as an excuse to annex Parthia. Herodian presents a different version, stating that Artabanus was worn down by Caracalla's requests and agreed to the marriage. During a celebration of Caracalla's arrival, probably at the Parthian royal palace in
A huge mob of barbarians gathered and stood about casually, wherever they happened to be, eager to see the bridegroom and expecting nothing out of the ordinary. Then the signal was given, and Caracalla ordered his army to attack and massacre the spectators. Astounded by this onslaught, the barbarians turned and fled, wounded and bleeding. Artabanus himself, snatched up and placed on a horse by some of his personal bodyguards, barely escaped with a few companions. The rest of the Parthians, lacking their indispensable horses, were cut down (for they had sent the horses out to graze and were standing about). They were unable to escape by running, either; their long, loose robes, hanging to their feet, tripped them up.[9]
The Roman army then carried out a campaign of massacres in Parthia, though its area of operations seems to have been limited to northern Mesopotamia and the pro-Parthian kingdom of Adiabene; as such, this may have been intended more as a demonstration of Roman power than a serious attempt to conquer Parthia.[6] Cassius Dio describes how Caracalla now ravaged a large section of the country around Media by making a sudden incursion, sacked many fortresses, won over Arbela, dug open the royal tombs of the Parthians, and scattered the bones about. This was the easier for him to accomplish inasmuch as the Parthians did not even join battle with him ... The barbarians took refuge in the mountains beyond the Tigris in order to complete their preparations, but Antoninus [Caracalla] suppressed this fact and took to himself as much credit as if he had utterly vanquished these foes, whom as a matter of fact he had not even seen.[10]
Caracalla subsequently informed the
Notes
References
- ISBN 978-1-84415-676-4.
- ^ Encyclopaedia Iranica "In fact, Caracalla does not seem to have reached even as far as Media, which was probably his objective"
- ISBN 9780549890416.
- ^ Scott, p. 27
- ^ a b Scott, p. 28
- ^ ISBN 9780521301992.
- ^ a b Scott, p. 29
- ^ a b Scott, p. 30
- ^ Herodian, Roman History, 4:11
- ^ Dio, Roman History, 79:1
- ISBN 9780748620500.
- ^ Scott, p. 265
- ^ Ando, p. 64